Issue 0803
March 2008
Training in
Virtual Worlds
INFO
LINE
Tips, Tools, and Intelligence for Trainers
Training Technology
& E-Learning
Published by the
American Society for
Training & Development
Anders Gronstedt
Vol. 25
l
Issue 0803
l
March 2008
Training in Virtual Worlds
AUTHOR
Training Technology & E-Learning
Anders Gronstedt
President
The Gronstedt Group, Inc.
520 Zang Street, Suite 211
Broomfield, CO 80021
Tel: 303.469.9000, ext. 22
Email: [email protected]
Anders Gronstedt, PhD, is president
of the Gronstedt Group, specializing in
improving employee and sales performance with simulation-based training,
podcasts, blogs, research, and consulting. A former member of the graduate
Integrated Marketing Communications
faculty at the University of Colorado, Dr.
Gronstedt is a world-renowned management consultant, speaker, and author.
Learning in Virtual Worlds....................................................................................1
Understanding Virtual Worlds........................................................................................1
Using Virtual Worlds in Training.....................................................................................4
Entering Into Virtual Worlds.........................................................................................10
Web 2.0........................................................................................................................14
References & Resources.....................................................................................15
Job Aid
Getting Started with Virtual Worlds............................................................................16
Infoline Associate Editor
Justin Brusino
Copy Editor
Ann Bruen
Production Design
Kathleen Schaner
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Training in Virtual Worlds
Learning in Virtual Worlds
Imagine being able to hold meetings and training
sessions with dispersed participants while having a
level of interaction that mimics meeting in person.
Virtual worlds allow you to see the other participants and communicate with remote individuals in
ways never thought of before.
Virtual worlds are increasing in popularity both
inside and outside of the training field. Still, many
are not familiar with virtual worlds and their
capabilities. Virtual worlds are interactive 3-D
environments on your computer. You control an
“avatar,” that operates inside the virtual world.
Virtual worlds have been popular in gaming and
social networking for some time now, but only
recently have they begun to be recognized for
their potential in learning.
The virtual world SecAn avatar is a virtual
ond Life® is by far
representation of yourself.
the most popular, with
You can design your
more than 12 million
avatar to look just like
“residents” worldwide.
you, or you can get
Even though the Seccreative and develop an
ond Life world was
entirely new identity.
not created specifically for training and
educational purposes, its ease of use and sheer size
make it a popular choice. IBM is investing millions
of dollars in learning projects at 25 private islands
in the Second Life world. Universities, including
Harvard and Stanford hold classes in the Second
Life world—for credit. Clearly, a lot of the world’s
most credible organizations believe that virtual
worlds are going to be a big part of their futures.
Virtual worlds use many advanced technologies
and can be intimidating. This issue of Infoline is
designed to familiarize you with virtual worlds and
give you ideas about how they can work for you.
You will learn
l
popular ways organizations are using virtual
worlds
l
how to select the right virtual world provider for
your organization
l
how to use virtual worlds in your organization.
Understanding Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds provide the opportunity for a richer
communication experience than email, phone, or
chat. It’s as close to real human interaction as you
can get. This is in part because communicating virtually “levels the playing field.” In a virtual environment, you can speak to others using a microphone
or headset, or chat with instant messenger (IM). In
an open virtual world like the Second Life world,
users can design their avatars to look any way they
want. Because of this, issues of class, race, gender,
and so on are eliminated. In essence, internal and
external hierarchies are eliminated.
What makes this environment different from
traditional online training is that it’s almost fully
immersive. Instead of learning that is mediated
by books, PowerPoint slides, and voice-over narration, virtual worlds are experiential, interactive, and multisensory. Learners are engaged in
new and exciting ways.
What You Can Do
Almost anything that you can do in the real world,
you can do in a virtual world—and more. People
use virtual worlds as a playground or a business
adjunct, a social networking hub or a programming
haven. What’s exciting about the technology is that
it can really go anywhere and be molded to exactly
what the users want it to be.
A real breakthrough for virtual environments as
learning applications was the full integration of
voice. Instead of having to rely on chat and IM,
users can now speak to each other via voice in 3-D.
In the Second Life world, voices of nearby avatars
sound louder than avatars that are farther away.
Voices from avatars to your right feed through the
right speaker. As you move around, the sound seems
to change direction.
Copyright © ASTD
1
Training in Virtual Worlds
People who spend time in a virtual world don’t
think of it as a “virtual world.” The real and the virtual become one when you’re immersed in a training class in this world. Educational theorists as far
back as Aristotle have pointed out that one cannot
learn what one has not personally experienced.
Virtual worlds offer ample opportunity for learning
by doing.
