Disability and Rehabilitation
ISSN: 0963-8288 (Print) 1464-5165 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/idre20
Teachers’ perceptions of virtual worlds as a medium for social inclusion for adults with intellectual disability Susan Balandin & Judith Molka-Danielsen To cite this article: Susan Balandin & Judith Molka-Danielsen (2015) Teachers’ perceptions of virtual worlds as a medium for social inclusion for adults with intellectual disability, Disability and Rehabilitation, 37:17, 1543-1550, DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1052574 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2015.1052574
Published online: 11 Jun 2015.
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Date: 05 November 2015, At: 15:41
http://informahealthcare.com/dre ISSN 0963-8288 print/ISSN 1464-5165 online Disabil Rehabil, 2015; 37(17): 1543–1550 ! 2015 Informa UK Ltd. DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1052574
RESEARCH PAPER
Teachers’ perceptions of virtual worlds as a medium for social inclusion for adults with intellectual disability Susan Balandin1 and Judith Molka-Danielsen2
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1
School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia and 2Department of Logistics, Molde University College, Molde, Norway Abstract
Keywords
Purpose: The aim of this research was to explore educators’ perceptions of a virtual world Second Life TM as an environment for social interaction and social inclusion for the Norwegian adult students with intellectual disability that they supported. Method: Five educators who supported a total of 10 adult students with intellectual disability in computer classes in community Adult Education Centres participated in individual in-depth interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a content analysis. Results: Participants were positive about Second Life although they did not perceive that it offered a successful context for social interaction or inclusion. They identified a number of benefits to using a virtual world and for students participating in virtual world research. Barriers identified included language, literacy, and technology issues along with the complexity of participating independently in a virtual world. Conclusions: Some people with intellectual disability can use virtual worlds but the skills required need additional research. Virtual worlds may provide a stimulating, safe, and exciting context for a range of activities but the level of support required by many people is high and consequently expensive.
Educators, intellectual disability, second life, social inclusion, virtual world History Received 7 April 2015 Accepted 14 May 2015 Published online 11 June 2015
ä Implications for Rehabilitation
Educators can use virtual worlds such as Second LifeTM with people with intellectual disability as an enjoyable medium to experience new activities and gain feelings of independence. People with intellectual disability can use Second Life with support and those with good literacy and computer skills can be trained to use it independently. Technology support is needed as virtual worlds are not easy to use for those who have problems with literacy or with speaking or reading English and if the virtual world platform is not stable, the ensuing problems with sound and/or images can be frustrating. Further research is required to explore how virtual worlds could be used to expand teaching programs and allow individuals to build on independent and new experiences in the virtual world safely.
Introduction Virtual worlds and people with intellectual disability Despite the increase in social media use to maintain friendships, keep informed, exchange news, and fulfil leisure needs [1,2], there are few reports on how adults with intellectual disability utilise the social media of virtual worlds [3,4]. Although virtual environments have been used to promote skills for independence, improve fitness [5], and improve cognitive performance for people with disability [2], few programs have aimed at increasing Address for correspondence: Professor Susan Balandin, Deakin University, Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia. Tel: +61 39244 6124, Mobile: +61 477 540 893. Fax: +61 3 92446553. E-mail: [email protected]
socialisation opportunities and reducing loneliness for people with lifelong disability. Researchers in Norway conducted two studies, focusing on social media and people with disability, one explored the affordances of a virtual world for 11 adults with a lifelong disability [6–8], and another introduced the program Flickr to adults with disability during the lunch break in their work centre [3,9]. Several studies have explored how virtual worlds can be used for training purposes with people with intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorders [10–12], yet the majority of users of virtual worlds access these worlds for pleasure or to learn about something of their own choosing. Consequently, little is known about how adults with intellectual disability might use a virtual world such as Second Life TM or the barriers and facilitators to virtual world use for this group of people. In addition, there is little information on the safety issues
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for people with disability interacting in a virtual world. The small literature on cyber bullying in virtual worlds acknowledges that bullying may occur but as yet there is no research framework describing how it occurs or how it can be managed effectively for people with or without disability [13–15]. Although people with intellectual disability may require support to access virtual worlds, there is little information available on the perceptions of those who provide such support or on what support staff may perceive as critical issues relevant to successful virtual world use. Standen and Brown [16,17] argued that the potential of the virtual environment for learning and practice is as yet relatively untapped, although they acknowledged also that virtual environments might not suit or be applicable to everyone with a disability. In a commentary on Standen and Brown’s review, a number of researchers [18,19] agreed that virtual environments offer new opportunities for people with disability. They noted that rigorous research is required to reveal the opportunities these environments offer. Such research could ascertain the applicability of virtual technology to other disadvantaged groups (e.g. people with acquired brain injury or mental health issues) [18]. Thus, there is agreement that virtual technology and virtual reality such as virtual games may benefit people with a