Faculty: Dongdong Chen, Ph.D
Department: Asian Studies
Project: Engaging the Learning of Chinese Language and Culture in Second Life
This semester Dr. Chen has embarked on incorporating the virtual world Second Life into two sections of Introductory Chinese I (CHIN 1102). Dr. Chen is using the Second Life School on Chinese Island, created by the Confucius Institute at Michigan State University.
The following abstract describes Prof. Chen's virtual world project:
Along with face-to-face instruction, students will engage with their peers in the virtual world Second Life to learn about and practice the Chinese language and culture. 30 Students in this course have created virtual representations of themselves in the form of avatars and will navigate their way through the Second Life Chinese School, built by the Confucius Institute at Michigan State University. Using the resources provided by the Second Life Chinese School, 8 learning tasks were designed to accompany the teaching throughout the semester. Students are required to complete these 8 tasks individually and collectively. By exploring the learning activities, some of which are built into the school, students will acquire basic concepts and elements of Chinese cultures. They will also engage in conversation using the voice chat feature of Second Life through a number of assignments outlined in the course syllabus. The voice chat will be recorded and submitted to the professor for a grade. In this presentation we will discuss the Chinese virtual learning spaces within Second Life, the logistics of creating student accounts, the learning tasks, and students learning experience of Chinese within this virtual space.
Prof. Chen will be presenting this project at the end of this month at Yale University for the Northest Association for Language Learning Technology (NEALLT) and the New England Regional Association for Language Learning conference.