Virtual worlds, as with most forms of e-learning,
have their own vocabulary. See the Glossary sidebar for a list of terms and definitions that you should
understand.
Benefiting from Virtual Worlds
Bringing learning into the virtual environment has
many benefits. Here are a few of them.
Eliminates distance barriers: This is a bonus of
all e-learning, but with virtual worlds, you can do
anything—listen to a speaker, hold a meeting, or
navigate a complex simulation, all in real time.
Provides richer communication: Face-to-face communication is more closely replicated here than in
other mediums; not only can you hear the voices
of other users, but you also can make gestures and
replicate body language.
Engages multiple senses: As stated above, in a virtual environment you can see and hear the other
participants; because you are constantly controlling
your avatar with your hands, you are kinesthetically
engaged as well.
Moves at the learner’s pace: Many virtual training
applications, including certain games and simulations, are asynchronous; so learners can go back and
retry them again and again until they are comfortable with the information.
Breaks down hierarchical barriers: Communicating in a virtual world levels the playing field by giving users a new identity; this eases communication
between parties of different standing.
Promotes fun: This is in fact a key benefit; learners are interested in and excited about using this
technology, which means that they will be more
engaged in the “classroom.”
2
Who’s Using Virtual Worlds
Both men and women are using virtual worlds. The
user base of the virtual world Second Life is about
60 percent men and 40 percent women, with the
typical users being in their mid-30s. It’s interesting to note that 80 percent of female avatars are
real females and 20 percent are men; while almost
all male avatars are run by actual males. The Second Life world has an 18-year-old age limit, with
a separate and similarly constructed virtual world
grid for teens.
Although the virtual world Second Life is an innovation of the United States, its user base is
international. ComScore, a global Internet information provider, suggests that 60 percent of
the Second Life world users are from Europe, 16
percent are from the United States, and 13 percent hail from Asia.
Many international residents communicate in English, but there is a lot of chatter in others languages.
To help all users communicate, The Second Life
world has a feature called “Babbler” It’s far from
perfect, but it is effective enough to help you get
the gist of most conversations.
Are Virtual Worlds Right for You?
Virtual worlds are
Babbler is a language
not right for every
translator that provides
individual and every
on-the-fly translations of
organization. Large
chat conversations.
corporations are the
first to really dive into
using virtual worlds
for business and learning, because they have a lot
of money and resources to tailor the technology
for their purposes.
Many organizations will find some reason for using
a virtual environment, whether it is to hold meetings or to watch virtual speakers. Even if you decide
that your organization will not create or participate
in any virtual environments, it is still crucial to be
familiar with them and their capabilities. Virtual
worlds are not going away any time soon.
Copyright © ASTD
Training in Virtual Worlds
Glossary
This glossary contains some terms that all virtual world
users should be familiar with.
Avatar: A computer user’s representation of himself or
herself as a computer-generated 3-D character.
Bandwidth: The information carrying capacity of a communication channel. Virtual worlds require a lot of bandwidth to run properly.
Closed source: A virtual world that is created for specific
purposes and controls who is allowed to enter. Also known
as a “walled garden.”
Firewall: A technology that gives users access to the Internet while retaining internal network security.
Fun: A pleasurable sensation experienced during play;
even Socrates thought fun was important.
HUD (head-up display): Another term for your on-screen
tool bar in a virtual world.
Intranet: A LAN or WAN that’s owned by a company
and is accessible only to people working internally. It is
protected from outside intrusion by a combination of
firewalls and other security measures.
LAN (local-area network): A group of personal computers or other devices, such as printers or servers, that are
located in a relatively limited area, such as an office, and
can communicate and share information with one another.
Linden Lab: The creator of the virtual world Second
Life.
Mixed reality: The combining of real and virtual elements.
Copyright © ASTD
MMOG (massively multiplayer online game): An
online video game supporting hundreds or thousands of
players simultaneously and enabling them to cooperate
and compete with one another. Virtual worlds like Second Life are a type of MMOG, which is sometimes called
“MMOSG” (massively multiplayer online social game),
because the goal is socialization rather than gaming.
Open source: A type of virtual world that is open to all
users, although there may be age restrictions.
Second Life: A popular 3-D virtual world with millions of
users worldwide. All of its content is user created, and it has
its own economy.
Skins: Custom graphic appearances; this applies to how
your avatar looks.
SLurls: Location-based linking in the virtual world Second
Life; these allow to you teleport to specific areas.
Walled garden: Another term for a closed source virtual
world.
Virtual world: Massive multi-user online environment
where people live out a collective fantasy existence.
Voice over IP (or VoIP): Stands for “Voice over Internet
Protocol.” This technology allows audio to be transmitted
over the Internet.
