Multicultural Discussions Inside Second Life

After the events of September 11 and the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the conflicts between cultures and civilizations have become the new reality of people throughout the world. These events have generated new perspectives on multicultural issues and a widespread re-assessment of multiculturalism. Multicultural studies can no longer be based on the superficial differences of tastes and styles of different cultures, but must be focused on hardcore conflicts of fundamental values. We need a new, candid discussion about these profound differences that make cultures and civilizations deeply suspicious of each other and threaten the stability of the entire world.

Instructional Objectives

Learners

The simulated scenarios and the subsequent discussions are intended for undergraduate and graduate students majoring in International Busines, Political Science, Criminal Justice, Sociology, Social Anthropology, and Education.

Context of Use

Any class lesson that tries to deal with the current clashes between cultures must come to terms with the strong emotions, biases, and beliefs that we carry with us. In order to observe and analyze many of these volatile behaviors we need a setting where they can be expressed forcefully yet in a safe environment. We need a presentation mode that will give us the opportunity to experience these behaviors, and then followed with enough distance to be able to discuss and reflect on them dispassionately.

Second Life is a 3D virtual environment that is easily accessible with a computer and an internet connection. While Second Life provides anyone the opportunity to engage directly with people of other cultures, the experience, which is completely unstructured, may not lead to any useful learning.
                 "But this does not mean anything goes, or that educators should simply
                   turn learners loose in interactive environments and wait for the results.
                   Leaving them to float amidst rich experiences with no guidance only
                   triggers the penchant for finding creative but spurious patterns and
                   generalizations that send learners down garden paths." (Gee, 1992, 2001)

A guide, an instructor, or a facilitator must organize and direct the experience to ensure that the learning objectives will be reached. Students will log onto the Second Life environment and meet with the facilitator at a predetermined location such as the San Diego State University Virtual Classroom.

Dr. John Bransford, Director of Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) in a recent presentation inside Second Life explained that "the learning we seek comes from combining the SL experience with discussions following the demo." The direct experience inside Second Life must be followed with understanding that comes from discussion and colloboration or as Dr. Bransford states: "We believe that it is the combination of experience and a description that helps learning."

An invaluable context for this vitual classroom session would be the participation of international students, and professors to provide additional perspectives and insights. Learner Interaction should not be limited exclusively to periods of discussion, but can be increased with colloborative activities by assigning teams or groups to generate the scenarios and deliver them. Building the lesson around a strategy of interaction derives from the constructivist perspective that learning is "reciprocally constructed" from the interactions in the learning environment.

Discussion complements the immersive environment with the necessary reflections that facilitate the transfer of learning as noted by Goldstone in his article: "The transfer of scientific principles using concrete and idealized simulations."

          "Rich immersive contexts have immediacy but may be difficult to transfer to other
            situations unless the underlying principles can be abstracted from reflection and
            discussion."

In order to facilitate this transfer of learning, students should be asked to re-engage with the original scenario and re-write it, incorporating as many of the perspectives acquired from the discussion.

Scope

The virtual class involves Real Time Role Play and would take place inside Second Life for one hour to two hours. Participation by international students and professors would require some planning and technical support. Some scenarios may require the creation of costumes and sets that represents the dramatic reality of the scene, although these can be somewhat crude if lacking the support of 3D artists. The class session would consist of a brief Role Play Scene between two or more characters from different cultures. The scene has been scripted by the instructor, or by students in the class. Collaborative teams made up of different ethnic groups or with international students would allow the spirited exchange of perspectives during the creation of the scenarios. The roles can be portrayed by volunteers in the class or from other classes. These characters and the instructor would meet inside Second Life. The students in the class would watch on a large screen display and would participate inside Second Life indirectly through the instructor. After the role play scene is delivered, the instructor would engage the actors and the class watching on the screen in a discussion of the scenario. International students could be present in the same classroom or participate by logging onto Second Life. These scenarios and discussions could be videotaped for later use in future classes. Another option is to Pre-Tape the Role Play Scenario Inside Second Life and play the tape before initiating the discussion with international students inside Second Life. Once the discussion phase is completed, a re-engagemnt activity will take place: students can re-write the original scenarios with new or additional characters that will reflect new perspectives acquired from the discussion.