range of disability [20]. In their study of the affordances provided to people with disability in the virtual world of Second Life, Stendal et al. [7] identified that the 10 participants with intellectual disability who were novice users of Second Life perceived that activities in Second Life improved their feelings of independence and selfdetermination but did not increase feelings of social inclusion. These perceptions contrasted with those of the seven participants who were experienced users with disability that did not include intellectual disability. The experienced users cited social interaction and inclusion in virtual communities as a major reason for accessing Second Life. Indeed, there are a growing number of reports about the use of virtual technology for leisure activities. Researchers have examined the application of virtual technology of Sony PlayStation II EyeToy VR system [21] and the IREX/GX video capture VR system [22] to develop an effective physical fitness training program for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A third study by Lotan et al. [23] focused on teaching six caregivers of adults with mild to severe intellectual disability to implement a virtual reality exercise program. The caregivers were taught how to implement the program and were able to contact support if they experienced problems. The educational programs were effective for increasing the engagement of people with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability and for some people with severe intellectual disability for all study groups regardless of the educators’ backgrounds. The caregivers reported that although they and the clients enjoyed the program, without technical and administrative support, it would not have been possible to deliver it, despite the caregivers’ motivation and computer knowledge. This is one of the few studies that have focused on the experiences of those who support people with disability to access virtual technology. However, to date, there is limited information on adults with disability accessing virtual worlds, despite the advantages that these worlds offer, including free entertainment and access from a person’s own home computer [24,25]. Balandin [26] suggested that there is a need to further explore virtual worlds as a context not only for people with disability but also to examine the views of other stakeholders including professionals and service providers on the use of virtual worlds, such as Second Life. Second Life is an open access technology platform where a community of participants creates the content of a virtual world. The environment allows participants, called ‘‘residents’’, to
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interact through motional use of avatars (3D characters) that can be personalised in the greatest detail. Besides interactions of avatars in the 3D space, residents can communicate through tools such as text chat or voice chat, using public broadcast or private 1-to-1 talk options [27]. The benefits of using a virtual world such as Second Life are clear. They include opportunities for the person with a disability to socialise, move freely, and to choose whether or not to disclose the disability [2]. What is unclear is how easy it is for adults with an intellectual disability to use virtual worlds and what supports they may need to access these worlds effectively. Furthermore, the majority of evidence regarding the benefits of virtual worlds on building friendships or reducing feelings of loneliness for people with lifelong disability is anecdotal [24]. Consequently, it is not known if the social benefits of using a virtual world extend to people with intellectual disability. The research reported here formed part of a larger project that focused on the affordances that Second Life offers people with developmental disability [6]. This paper focuses on the views and perceptions of five Norwegian educators who were the teachers of the 10 adults with intellectual disability who participated in the larger affordances project [7] that was conducted in the virtual world of Second Life. Nine of the adults with intellectual disability spoke Norwegian and seven knew a little English. One had arrived recently in Norway and spoke English better than Norwegian. All had a heavy accent when speaking English. The aim of this smaller project was to explore how expert educators perceived Second Life as an environment for social interaction and social inclusion for the adult students with intellectual disability that they supported.
Methods Ethical clearance for the research was obtained from the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD). The study reported formed part of a Strategic College Project funded by the Norwegian Research Council. Recruitment Letters were sent to the principals of two community adult education colleges requesting them to distribute an invitation to students with disability attending classes in basic computer use offering them the opportunity to participate in the larger Virtual World study. Letters were provided also for the educators who gave these classes asking them if they would be prepared to support any students from their classes who wished to attend and to undergo a short, 2-h training course in accessing and using Second Life. The educators were paid through the grant funding for the time they spent in the virtual world training and supporting their students to participate in the program. All participants in the program gave informed consent and were assured of confidentiality protection and the right to withdraw at any time without penalty. Participants Five educators working in two community adult education centres in the west and south of Norway agreed to participate in the project. Because Norway has a small population and this project is well known, we are unable, for confidentiality reasons, to provide details of the educators but all had teaching qualifications and had worked for more than 5 years with adults with disability. All participants conducted small group and individual teaching sessions with adults who attended computing courses at the colleges, some courses were also provided at home. The overall content of the courses had to comply with the Norwegian adult
Educators’ perceptions
DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1052574
education curriculum. These courses were conducted during the day and were open to anyone with a disability. Prior knowledge of computers or any specified levels of literacy skills were not the criteria for acceptance into these courses. The course venues were well equipped with assistive technology including switches and adapted keyboards.