WAN (wide-area network): A computer network that
spans a relatively large area. Usually made up of two or
more local area networks. The Internet is a WAN.
Web 2.0: Second-generation web-based communities that
facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing.
3
Training in Virtual Worlds
Exploring for Yourself
Virtual Training Applications
This chart shows you the four main types of virtual world training
applications. As you can see, some applications are more interactive than others; some you can participate in on your own while
others require the presence of multiple participants.
All of the description in the world will not help you
fully understand what it is like to be in a virtual
world; it has to be experienced. One way to understand the scope and intricacy of a virtual world is to
open a free Second Life account, create your own
avatar, and navigate the virtual landscape.
To learn more, see the sidebar Jump Right In!
Asynchronous
Synchronous
Highly Interactive
Games and
Simulations
Collaboration
Less Interactive
Experiences
Meetings
Using Virtual Worlds in Training
Early success stories from both academia and the
corporate world suggest four “killer apps” of virtual
world learning. Some of these applications are asynchronous, single-user applications where learners
can get on any time for a game-based simulation or
a multisensory experience. Other applications take
advantage of the massively multiplayer capabilities
of virtual worlds, facilitating teamwork and collaboration, or friendly
This is computer programcompetition among a
mer jargon that refers
large group of learners.
to the applications that
Some applications are
make a computer program
more interactive than
essential.
others.
The four categories of use we will discuss are
l
meetings
experiences
l games and simulations
l collaboration.
l
See the sidebar Virtual Training Applications for
more information.
Meetings
Virtual worlds can be used in place of many companies’ existing videoconferencing and webinar
activities. Instead of seeing a still picture or streaming video of someone’s face, virtual meetings allow
users to
l
chat
react
l make gestures
l see the entire group.
l
4
Copyright © ASTD
Training in Virtual Worlds
Companies like IBM frequently hold meetings
that involve real-world participants in a conference
room interacting with the avatars of remote participants that are displayed on a screen. This sort of
event is called a “mixed reality,” and those who have
participated in it say there’s a sense that the people
are all actually together.
As stated earlier, virMixed reality meetings
tual worlds have the
can be a great way to
real benefit of providintroduce new or skeptiing dispersed users a
cal employees to virtual
richer communication
worlds. Those employees
outlet. “People have
can see the benefits of
real
conversations,
meeting virtually without
they pull stuff out of
having to create or
their inventory to iloperate their own avatar.
lustrate concepts—it’s
learner driven rather
than teacher driven,”
says Rodica Buzescu, who helped manage Harvard
Law School’s first class in a virtual world.
Instead of staring at a telephone during a conference call or watching a succession of PowerPoint slides during a web meeting, virtual world
users can “see the meeting.” There are various
cues people can use while speaking and listening
to indicate approval, disapproval, confusion, and
so on. Real face-to-face interaction is more fully
replicated here
than
anywhere
In a virtual world meeting
else. Still with all
you can more easily monitor
of these advantagparticipation by watching how
es, virtual worlds
the attendees gesture and
are not without
interact. Just like in real life,
their problems.
you’ll know which attendees
To learn more,
are engaged and active and
see the sidebar
which are sitting motionless
Barriers to Virand unresponsive.
tual Learning.
Mentoring
Companies also are using virtual environments
as a meeting ground for mentors and their mentees. This has the obvious benefit of eliminating distance barriers that could prohibit certain
mentoring relationships. In addition, because the
employees involved are not working in the same
office, they can provide each other with a unique
brand of insight.
IBM is using the virtual world Second Life for
mentoring. Traditionally, mentoring relationships at IBM remained regional; for example, a
European employee would likely have a European mentor. Now employees (as their avatars)
can meet in the Second Life world, where they
are mentored by senior managers who may be
continents—and even cultures—apart.
Events
Companies also can look into attending or holding
virtual events such as trade shows, expos, conferences, and job fairs. Virtual events provide the benefit of being able to travel to see speakers, network
with colleagues, and attend events without ever
leaving your office.
Out-of-This-World Experiences
The 3-D environment of many virtual worlds can
be used by training professionals to illustrate technical concepts in powerful new ways. In a virtual
environment, you can construct scaled representations of any structure or system.
Copyright © ASTD
5
Training in Virtual Worlds
Jump Right In!
You can learn only so much about virtual worlds by reading about them; the best way to familiarize yourself is to
dive in and explore. The virtual world Second Life is a
good place to start because of its sheer size and the fact
that you can open a free account.
ASTD has created its own Orientation Island in the Second
Life world, which is designed to be an “easy on ramp” to
virtual worlds. Here you will learn how to sign up for a basic
Second Life account, navigate inside the world, and customize your avatar.