There have been similar proposals within groups inside Second Life to create dynamic learning environments that would replicate a setting with appropriate costumes that would facilitate the learning objective for a specific class lesson. Such a discussion took place at a meeting of the NMC Campus in Second Life. Here is a link to an abridged transcript of that meeting which also includes a link to the full transcript of the meeting.

Object of the Game

The goal of the virtual classroom session is to engage in a lively discussion that permits the students to confront fundamental values of his or her culture and how it comes into conflict with another culture, understand the conflict, and move toward possible resolutions.

Design Details

This virtual class on multicultural issues inside Second Life consists of two components: The SCENARIOS and the DISCUSSION.

The Constructivist model for interaction is an ideal framework for the basis of our discussions. In an article entitled "Critical Thinking, Cognitive Presence and Computer Conferencing in Distance Education, (the American Journal of Distance Education, 5/4/04), D. Randy Garrison, Terry Anderson, and Walter Archer defined interaction as a model of critical inquiry. This model is made up of four phases:

1. First Phase consists of the "triggering event" or the issue that challenges us.
2. Second Phase involves the exploration of the issue with multiple perspectives.
3. Third Phase tries to integrate the various and conflicting perspectives.
4. Fourth Phase attempts some final resolution that may involve compromise.

This model is the basis of many communities of higher learning with their focus on critical analysis and the adoption of multiple perspectives. The following discussions should be guided by this model of interaction.

Competing Products

One of the most popular game-simulation that deals with multicultural perspectives is Bafa Bafa. It places the players inside two imaginary worlds that display contrasting lifestyles: in one world people are more sociable, warm, and physically close while in the other world people are more industrious, cold, reserved, and distant. This is a very good multicultural exercise, but it is limited to one set of contrasting values and reduces all cultural complexity to overly broad generalizations. Bafa Bafa also lacks the confrontational aspect of real, serious values that are generating the tensions in many parts of our world. My approach which combines the emotions and drama of the scenarios with intercultural discussions allows for a more complex and nuanced exploration of difficult issues.

Motivational Issues

The virtual 3D environment of Second Life is a fantasy world that has a magnetic appeal to younger learners. This world is so appealing that people spend a great deal of time and effort in communicating with others and constructing sites within its territory. Immersed in this 3D environment, the learner becomes immediately enchanted by the possibility of engaging in direct experiences of color, movement, sounds, diversity of people, and language. The involvement is so appealing that it becomes almost like visiting an amusement park with an immediate arousal of the emotions. This appeal is defined as sensory curiosity by Malone and Lepper. Placing part of the lesson inside this 3D virtual world is another example of what Malone and Lepper call "endogenous fantasy" because it integrates the content within this fantasy context that is emotionally appealing. Keller in his ARCS model also refers to fantasy elements as potential motivators:

             "Any of these fantasy elements can be used to create a microworld in which
               the learner can imaginatively play a role, and can perform the kinds of
               activities that are required for survival and success in the real world. The
               fantasy might include the feature of a game, but it also includes an invented
               situation that, like a simulation, goes beyond a game. This can create a very
               high level of perceived relevance.

For educators, the opportunity to create these dynamic worlds where appropriate role playing could be incorported within learning environments has been limited. These type of fantasy worlds have been under the exclusive control of movie studios and enterntainment companies. These virtual worlds make possible the democratization of drama and film by giving us the tools to create our own stories with our own meanings.

The conflicts and inconsistencies presented by these scenarios also fulfill the learner's sense of cognitive curiosity. The scenarios ask us to fill in the answer to fundamental questions of cultural values that go to the root of who we are and why we behave as we do.

When using the colloborative strategy of students generating the scenarios, we use the motivator of control. Students gain a sense of power and can experience the powerful effects that result from their creations. And with this opportunity of self-expression, students also receive recognition from fellow students. (Malone & Lepper)

Finally, the role playing scenarios within this 3D virtual setting come under the motivation category of self-esteem. These scenes allow the learner to identify with characters and points of view that define or influence the way we come to know our self. We are all creatures of social contexts and these cultural conflicts are socially relevant to all of us. From the earliest days of man's existence people sat around the campfire telling and performing stories that were representations of the human condition. The early drama of the Greeks, which originated from religious ceremonies, was another version of the campfire archetype elevated to a higher standard. In a large sense, the act of role playing is nothing more than the ritual of communal integration. We are constantly describing and re-defining our role in today's global society.

