Exploring Your Mind… In Another Life!
23 February 2009
Simon Bignell and Second Life.
This funding effectively puts the University of Derby at the forefront of teaching Psychology in 3D Multi User Virtual Worlds
”Simon Bignell, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Derby.
Some of the world’s first psychology degree lectures are to take place in the virtual reality software platform Second Life this month.
Psychology academics at the University of Derby see the technological environment as an ideal place to test students’ problem-solving skills.
Students studying on the BSc (Hons) Psychology degree will be asked to handle challenging situations such as identifying and managing the welfare of people with a variety of mental health problems as part of problem solving exercises.
It means the students will develop vital skills in cyberspace – which they can carry forward in their careers and help them learn more about a wide range of psychological health issues.
The initiative forms part of a £38,385 project funded by JISC – Joint Information Systems Committee – to work alongside Aston University, Coventry University and the Higher Education Academy Psychology Network – with the project concluding in the spring.
The academic leading the programme is Simon Bignell, a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Derby, who said: “This funding effectively puts the University of Derby at the forefront of teaching Psychology in 3D Multi User Virtual Worlds.”
Simon is no stranger to Second Life. He has already generated international media interest from CNN in America and the BBC and ITV after joining Second Life, with his avatar, Milton Broome, to carry out psychological research investigating how people with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome use virtual worlds and overcome their considerable communication difficulties.
Commenting further on the latest initiative, Simon said: “The system will allow students to use Second Life to explore a variety of settings to problem solve a variety of scenarios.
“3-D virtual worlds hold a lot of potential in the field of technology-enhanced learning in education. Immersive and collaborative communities of practice are uniquely possible in these structured virtual environments, and can engage students in innovative and creative ways.
“Such environments hold the potential to unlock creative problem solving and offer a deeper level of collaborative learning.”
To prepare students for the world of work, University of Derby academics will provide a series of problem-based learning scenarios for students to find out more about areas such as: clinical, social, developmental and cognitive psychology.
One of the scenarios will see students interact with virtual ‘intelligent avatars’ who are programmed to respond in a way that is similar to the behaviour typically seen in people suffering with a variety of psychological problems.
The JISC-funded PREVIEW project, led by Coventry University, developed innovative problem-based learning tutorials and scenarios to exploit the potential of 3D virtual worlds for the benefit of a subject-specific group of students. This latest initiative is part of the plan to widen this learning out to other stakeholders, universities and other organisations.
See Simon’s Virtual Psychology blog at www.miltonbroome.com or find out more about the project at www.previewpsych.org.
This project is to be profiled in a forthcoming edition of The Psychologist magazine.
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For more information about this news release, contact Deputy Head of Corporate Relations Simon Redfern on 01332 591942 or email: s.redfern@derby.ac.uk.