6
Sign Up
Begin by pointing your browser to secondlife.astd.
com. Now choose your avatar’s name (you will have to
select from a list of last names) and enter your birth date
and email address. Your initial password will be emailed
to you, but you can change it later. Save this information.
Be aware that many people have issues accessing the Second Life world from behind their corporate firewalls. You
may try to get your IT department to poke a hole through
the firewall to allow access, but if your organization is unsure about adopting virtual worlds, this might be a problem.
Usually, an easier option is to log in from a home computer.
Copyright © ASTD
Training in Virtual Worlds
The virtual world Second Life is not browser based; you
have to run the program from the virtual world viewer
that you will be prompted to download. To launch the
program, click on the Second Life icon on your desktop
or find it under “Programs” on your computer. You will
be prompted to enter your avatar name (not your real-life
name) and your password. Then, bingo, you will be at the
opening to the Orientation Area of ASTD Island.
Navigate
Here’s where the fun begins. From the most basic function of using your arrow keys to move around, to more advanced functions, it’s all explained in the ASTD orientation process, which takes about 20 minutes. Once you are
done with orientation, you can look around the rest of the
ASTD Island, or Teleporting can get you to other locations
in the Second Life world instantaneously. Hit “Search”
at the bottom of your screen, enter any search term
you want, and hit the “Teleport” button. Before you get
serious about teleporting to one of the training venues,
get a little practice by investigating some social sites.
Search for “Barcelona,” for instance, where you can get a
cup of coffee, dance a little salsa, and try to make sense
of the flurry of European languages spoken by the diverse
clientele.
Copyright © ASTD
Customize Your Avatar
The ASTD Orientation will provide you with an Avatar, but be sure to make some time to customize your
avatar; it can be the most fun you’ve had all week. You
might opt for a quick, mildly modified default avatar or
invest more deeply in an ongoing process that rises to
the level of artistic self-expression. People can easily
spend an hour customizing their avatars. Your avatar can
be anything: a superhero, a vampire, a dragon, a pink
flamingo, or simply a stylized version of the real you.
Some companies require that their employees’ avatars
remain human. With your avatar created, you are now
ready to begin roaming around the virtual world’s fantastically detailed landscape.
Join SLED
After you have completed the orientation process, you
might want to think about joining SLED (Second Life
Educators). This is a group of more than 5,000 virtual world
educators. SLED members share and discuss virtual learning experiences, and answer one another’s questions.
7
Training in Virtual Worlds
Barriers to Virtual Learning
Although virtual worlds offer a number of business and
training solutions, there are still a number of flaws that have
yet to be worked out. The following is a list of potential
problems that you should be aware of when thinking about
adopting virtual worlds in your organization.
Design Problems
Open platform worlds are primarily consumer-based
applications. In other words, they were not designed
with the business world in mind. Linden Lab frequently
brings the whole Second Life world down for maintenance during the business day, giving only a few hours’
notice. They clearly prefer to interrupt business users
rather than nighttime recreational users.
Firewall Problems
Because many virtual worlds are open to anyone, there
are inherent security risks involved. Many technology
departments will be reluctant to open up the company
firewall to allow access to virtual worlds. Even if your
company purchases its own property and restricts access
to the public, some experts advise against discussing sensitive company information in open virtual worlds.
Hardware Problems
Hardware and infrastructure requirements pose another
barrier. The amount of data driven by a virtual world’s lush
virtual environment can tax even high-speed Internet connections, and the addition of VoIP is only going to increase
the drain. To run many virtual worlds you will need
l
a large amount of bandwidth
a fast processor
l a quality graphics card.
l
Even with these things, you might encounter some lag.
Make sure your computer can handle the requirements,
and close your other applications to increase performance. Closed platforms typically run more smoothly
because they don’t have the expansive environments that
open platforms do.
People Problems
The main challenge, though, isn’t technology, but people.
Many people don’t initially see the value of participating
in a virtual environment and fall back on the sentiment
that they have too much work in their first life to start a
second one. This issue is really a matter of starting small
and building support. Also, know your organization and
its boundaries.
Several companies are setting up their own in-world
orientation islands to familiarize employees with their
virtual environments. This is a good model to emulate, if
you have the resources. If not, set up blocks of training
time to get the employees familiar with how to navigate
in the virtual world. It also is a good idea to offer general
education about virtual worlds, so that employees are
familiar with their benefits, risks, and limitations.
8
Copyright © ASTD
Training in Virtual Worlds
Your avatar can have many experiences that are not
possible in the real world. Here are a few examples
of some creative experiences in the virtual world
Second Life:
puzzles to gain entrance to a mysterious blimp in
the sky. Inside the blimp they have a chance to win
a grand prize. This game is fun for the user and promotes the Microsoft brand.
l
The Science Library, for instance, affords you a
novel view of the placement of carbon atoms in
3-D space.
l
The Second Life museum, Exploratorium, has
built a scale model of the Earth and moon system. Even real-life astronomers find that walking their avatars from the Earth to the moon
gives them a more immediate understanding of
the sizes and distances involved.
