Creating Transformative Learning Experiences Using Second Life in Qualitative Research

• In Event: Digital Tools and Technologies in Teaching and Learning Qualitative Research Methods

Abstract

Objectives or purposes
While there are institutions that are robust in training students in qualitative research, there are other institutions of higher education that do not have well-developed qualitative research methods program. Within this context, students are exposed to one, perhaps two qualitative research methods classes. Instructors, in this context, wrestle with presenting content with depth, nuances, and complexities of qualitative research while maintaining academic rigor. In this paper, I present how designing instruction and conducting a self-study of the use of a three-dimensional multiuser virtual/digital world called Second Life, served as a fertile and rigorous space for critically engaged ethnographic practices in an institution where resources for qualitative research were scant. Using information extracted from students’ projects conducting mini-ethnographies in Second Life, their YouTube podcasts, students’ reflections in learning key concepts in qualitative research without prior exposure to this methodology, I ask the following questions: (1) What are the students’ learning experiences using Second Life in a qualitative methods class? (2) In what ways do the students describe concepts learned in Second Life that relate to qualitative research? (3) What are the challenges students and the instructor encounter when learning and teaching in Second Life? (4) What pedagogies drive teaching and learning qualitative methods using Second Life?
Perspectives or theoretical framework
Given that the students’ learning experiences in Second Life were grounded in conducting mini-ethnographies, the theoretical framework guiding the discussion is Project-Based Learning (PBL). Primarily, PBL emphasizes on learner-centered activities that are authentic and allow for discovery, errors, and fine-tuning (Han & Bhattacharya, 2001). PBL also encourages learners to integrate personal experiences, interact with other learners, reflect, interrogate, and integrate new information into their pre-existing knowledge (Bhattacharyya & Bhattacharya, 2009, p. 4).
Methods and data sources
This study was conducted using qualitative inquiry. Data sources included in-depth interviews, in-class journal reflections, assignments of the participants, podcasts, and observations of participants’ behavior in Second Life in terms of interaction with the learning environment, other students, and academic performance in Second Life.
Findings
Findings reflect the journey students experienced to create epistemic, methodological, theoretical, and technological shifts in their understanding of conducting qualitative research. These shifts were process-based and could not be rushed and occurred at different times reflecting students’ learning experiences. Additionally, students were able to identify the ways in which their subjectivities played a role in how they identified and performed as a qualitative researcher. Students also reported the vigilance with which they carried themselves as researchers, interrogated their positioning, meaning making, relationship building with their participants, and made interdisciplinary connections as a result of the project-based learning environment.
Scholarly significance
Findings indicate the ways in which transformative learning experiences include an intersection of critical dialogue of integrating digital technologies, virtual worlds in qualitative research, kind of learning and learners produced as a result, and the role of self-reflection necessary for pedagogically aligned instructional design and delivery. The conclusion and implication offer recommended strategies for integrating Second Life in qualitative methods classes while preserving rigor and complexity.

Author

• Kakali Bhattacharya, Kansas State University