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Training and support procedures As part of a course assessment task, postgraduate students in Informatics at Molde University College developed and gave a basic training package for Second Life to four participants. The package was in Norwegian and covered what Second Life is, and how to access it, how to create an avatar and navigate in the virtual world. The fifth participant was given training in her place of work by the second author. Molde University College has its own island in Second Life and all participants in the project, including both the participants with intellectual disability and the educators, had their avatars created and ready to start from this island whenever they logged in and to teleport back to the island if they became lost. In addition to this support, a person with Second Life and technology experience was on hand whenever participants attended an activity session to help problem solve. The five educators each attended 8 weekly sessions with the participants with disability1 to support these students to participate in the larger program. They assisted the students to enter the virtual world. Once there, the students met up with the avatar Dreaming Peacefully (a pseudonym) of a doctoral student who assisted them to participate in a range of activities that she had selected or that they requested. Each educator had an avatar and so was present in the virtual world as well as sitting in the real world with the students they were supporting. They assisted the students to log in to Second Life and then shadowed them to provide additional assistance if needed, although Dreaming Peacefully led the activities and provided support. Dreaming Peacefully spoke in Norwegian. Although 7 of the 10 the students had some literacy skills, there are no Norwegian instructions in Second Life so the students needed help with translation. Some could read a little English and two could understand the instructions on the Danish version of the browser interface. Data collection One month after the virtual world program finished all five educators participated in an in-depth individual interview with the first author to discuss their experiences and the perceptions of the Second Life as a context for inclusion and socialisation. The first author used an interview guide consisting of four main questions: (1) What did you think of Second Life for people with intellectual disability? (2) What was good about the project? (3) What was difficult? (4) Do you think there are opportunities for ongoing use now the project is over? Interviews took place in the educator’s office and were digitally recorded. They were conducted in a mix of Norwegian and English. Analysis Interviews varied in length from 15 to 62 min and were transcribed in English. The first author listened to the recordings once, before she listened to them a second time as she did the transcriptions. She then reread the transcripts and conducted a content analysis [28] following the method used by Ballin et al. [29]. Qualitative content analysis has been defined as ‘‘any qualitative data reduction and sense-making effort that takes a 1
As they were students at the adult education centre these participants will be referred to as students.
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volume of qualitative material and attempts to identify core consistencies and meanings’’ [27, p. 453]. The first author read the first interview to develop an initial coding scheme by labelling units of text. She then coded the rest of the interviews and added new codes as she identified new meanings. She compared codes within and across interviews to develop patterns of meanings that were then grouped them into core meanings or themes. In order to improve the rigour of the coding, a bilingual Norwegian/English speaker, experienced in qualitative research, checked 25% of the translations and together with the first author discussed the codes, the patterns and themes [28]. Any disagreements were resolved by consensus. Findings Five main themes emerged from the interviews: (1) participants’ perceptions of the experience, (2) barriers to using Second Life, (3) support needed, (4) technology issues, and (5) future opportunities. Participants’ perceptions of the experience Overall, the five participants were positive about the experience. None of them had used Second Life before commencing in the project either personally or as part of their teaching programs. They all thought it was an exciting experience for their students and also useful for them as educators I think it was like a journey. You learned something. You learned more about the student, you have to cooperate together. You learn will they ask for help or are they more conservative? I think it has been very interesting (Interview 3). All participants noted that at the start they were hopeful that the project would result in increased social interaction in the virtual world. Because one of my students, one of them I suggested, is quite lonely and he has some problems with social interactions. So I thought this might be a good idea since he already sat at home watching TV. It would be better if he went out and met people but he doesn’t (Interview 4). All participants agreed that social interactions in real life would be preferable but that this rarely happened, consequently four of the five were disappointed and frustrated that there was so little interaction with others in the virtual world. We never met anyone, there was nobody there but us (Interview 1). We found a Norwegian club and the girls loved it. They danced and stood near guys but no one danced with them and when they spoke, the guys went away, but they still liked going there anyway. They can’t go to clubs in real life (Interview 5). They never spoke with anyone. They (the students with disability) found it kind of strange. ‘‘I am saying hello and they are not answering’’ so that was a bit of a surprise for me and for them because it is a social media and you try to use the social skills you know from the normal world. They had the illusion of inclusion. My conclusion was it didn’t work (Interview 3). Yet the participants perceived that the project offered a number of advantages even if it did not fulfil the hoped for opportunities of social inclusion. Five of the students and four educators went to a university college to access Second Life from the computer labs there. Two participants noted that there was increased social interaction between the two male students who travelled together