Virtual worlds are a great way to conduct role play.
Have your sales team simulate specific scenarios. A
benefit of conducting virtual simulations is that it
is risk free; users can experiment with new techniques and ideas without the chance of any realworld repercussions.
l
l
The University of Denver has received a $200,000
federal grant to develop a virtual nuclear power
plant. They plan on contrasting the 1946 Chernobyl power plant with a state-of-the-art power
plant to give hands-on training that would be
possible only through a field trip.
A University of California psychology professor’s
class affords students the experience of powerful virtual hallucinations. As users get closer to
a poster on the wall, words change to profanities and a creepy voice tells you to “kill yourself.”
This experience illustrates schizophrenia in ways
that listening to a lecture or reading a text simply
can’t match.
Einstein famously imagined himself to be a photon speeding over the earth; the Second Life world
actually allows for these types of experiences.
Games and Simulations
While the virtual worlds discussed here are not
games themselves—there’s no score, no levels, no
end purpose per se—almost any kind of gamebased simulation can be developed in a virtual
world. Consider Microsoft Visual Studio’s crafty
scavenger hunt. The users must solve various logic
Imagine you are part of an international shipping
and package delivery company. You could train
your employees virtually—including running their
routes virtually and encountering various delivery
situations. Your new learners would be provided
with on-the-job training that could previously only
be gained in the field.
Collaboration
For all the razzle-dazzle of their 3-D modeling, virtual worlds are really ultimately a social networking
tool. Online interaction and collaboration are taken
to unprecedented levels; hierarchies are broken
down; and geographic boundaries are eliminated.
IBM employees role-play interviewing techniques
in front of an audience that will later critique them.
Another popular application at IBM: language
classes. Consider the possibilities for delivering
diversity awareness education where learners enter
as an avatar with a different skin color or sex to walk
a mile in someone else’s shoes.
Virtual worlds are also a great way to increase ease
of communication across departments. A large
pharmaceutical company had its research team
and its sales team collaborate in a virtual world.
These two teams, which notoriously worked poorly
together, excelled in the virtual environment. As
a result, a new drug was ready for market months
ahead of time, which resulted in a substantial profit
for the company.
Copyright © ASTD
9
Training in Virtual Worlds
Virtual Learning Examples
For more real-world examples of how virtual environments are being used, see the sidebar Virtual
Learning Examples.
The following examples are some unique, varied, and interesting ways that virtual worlds are being used to teach and enhance
learning.
Entering Into Virtual Worlds
The Nutrition Game
The VITAL lab at Ohio University built a nutrition game, designed
to teach the health effects of fast food and various ethnic foods.
Users enter three different restaurants to select meals to simulate
a day’s worth of eating. A “head-up display” (HUD) shows the
calorie and fat count of the selected items. Players are offered
feedback about the health impact of this kind of diet. Surveys of
people who have played the game suggest that it had an impact on
their dietary decisions.
Appalachian Tycoon
VITAL lab also created Appalachian Tycoon, an environmental
computer simulation in the Second Life world. It is designed to
show how housing and industry affect water quality. Players are
challenged to build factories and houses without polluting the
water. The players’ environmental awareness is increased as they
can see the impact of their building choices.
Virtual worlds are exciting and have a lot to offer
businesses, but it can be hard to know where to begin, especially if you are unfamiliar with the technology. Still, you don’t have to be tech-savvy to get
virtual worlds working for your business. Follow the
step-by-step guide to introduce your organization
to virtual environments.
Identify a Learning Need
As with any learning challenge, you need to start
by identifying the problem you’re trying to solve.
Identify an audience and its performance challenge.
Following are examples of “low hanging fruit” that
many companies start with.
l
New hire introduction: Show scaled models
of your facilities and products; introduce new
employees to each other and to leaders of the
company.
l
Sales training: Role-play sales skills, show
models of new products, and host guest speakers. Sales reps are typically geographically dispersed, which makes them a good target. Also,
measuring a return-on-investment in training is
easier with the sales department; a few percent
increase in sales productivity can translate to a
substantial return-on-investment.
l
Customer and partner training: Start with
external training to avoid issues with internal
firewalls. Companies like Intel hold regular
meetings with their third-party software developers, for instance.
