I've come across many stories lately in the press concerning the legal issues with MUVEs, mainly Second Life. What legal issues should we be concerned with? Can we make attending sessions in the MUVE required? Does it matter if it is explicitly stated in the course description? Do different states have different regulations concerning this? Those are just some examples of legal issues that I would like to learn more about.
Legal issues with MUVEs
September 29th, 2007 Keith Bourne
- Login or register to post comments
- 778 reads
- by Keith Bourne
- 3 points
SL and required activity
Can options be provided for students who are unable to participate in SL? Interesting that we may talk about individualizing instruction (more common in K-12) and engaging the learning through active social learner that relates to the learners context and needs. Does this mean that we should be designing with variety in mind? Mind styles/Learning styles theory would suggest that SL might not be appropriate for *all* learners, does this mean we should give alternatives for participation in virtual worlds - or in any technology-mediate activity? I have found some students get engaged through wikis and Google Docs, others through blogs, etc. Putting pedagogical affordances of technology aside for a moment, it is interesting to think about how the individual learner learns and participates best.
SL and required activity
Point well taken. We should take a look at alternatives for many of the exercises/activities/tools we use in education. Just as multiple choice/true false tests are not effective measures of learning for all, SL and virtual worlds are not effective learning tools for all. One of the significant lessons I've learned from my foray into using technology in teaching is to continually re-evaluate course objectives and learning outcomes and determine whether the exercises/activities/tools help accomplish the outcomes. I'm one of the faculty at our university who has examined and tried to incorporate universal design principles into our courses. Those principles also encourage multiple/diverse activities to allow multiple means of representation (http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html). Universal design principles for learning (taken from architectural design principles) were specifically targeted to help educators teach individuals with learning disabilities but are useful principles for all learners.
It's exciting to find or develop a new tool/activity/exercise, implement it, evaluate it and make revisions. Then follows measuring to determine whether it accomplishes the learning outcomes. Then the cycle begins anew.
Legal Issues with MUVEs
Good question about the impact of a student banishment from Second Life and the implications for assessment!
I suppose that question could relate to any situation where students are required to engage in outside-of-school activities but the student cannot because of other behavior. The instructor/university should have a policy that addresses that--now that you brought that up I'll think about alternatives.
Because there are accessibility issues with Second Life, my class projects are classified as pilot projects and thus I have some latititude to create alternative projects for students. In the projects where students have to meet in Second Life, if I student couldn't, I'd have an alternative available. Mostly, students turn in the work in groups.
If the ability to interact in Second Life was a requirement of the course (properly noticed to the student and properly tied to course objectives) I'd guess that the student would receive a zero or equivalent for that portion of the course. That might depend on whether the banning had occurred before or after the semester began.
This is not my field of expertise (I'm learning along with you) and I cannot give legal advice per se--I wonder what others think.
Lergal Issues with MUVEs
Yes, there are many legal issues, depending on the MUVE.
I have focused primarily on Second Life. A couple of issues have been raised. One is the ownership of land and of property created by SL users. Closely related to that is ownership of the right to control who copies one's creations.
A second issue is that of the fraud that recently occurred when Linden Labs closed banks that had ATMs in SL unless they were state or federally chartered.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHWiqryqlkU
Those are only a few of the legal issues.
College issues
What type of disclaimer is needed in a course that uses a MUVE? I have a course coming up - "Second Life and Entrepreneurship" - what should be the wording for the disclaimer. If a student suffers mental anguish because of trouble they get into on their own in SL - or if a griefer attacks during class -- or... what type of warnings should be placed on the website of the course. Advice needed. What are you doing in your classes about this issue?
JB
Disclaimers
Disclosure is always important. Lawsuits and damages for "mental anguish" are difficult to litigate based on activities in virtual worlds. However, to be safe, you can suggest to students their options should they encounter such situations.
I will be presenting about my legal environment of business class and the students' exploration of Second Life and its legal issues at the conference in Carefree, AZ. Look for me and I can give you a copy of handouts I use to help students prepare for Second Life. The comments are based on suggestions obtained through the SLED listserv. Basically I remind students to set a safe place as home to which they can teleport at any time and I also tell students that they can always turn off their computers if they are that uncomfortable.
That is similar to going to a website and finding unexpected information.
Hope this helps.
What if Banned?
What if a student is enrolled in an online course, but is subsequently banned from Second Life for activities unrelated to the class? Will this automatically drop the student from the class?
R. Diane Kasselhut
Training Manager
The Learning House, Inc.