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to participate in the project by taxi. These men talked together about what they hoped to do each week and about what happened. The two participants both stated that they had been hopeful that perhaps a friendship was developing as a result of the project but both stated that afterwards the interactions did not continue. They perceived that this was because there was no ongoing opportunity for the men to meet. They did not go to the same classes at the Centre and attended different work centres. One of these participants suggested that it might have been helpful if there had been greater opportunity for social interaction between the students before or after the project in a cafe´ or restaurant, although this was difficult because the program happened after hours when the university college facilities were closed. Nevertheless, the four participants who supported adults at the college computer lab all commented on the importance of the context. Going to the university college was a highlight. They felt it was so great. They were so proud to be in the project at the college and meet a professor (Interview 2). The certificates they received for taking part were important, they felt proud to have their contribution recognised by the university (Interview 1). All participants also noted that the activities in Second life offered new opportunities for independence and developing confidence: It was so good for their self confidence. They were asked if they would like to participate, they had to agree and then go for 8 weeks. They were so proud to participate in research. It was so good. I would do it again (Interview 4). For the first time these girls could do things on their own. Fly away, get lost, do things spontaneously. Do things they had never done before, like walk on the ocean floor, go line dancing, or go to Africa. Two girls can use it independently, they can use it at lunch time, one uses it at home now. I think they don’t make new friends but they can hang out where others are and feel part of the experience (Interview 5). The ghost house (an activity where three students visited a fairground with Dreaming Peacefully), that was a special moment- he (one of the students) he was there. He was a little bit scared but he took care of everyone and got them out. Because he is a man. He liked that. It was a good moment for him (Interview 4). In discussing the experiences of Second Life, the participants all agreed that the project was a positive experience for everyone but did not increase social interactions with others or result in inclusion in virtual communities for their students. They also agreed that Second Life did not support friendship development, even among the students who entered the medium as a group. However, one participant suggested that this might occur if the project had been set up differently. You can’t just go in and find a friend. Maybe if we had set up meetings with other people beforehand. I think people go into Second life to meet with others after they have set up an appointment (Interview 3).
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Norwegian and although most had some knowledge of English, the participants stated that they perceived language as a barrier. Indeed one participant noted that it was difficult for the educators too as they had to translate everything into Norwegian. All participants stated that problems with English would also be a barrier to people with intellectual disability using Second life in residential settings if support workers are not computer literate and perhaps did not speak English fluently as young Norwegians usually do. However, one participant noted that Second Life was a good medium for one of the men supported in the group but not the other. He is good on the PC and good in English, he does not speak Norwegian well so it was nice for him, he liked it. But the other could never do it alone. He uses Facebook a little bit but not alone. He could never use it (Second Life) alone, too many things to do (Interview 4). Indeed four of the five participants commented that there were too many things to do in Second Life in order to make things happen and too many choices. We went to a huge shopping centre (in Second Life). It was so difficult. We tried on shoes but it was difficult and we could not load things into our baskets or pay with our free money. It was difficult and tiresome. They (the students with disability) could move around and they can click and drag but this was too hard (Interview 2). An unexpected barrier was raised in Interview 5. This participant had two students who could use Second Life independently. However, one did not have a computer at home and the other was not allowed to access the Internet without close supervision and this took away her feeling of independence that was what she valued most about Second Life. Participants also mentioned that time was a barrier. The project went for eight 1-h meetings over 8 weeks, with one group having a break of 3 weeks due to a semester break in the middle. One participant stated: Maybe the time was too short. We often find that we try something for a long time and think maybe we should leave it, and then bang, the student suddenly understands what to do and suddenly can go on- you may not see progress and then it is like from winter to summer with no spring (Interview 3). As is often the case, transport was also mentioned as a barrier. Five of the students and the participants who supported them travelled to the university college by taxi. Although the taxis were booked in advance they never arrived on time to collect them or to take them home. Although two participants had mentioned that participating in the project was a lot of extra work, three others stated that there was little extra work other than dealing with the taxis, which took time. Furthermore, because they always had to wait for a pick up transport made their days longer than was necessary. The participants would have been happy to use their own cars for transport but the adult education centre did not allow this because of insurance issues. Yet, of all the barriers that were identified, the most persistent and difficult to overcome were issues with the technology.