CeaseFire Island
CeaseFire Island is a powerful example of virtual world collaboration. Its goal is to teach gang members to stop real killings. A
team from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public
Health CADE (Center for the Advancement of Distance Learning) created an urban “hood” using the city of Chicago as a backdrop. Former gang members play out scenarios in this world and
practice anticipating situations that lead to violence. Instead of
using force, they use their words to diffuse a potentially violent
situation. They get to practice and discuss the role play in a safe
environment where they can brandish a virtual weapon without
getting shot.
If none of these examples apply to your organization, conduct a needs assessment to see what
training would be beneficial. For information on
conducting an assessment, see Infoline No. 9408,
“Strategic Needs Analysis.”
10
Copyright © ASTD
Training in Virtual Worlds
Understand the Worlds
Choose Your World
While the virtual world Second Life is the
most popular virtual world for education and
training, with thousands of schools and companies involved, a number of others exist.
It’s important to thoroughly research your
platform options to choose the best fit for your
organization’s needs.
Now that you have an understanding of the different worlds available, it is time to decide which platform is best for you. Begin by asking yourself a few
questions.
When choosing your
virtual world, be
aware of the two main
types: open platforms
and closed platforms.
If your organization plans on delivering training
to people outside of the organization—customers,
partners, vendors, and external SMEs—they will
probably need access to your virtual world. If this is
the case, you probably want to go with an open system like the Second Life world or Active Worlds.
This refers to the software
or computer program that
allows an application to
run. An example of an
operating system platform
is Microsoft Windows.
Open Platforms
Open platforms like the Second Life world, Active
Worlds, There, Multiverse and Entropia Universe are
consumer oriented and open for anyone to use, for
any purpose. Users on these platforms may be there
to buy and sell goods, network, or just explore.
These are a great option for getting your feet wet.
Their only detractor is that they are not built specifically for business or training purposes, so there
can be difficulty tailoring them to your needs. Also,
because they are open to anyone, there are possible
security issues.
Closed Platforms
Another option is a closed platform, or a “walled
garden,” that resides on the company’s own server;
examples of these are ProtoSphere, Forterra Systems’ OLIVE, or Qwaq Forums. These are great
options because they are built for business purposes
and can be tailored to suit your needs. A problem
with these closed systems is that they usually come
with a large license fee. Also, because the system is
closed, it can be difficult to invite guest speakers and
participants from outside of the organization. Closed
platforms have interfaces that are usually less varied
and more serious, which can be a help or a hindrance
depending on your needs.
Consider Ease of Access
You may prefer to use your virtual environment for
internal training and meetings, and want to keep it
secure and private behind a firewall. If so, consider
proprietary systems like ProtoSphere, OLIVE, or
Qwaq Forums.
Choose the Type of Environment
Multiverse or the Second Life world allows you
to create anything you can imagine in breathtaking beauty. But you may prefer more life-like
and business-appropriate renditions of reallife environments. If this is the case, check out
ProtoSphere and OLIVE, which offer reusable
3-D content assets such as buildings, vehicles,
objects, classrooms, work places, and avatars.
If you are only looking for a virtual conference
room, Qwaq Forums is a good choice.
Work Within Your Budget
Are you on a six-figure budget to build businesscritical simulations? Give OLIVE a look. Or do you
want the flexibility to do rapid deployment of lowerbudget training? The virtual world Second Life is
your choice.
It’s the age old conundrum of open and messy versus closed and controlled. There is no perfect platform; each organization will have to understand its
needs and resources.
Copyright © ASTD
11
Training in Virtual Worlds
With all this said about the differences among the platforms, they are becoming less pronounced and moving
toward more interoperability. The virtual world Second Life, for instance, has committed to open sources
and has taken an important step by open-sourcing its
viewer. It offers powerful land-management tools to
provide a secure internal environment by invitation
only. Meanwhile, closed systems like OLIVE are coming down in price and becoming open to customer
and partner developers.
For additional information, see the sidebar Choosing Your Virtual World.
Select a Vendor
If you have selected an open platform, you will
need to construct your virtual environment. Building a virtual world is not a core competency among
many training departments. With closed systems,
this is not an issue, as they typically have designers on staff to meet your needs. One important task
is to select a vendor that can provide start-to-finish
management of a virtual learning project. You also
may want to select a vendor earlier in the process
to help you find the right virtual platform for your
organization.
Look around at industry conferences and network
with peers to find a vendor. The Second Life website has a list of solution providers on its website.
See the References & Resources page of this Infoline for more information.
The key to success with your virtual world program
is to start it on a small scale. Rent an area in an open
virtual world like the Second Life world or Active
Worlds to hold a class. Or negotiate a trial license
with a closed virtual world. Then get feedback from
the test group.
If the IT department doesn’t initially support using
virtual worlds, ask a small group of testers to do it
from their home laptops as a pilot. Hold a meeting with the training group just to get its members
familiar with the technology. This will allow you to
solve specific problems as they arise.