Design Process

My visit inside Second Life was on the virtual campus of San Diego State University. The meeting and the tour were very exciting. Since my wife and I are of European birth, I decided to explore other international sites inside Second Life. I visited the Italian village of Parioli and had some wonderful, passionately political conversations with young italians from different regions of Italy. It was this experience that stimulated the idea of creating some sort of intercultural communication that was just as passionate as the one I experienced with my fellow italians.

The learning objectives were defined and were based on current multicultural conflicts. These objectives and the learning strategy were developed with Second Life as the vehicle for delivering them. Second Life is a tremendously appealing 3D environment that has a worldwide population with the potential for multicultural confrontations. There are numerous, ethnic villages that could be used as settings for multicultural scenarios. This visual environment along with the capability to engage international populations makes it an ideal tool for lessons on multicultural issues.

My next step was to perfect my navigation skills inside Second Life so that I could visit any site at any time by teleporting to a list of my favorite sites. Once I learned how to navigate, I wanted the capability to record my interactions and replay them for others at other times. I learned how to videotape my sessions inside Second Life and which video codec to use in these recordings, so that these files would be compatible with my video editing software.

The very first recording of these sessions were not very dynamic. They consisted of a wide shot of the entire site without any variety in camera angles. I had to learn how to control the camera in Second Life, so that I could zoom in and take different angles. This was my most difficult task to learn, and i am still not pleased with my results. I had to scour all of the guides and documents about Second Life in order to discover the simple shortcut of pressing the ALT key in combination with the ARROW KEYS in order to zoom in and out, and move the camera around the subject. This was a tremendous discovery for me and helped me in my next recorded session.

I asked my colleague to play the role of a spanish immigrant with me as the "ugly", ethnocentric American. I had scripted a very brief dialogue and recorded the session on her computer as well as mine.

These recorded sessions were then edited with Final Cut on the Mac and an audio dialogue was added to these scenes. The "audio acting" is amateurish and would be more effective if redone by more professional actors, nevertheless it communicates the major ideas.

Other scenarios were written but not produced. Recording and editing these sessions is very time intensive. It took three days just to complete the initial one minute video scenario.

Once the objectives, the strategy, and the scenarios were written, it was time to focus on the discussions. I developed a series of questions that could guide the discussion and ensure that the students would grapple with some of the fundamental issues inspired by the scenarios.

The scenarios were then given to a distance learning graduate class in education at Azusa Pacific University. Students were asked to comment and respond to the written scenarios in a threaded discussion. The actual comments are included here.

After the first draft was uploaded to my web site, I discovered two additional pieces of information that reinforced the validity of my design. One was the presentation of Dr. John Bransford that described an instructional strategy based on Second Life. The other was a group discussion about the future development of resources inside Second Life that would facilitate the creation of scenarios. I revised my project by citing the value of these two references.

The project was then presented to the entire class for feedback, and I discovered that my section on motivation was very weak and needed more explicit connections to the theories of motivation. This section was revised and improved.

I was satisfied with my design which I had already modified several times, but an event took place that made me think that my design lacked a final component. After listening to an interview with Cal Wick from the Elliott Maisie Learning Conference 2006 web site on the issue of the transfer of learning, I realized how crucial it was to add a follow up activity to the lesson. I called this activity my "Re-Engagement Activity" and it gave the students an opportunity to go back to the original scenarios and incorporate what new perspectives they had learned from the interaction. I congratulated myself for this fortuitous discovery that made the difference between a good design and an excellent design.

Pilot Test

These scenarios were introduced to an online graduate Education class at Azusa Pacific University to assess the quality of the discussion they could generate. The actual names of the students in this threaded discussion have been omitted, but the comments have not been altered. Here are the actual reactions to the scenarios.

References

Descriptions of Multicultural, Cross-cultural & Intercultural Games & Activities
Hello in Different Languages	This is a fun, warm-up, cross-cultural activity. The group tries to come up the word(s) for "hello" in as many different languages as possible.
The Story of My Name	Where does your name come from? Share the story of where your name comes from and what your name means. Helps to build intercultural respect and understanding.
Have You Ever?	Active, fun group activity to explore and celebrate the rich diversity of people's past experiences. Works well with large groups.
World Meal	A World Meal consists of a limited amount of rice and beans. This is the average meal for the average person on the planet. Cook this for a group of others and encourage them in turn to cook a World Meal for others.
Cross-cultural IQ Tests	This activity helps students become aware that so-called "intelligence" is culturally-bound and culturally defined. Attempt short IQ tests for mainstream US/Australian culture, Black-Rap 1960's culture, Australian Aboriginal culture. Ideal for class-room based education about psychology and culture, suited to older adolescents and adults. The tests are written in good humor.

