October 01, 2008
Real Versus Virtual World for Problem Solving
Last week at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society meeting in New York City, Penn State researchers reported on a study to investigate how virtual teams can better solve real world problems by collaborating in the virtual world. An experiment was designed in which students formed teams and were asked to solve a problem, posed by a video, using different meeting styles. The researchers set up 10 teams to work face-to-face, 10 teams to work through teleconferencing, and 12 teams to work as groups of avatars in Second Life.
The task that the subjects were assigned revolved around the video "Rescue at Boones Meadow", an episode of "the Adventures of Jasper Woodbury," a series produced by the Vanderbilt University Learning Technology Center that focuses on mathematical problem finding and solving. Participants watched the video individually and then convened to decide how to rescue an injured eagle according to the information given in the video. All groups had to decide which character would rescue the eagle, which methods of transportation would be used and estimate the time it would take to complete the task.
The groups using Second Life were confined to text-based communication and had to learn how to master the complex keyboard strokes required for avatar movement. These barriers did not deter the groups from completing the assigned task, however, the teams using Second Life took the longest to finish.
The face-to-face teams felt most confident of their performance, yet the Second Life teams provided the most accurate answers in the task
The results suggested that there is a learning curve with using the virtual world, especially if you have never used a world like Second Life before. It still proved to be a viable option for group work. More research is planned particularly with different age groups and solving different types of problems.
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
2008 Annual Meeting
Educational Gaming Resources & Virtual Worlds at Penn State
Posted by rsk at October 1, 2008 11:07 AM