Buy Land or Acquire a License
Once you have management committed for a larger deployment, it’s time to purchase and deploy a
virtual world on your own server. The Second Life
world offers the purchase of private, expandable
islands that are fully customizable, with a choice
of six different terrains or the option to build your
own. The closed systems offer virtual worlds that
can be installed behind the firewall or hosted by the
virtual world providers.
Build a Learning Environment
Now that you own the land, you have an open canvas. This is when the fun of designing the learning
environment begins. It can be a matter of mixing
and matching existing assets of houses, streets, and
3-D objects. Or it can be a task of playing God and
creating a new world. If you have already chosen
an outside vendor or solution provider, make sure
that you are closely involved in the design of your
environment. If you are building the environment
internally, a 3-D design artist can be helpful in this
process, and Google SketchUp is a useful and intuitive tool to draft 3-D renderings.
Decide What to Build
So what are you going to build? Depending upon
your organizational culture, a realistic replication
of the work environment, like an office or a plant,
makes sense. But many organizations are pushing the envelope and building creative and unique
learning environments. Why hold training in a classroom when you can be on a beach? If your organization allows you to be creative with your virtual
environment, do it.
There’s a surprising lack of imagination in the virtual
worlds. Sure, many of the lecture halls are roofless,
making it easier to fly in and out and to watch as
you’re flying around. And you’ll see the occasional
chair that looks like a Star Wars-style floating pod.
But most virtual world learning spaces continue to
look like real-life auditoriums and classrooms.
Use positive feedback to build internal success stories. Iron out the kinks early and create support.
Aggregate upward and outward to generate scale
and drive the organization toward enterprise-level
adoption.
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Copyright © ASTD
Training in Virtual Worlds
Choosing Your Virtual World
The number of virtual worlds to pick from is large and
increasing. It can be difficult to know which one is appropriate for your company. Below is a list of some of the major
virtual world platforms and their features.
Open Systems
The virtual world Second Life is developed by Linden Lab
and came to international attention through a series of frontpage stories in 2006 and 2007. Anyone can sign up for a free
account, download a viewer client, and begin exploration.
The Second Life world has its own economy and a currency
referred to as Linden Dollars (L$) that can be exchanged
for real money.
Active Worlds has been around longer than many virtual
environments and is similar to the Second Life world, with
a community of hundreds of thousands of users who chat
and build 3-D virtual reality environments in millions of
square miles of virtual territory. Active Worlds licenses its
virtual world technology for private development, which is
potentially useful for training purposes. Quest Atlantis, a
learning game designed for school children, is an example
of an educational environment that utilizes Active Worlds.
Other popular open virtual worlds are There, Habo Hotel,
and Entropia Universe.
Copyright © ASTD
Closed Systems
If you want a platform built specifically for training
purposes that integrates with existing LMS (learning management systems), you may want to check
out Proton Media’s ProtoSphere or Forterra Systems’
OLIVE (On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment).
They offer private, secure worlds that can be deployed behind the firewalls and can be integrated with
SCORM-based (searchable content object reference
model) LMS systems. Such “walled garden” platforms
offer secure and controlled learning environments without distractions as well as a number of existing 3-D assets
and locations.
Drawbacks include hefty license fees that might inhibit
casual and ad hoc use. Difficulty accessing the training
environment for external clients like partners, customers,
and outside developers is another disadvantage.
Closed Collaboration Platforms
Qwaq Forum is developed as a collaboration platform; it is
a sort of cross between a virtual world and a web meeting.
Users create virtual offices, communicating by voice and instant message. People can collaborate on documents that
even have a built-in text editor. The Qwaq software itself
can be hosted either externally or on-premise. Like ProtoSphere and OLIVE, it’s a behind-the-firewall implementation that will keep the IT department happy. A downside
is that its graphics are crude when compared with other
platforms.
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Training in Virtual Worlds
Think Outside the Box
Create a List of Rules
The tendency to drag baggage from the first life
into the virtual world is perhaps not surprising—
unimaginative “re-purposing” has characterized the
early stages of seemingly all new media. The first
cars looked like horse carriages, the first movies
looked like stage shows, and most e-learning still
looks like a classroom lecture. It takes time for a
new medium to develop its own character and
unique vernacular. Trainers and learners alike will
benefit from resisting the view that virtual worlds
are just virtual classrooms.
Your orientation process should go beyond the
mechanics of navigation in the virtual world to
include training on behavior and appearance.
