Real Benefits of a Second Life: Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Psychology Conference Centre and Tutorial Rooms

Second Life (SL) is an internet-based virtual world launched in 2003 by Linden Research Inc. A free downloadable program enables its users to interact with each other via avatars (i.e., a computer user's representation of him- or herself), in virtual simulations of real-world environments. Thus far there have been few studies which evaluate the effectiveness of SL in learning and teaching environments. The aim of this project was to create a virtual conference centre and dedicated tutorial huts within SL which would provide psychology students with the opportunity to participate in additional academic tutorials, and also allow them to present the findings of their empirical projects at a virtual conference. This paper reports on the process of building and teaching within the virtual school, and the subsequent evaluation. Forty-three students attended virtual tutorials and a further 27 gave a virtual poster presentation within SL. Feedback was very positive, showing most students liked SL for tutorials, found them fun, and wanted more SL in their degree. Students enjoyed presenting in a virtual environment and liked the anonymity when interacting with others. Attending SL tutorials was also found to have a significant effect on students' assessment performance, even when controlling for general ability and engagement with IT-based module resources. It was concluded that the benefits of SL to the learning of students involved in this project outweigh the disadvantages.