Elearning - April/May 2008 - (Page 27)

from traditional training is that it’s first person. Instead of learning that is mediated by symbolic language of books, PowerPoints and voice-over narration, virtual worlds are experiential, interactive, fast-paced, multimodal, multisensory and collaboarative. People who spend time in virtual world don’t think of their experiences as “virtual,” because they are, in fact, real. These experiences promise to do for learning what “first-person shooter games” did to gaming. The idea of a “first-person thinking game” would make educational theorists as far back as Aristotle proud. He pointed out that one cannot learn what one has not personally experienced. Virtual world offers ample opportunity for learning-by-doing. More to the point, virtual worlds offer a new way to socialize. We know from research that one of the primary reasons people stay at the same company is that they’re well tied into the social fabric of the organization. Companies lose top performers because they aren’t sufficiently mentored or connected. Virtual worlds like Second Life offer a unique opportunity to facilitate serendipitous connections and conversations. When did you last strike up a conversation with a new person during an e-learning program or Webinar? Those kinds of conversations happens all the time in virtual worlds. EXPLORING Virtual worlds can’t be described, they have to be experienced. In the words of Morpheus, “no one can be told what the matrix is; you have to see it for yourself.” One way to understand virtual worlds is to open a free Second Life account, download the software reader, and create your own avatar. Start your exploration by visiting a serious meeting. They are listed on Second Life’s Website and “in world” when you hit the “Search” button. This author is hosting a weekly Second Life meetings at Gronstedt Group’s “Train for Success,” which continue to grow as we attract more and more expert speakers and participants with each passing week. Get a good headset and come as you are — whether that’s as Darth Vader, a giant spider or an enhanced digital version of your “first-life” self. After a visit or two to a virtual world meeting, any traditional e-learning pro- gram is going to appear flat, soulless and boring with no chance of capturing the imagination of today’s digital native employees. WHERE TO START? Once you’re sold, how do you sell it in your organization and get a program started? Some organizations make the mistake of treating it as another top-down implementation project where employees are shoehorned into a new software system. Instead, start in small scale. Set up a “Skunk Work” project. Rent an area in an open virtual world like Second Life or Active Worlds to hold a class and get some feedback, or negotiate a trial license with one of the private virtual world providers. Hold a meeting with the training group just to get warm in your clothes. Pilot and test. Solve specific problems. Get immediate feedback. Build internal success stories. Iron out kinks early and create a groundswell of support and an army of evangelists. Aggregate upward and outward to generate scale and drive the organization toward enterprise-level adoption. What kind of learning challenges are best Elearning! April / May 2008 27 http://www.tellmemore.com/corporate http://www.tellmemore.com/corporate

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Elearning - April/May 2008 Editor's Note Contents News Targeting Africa Locating Courseware People in the News Upcoming Events Deals Trendlines Web Services Building a Learning Culture Measuring the Learning Experience Making Learning Fun and Social LMS's 2008: What You Need To Know Learning Leader: CA Case Study: AVI Case Study: IBM Case Study: QualComm WBS Case Study: National Center for State Courts Case Study: Grundfos Pumps Case Study: Virginia Tech Pop Quiz Last Word

Elearning - April/May 2008

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