Give your employees guidelines as to when and
how to use the virtual environment. Many of your
rules should reiterate existing codes of conduct,
such as:
Many learning organizations are pushing the
envelope. Gronstedt Group, an e-learning consulting firm, has created a virtual classroom in the
shape of a train car, as in “Train for Success,” and
finds that this intimate setting is far more conducive to conversations than a virtual conference
room or auditorium. IBM has balloons flying in
the air that you can enter to explore 360-degree
images—a sort of virtual reality within the virtual reality. These creative applications suggest a
need to reinvent learning in a virtual world.
Develop an Orientation Process
The orientation in a virtual world is a critical
success factor. Landing in the Second Life world’s
huge orientation island with 50 other new members can be an intimidating experience. Companies like Cisco have their own employee in-world
orientation process, complete with a Second Life
Company Store, where they can outfit themselves
with appropriate skins. You also have the option
of holding an internal training session to teach
specific skills to new users.
The naming convention for avatars is an important step of the orientation. Closed platforms frequently identify the avatar by the user’s real name.
Platforms like the Second Life world use fictitious names. Several companies give all employee
avatars the same last name, “CiscoSystems” for
instance, to identify them as company employees.
In the Second Life world, you will be charged a
fee for a customized company last name.
14
l
Don’t discuss intellectual property with unauthorized people.
l
Don’t discriminate, harass, or make inappropriate comments to other users.
Your policy also can go into virtual world specifics,
cautioning workers against having multiple avatars
or frequently changing their avatar’s appearance.
Web 2.0
Virtual worlds are
Refers to the second
only the latest step
generation of web design;
in the democratiit is characterized by
zation of learning.
facilitating creativity and
They provide learncollaboration. Examples
ing organizations the
include wikis, podcasts,
powerful,
unique
virtual worlds, and socialability to engage and
networking sites.
empower employees
in ways that accommodate their digital
and mobile lifestyles. Virtual worlds have the power
to transform the way we learn.
For virtual worlds to truly be an effective source
of learning, they can’t be looked at as just another
outlet to disseminate the same type of training.
Trainers must rethink the way they devise and
deliver learning to fully take advantage of all virtual worlds have to offer. Virtual worlds are an
exciting new outlet to deliver learning, but the
technology will interest learners for only so long.
In the end it will still be up to the trainers to
design unique and engaging content.
Copyright © ASTD
Training in Virtual Worlds
References & Resources
Internal Consultant
Anthony Allen
Director, Digital Media
ASTD
Articles
Books
Borzo, Jeanette. “Avatars Become the New
All-Stars of Corporate-Training Techniques.” Wall Street Journal Online,
June 2004.
Cross, Jay. Informal Learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2007.
Kapp, Karl M. Games, Gadgets and
Gizmos. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2007.
Dublin, Lance. “Success with E-Learning.”
Learning Circuits, May 2007, http://
www.learningcircuits
.org/2007/0507dublin.html.
Robbins, Sarah, and Mark Bell. Second
Life for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley,
2008.
Gronstedt, Anders. “Second Life Produces
Real Training Results.” T+D, August
2007, pp. 44-49.
Rymaszewski, Michael, et al. Second Life:
The Official Guide. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley,
2007.
Hall, Tim, and Frank Nguyen. “Review:
IBM@Play on Second Life.” Learning
Circuits, September 2007, http://www
.learningcircuits.org/2007/0907review.
htm.
Kapp, Karl M. “Defining and Understanding Virtual Worlds.” Learning Circuits,
May 2007, http://www.learningcircuits
.org/2007/0507kapp.html.
Karrer, Tony. “Understanding E-Learning
2.0.” Learning Circuits, July 2007,
http://www.learningcircuits
.org/2007/0707karrer.html.
Krell, Eric. “HR Challenges in Virtual
Worlds.” HR Magazine, November
2007, p. 85.
Websites
www.virtualworldsmanagement.com
www.virtualworldsnews.com
www.virtualworldsreview.com
Virtual world platforms:
Note that the following virtual worlds were
all available at the time of this publication
and are subject to change or termination.
www.activeworlds.com
www.forterrainc.com
www.protonmedia.com
www.qwaq.com
www.secondlife.com
www.there.com
List of Second Life solution providers:
http://secondlifegrid.net/programs
/solprogram/directory
Second Life is a trademark of Linden Research, Inc. Certain materials have been reproduced with the permission of Linden Research, Inc.
COPYRIGHT © 2001-2007 LINDEN RESEARCH, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Copyright © ASTD
15
Training in Virtual Worlds
Job Aid
Checklist for Entering Virtual Worlds
Using a virtual world for training is exciting, but it can be complicated if you are not prepared. This job aid details the steps and
considerations you need to be aware of when planning to use virtual worlds in learning.
M Identify a learning need.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
M Choose a virtual world.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
M Select a vendor.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
M Pilot the program.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
M Develop an orientation process.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
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