Descriptions of Multicultural, Cross-cultural & Intercultural Games & Activities (other sites)
Bafa Bafa	A cross-cultural simulation activity. Involves two groups being given different sets of cultural rules to role play, then having to work out ways to communicate and solve tasks using their different cultural norms. Simulation Training Systems claims copyright.
Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes	Racial discrimination simulation activity, developed in the late 1960s by Jane Elliot (US). Divide group (school class or corporate group) into blue and brown eyes, then treat the groups with radically different privileges/punishments. Designed to illustrate that racism is learnt and conditioned. Jane Elliot is well-known as an "aggressive" facilitator who challenges participants' assumptions and behaviors to bring deeply-held prejudice to light. Interview with Jane Elliot. For more info, see her videos.
Beyond Survival	Design a development project to meet the needs of a poor community. (Ross Farley & Ben Thurley, Incite, 34)
Research and Present a Physical Game from another Culture	Students are required to find and research a physical activity/game from another culture, then play the game and discuss its background with the rest of the class.
Children's Folk Games	100+ traditional and modern games for kids from many different countries and cultures. Descriptions are in several languages. Includes game philosophy.
Multicultural Experiential Exercises	15+ role play, case study scenario, interactive discussion type activities which can be used for exploring self and multiculturalism.
Games & Activities for Teaching ESL	100+ activities which can be used with adults and children who are learning a second language.
Multi-cultural Supersite (Paul Gorski, McGraw-Hill)	9 activities for multicultural education courses for teachers, designed to address issues such as oppression, prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination.
Multicultural Games	50+ fun traditional and ethnically diverse games played around the world.
International Games	13 games kids play in different countries of the world.
Group Activities for Teaching ESL Children	7 group activities for young ESL students: Cultural Charades, Word Association, Description Groups, Pass the Question, Memory Momentum, Holiday Fun, Telling Tales
Multiculturalism: Children's games	Useful guide to multicultural game description sites; focuses on multicultural games for children, teaches and classrooms.
Multicultural Counting Games	11 games from different cultures to help kids have fun with counting and maths.
Preschool activities for a multicultural theme	10+ lesson plans for preschool multicultural activities, including World Passport, Native American Symbols, The "Talking Stone", Hinamatursi Day, I Am Different, Multicultural Puppet, Multicultural Book, Chop Stix Pick-up, and Multicultural Music Activities.
Mathematical Games with a Cross-cultural Flavor	Describes ancient mathematical/strategy games from different cultures: Sixteen Soldiers, Nine Men's Morris, Unknown Game, Pachisi, Alquerque.
White Identity Group Exercises	5 exercises to explore white racial self-identity and to identify and discuss issues of racism.
Excell Intercultural Skills Programme	An experiential, cognitive and behavioral cross-cultural social skills training package which helps people to skills for succeeding in unfamiliar societies. Learning strategies include alliance building and assessment, cultural mapping, demonstrating, role play, coaching and practical homework exercises. Also see this article.
Indigenous Games & Activities	Traditional group games and activities played in indigenous societies.
Peace Education Experiential Activities	Experiential activities which help promote peace and for learning conflict resolution skills.
Online Guide to Traditional Games	Focuses on history and description of 40+ traditional (common) games from around the world; UK emphasis.
Culture & Outdoor Education	Explores how culture affects outdoor education and cross-cultural differences to consider.
Multicultural Games: A Bibliography [.1 MB; pdf]	20+ multicultural games books are listed, plus a few websites. From Children's Museum in Boston, US.
Diversity Activities	A google search for "diversity activities".

Banks, James A. (2003). Handbook of research on multicultural education. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Day, Frances A. (1994). Multicultural voices in contemporary literature. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.

Glazer, Nathan (1997). We are all multiculturalists now. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.

Portes, Alejandro and Rumbaut, Ruben G. (1996). Immigrant America: A portrait.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Ru, Victoria R. and Stremmel, Andrew J. (1999). Affirming diversity through democratic
conversations. Columbus, OH: Merrill.

Takaki, Ronald. (1993). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America.
New York, NY: Little Brown and Company.