Educators explore virtual reality as learning tool Published Dec. 4, 2009 By Scott Knuteson Air University Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Some people teleported, others flew and some just walked into the holographic auditorium for the Global Learning Forum event held the evening of Nov. 19. Though they arrived by different means, everyone in attendance had one thing in common: they did not really exist. Neither did the lecture hall in which they were seated, nor the lectern from which someone spoke. The stuff of science fiction? Hardly. Rather, the real-life education center of the Air Force, Air University, sponsored the event in conjunction with professors from Vanderbilt University, which is located in real-life Nashville. They, along with anyone who wished to attend, arrived virtually via a computer program called Second Life. The program, a computer simulation game, utilizes the internet to allow people from all corners of the (real-life) globe to "meet" in a 3-dimensional "world" that looks - in many ways - like the real Earth. So why are a bunch of professors and Air Force educators playing computer games? As Air University's Innovation and Integration Division put it in an invitation to the event, "[Global Learning Forum] members collaborate to harness the power of virtual communities to innovatively transform ways to learn, instruct and discover." In other words, Air Force educators, along with their peers across academia, see great potential in being able to connect people, using computers, in a fake environment. Within the Air Force, Air University educators predict that "the seams between virtual and physical systems will increasingly become ubiquitous in service to lifelong learning and support of Airmen." Because the Second Life program enables users to do basically anything they want, to include creating their own objects, terrain, buildings and even aircraft, the possibilities for training scenarios or enhanced classroom learning are endless. All one has to do is download Second Life for free from that company's Web site, register for an account and create a virtual person (called an avatar) to represent them in the online world. Then they can control that computer character using the mouse and keyboard of their computer. Already, some colleges and universities are using this capability to enhance their distance-learning courses. For instance, students who live in various states or countries can, from the comfort of home, log into Second Life and walk into a virtual classroom, where they can interact with their fellow students and the professor - all of whom have also guided their "avatar" into the same room. Applications of this technology could also include coordinated training exercises for U.S. military members, where they can gain a basic knowledge of, say, how to attack and secure a building with terrorists inside. This and an endless array of other scenarios could be created for various training and education needs, all in an environment that is more forgiving than the real world. "We've been putting together examples of scenarios to support pre-deployment orientation and training," Dr. Andrew Stricker, lead advisor for the event and the Air University Innovation and Integration Division's distributive learning architect, said. For example, Airmen preparing to deploy to a particular base overseas could virtually visit a photo-realistic replica of the base within Second Life. Military members who have already been to the base could give the incoming Airmen a virtual tour and share their knowledge, all in an effort to streamline the learning curve they will experience upon their real-life arrival at the deployed location. "You can create the look and feel of the camp," Dr. Stricker said. But the learning does not have to be confined to only one scenario during an Airmen's career. "The value is the Airmen associating with a place where they can learn throughout their professional development with the Air Force," Dr. Stricker added. The social aspect of virtual reality allows Airmen to "develop networks with one another and develop an emotional tie with what they are learning." Of course, there are limitations. True, face-to-face interaction and real-life training scenarios will never find a completely adequate alternative. Security, too, must be considered. For organizations like the military that need to conduct training in a more secure way, Linden Labs, the creators of Second Life, recently introduced a "behind-the-firewall" version. It allows for greater control over security and certain areas or scenarios within the Second Life world. But given the ease of creating any scenario and connecting people from across different locations to that environment, educators are figuring out ways they can leverage the technology to provide an efficient, cost-effective learning supplement. The benefits can reach everyone from the college student earning his bachelor's degree to the Airman preparing to deploy. This was the gist of the Global Learning Forum event: to further discuss ways to "authentically" educate and train in an environment that is entirely fabricated. Keynote speakers from Vanderbilt talked about how they use virtual reality for diabetes clinical care, research and training, among other things. The event was the seventh of its kind, but members of the Global Learning Forum, including members of the U.S. Air Force, NASA/JET Propulsion Laboratory and several universities, are engaged in ongoing collaboration to research the application of "immersive virtual reality" to education and training. To locate elements of the Air Force's virtual endeavors in Second Life, search for the "Huffman Prairie" and "MyBase" regions within the Second Life game world. To view brief videos of MyBase, a region dedicated to telling the public about the U.S. Air Force, see www.screencast.com/t/QBt6u3uyTjX.