Barriers to using Second Life Perhaps not surprisingly, the participants identified a number of barriers to using Second Life. The first was the language issue. All but one of the students with intellectual disability were
Support needed Three of the participants commented that the pre project training was excellent and suggested that the students with
Educators’ perceptions
DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1052574
disability would also have benefited from some initial training. One noted:
them and join in their different activities in Second Life. We had so much to talk about in class after a session (Interview 5).
I was kind of surprised that they needed more help than I expected and that they would rather ask us than the research assistant or try it out for themselves. An issue was I was not sure whether to help or to let them ask Dreaming Peacefully to do it. Also it seemed that every week they had forgotten what they had learned. This surprised me. What would they have done if we (the educators) weren’t there- this is interesting. Perhaps they should have had some training like we did (Interview 3).
One unexpected support issue arose when the first author was on sick leave and away from the project. Usually the group at the college had cold drinks and biscuits before starting the session but this did not happen when only the technical assistant was present. In addition, the assistant, whose role was to manage any technological problems, did not interact with the group. The four participants who attended the computer lab all commented on this noting that it was strange and that the students had also commented that the technician was unfriendly. ‘‘It was not good. They (the students) didn’t understand. They need clear borders and routines, we spend a lot of time teaching them how to interact with others’’ (Interview 3). In summary, there was overall agreement that with support everyone could access the virtual world but the degree of support needed varied. The final word may go to the participant who stated:
Another said:
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They could never do this alone. Some can play interactive games but these can be hard and Second Life is much too hard. They can’t log in or go in alone, I forget how to do it too, but they can do a lot of things with help and they love it (Interview 2). All participants agreed that for most people with intellectual disability Second Life is too hard to access alone unless, as one participant noted ‘‘They have good computer skill, can read a bit, understand a bit of English and are very determined’’ (Interview 5). The participants also stressed that the support provided by Dreaming Peacefully, who met the students with disability in Second Life each session and helped them to access and find a range of activities was invaluable. ‘‘Oh Dreaming Peacefully was so kind and found so many interesting things for them to do. She gave so much support’’ (Interview 1). I think Dreaming Peacefully became the only real friend they made in Second Life. They all looked forward to seeing her each week. My two guys were a little bit in love with her I think. I could see them flirting and being quite competitive for her attention (Interview 4). Another participant thought the men in the project were falling in love with Dreaming Peacefully. The researchers had been concerned about this possibility. Consequently, Dreaming Peacefully had no contact with any participants other than in Second life and her real world identity was kept secret. When asked about whether it was difficult for the adults with disability when the project ended, four of the five participants stated that they thought not. One said they mentioned her occasionally for a week or so asking if she lived locally or only in Second Life but understood that she was part of the project, which was now completed. The fifth participant noted that one of her students, a woman, had met Dreaming Peacefully a couple of times in Second Life after the project ended but that this did not seem to be a prime motivator to enter the virtual world. ‘‘The computer was turned off and she was gone’’ (Interview 5). Yet despite the support offered by Dreaming Peacefully two participants indicated that they felt some anxiety about how to offer support. They were not sure when to provide support or when to hold back and felt that they were not quite clear on their role as they were worried they might interfere with the data collection if they intervened too much in what Dreaming Peacefully had prepared. They felt they needed a better understanding of what would happen each time and a checklist of supports they could offer. In contrast, another stated: I was so happy to be involved in this project. I learned so much from supporting my students and it was so nice to interact with
I didn’t like it (Second Life) much. If the technology works it is OK but there is still a whole world where they live – if you have to have someone paid to be there then you should go out in the real world together (Interview 4).
Technology issues All the participants had received some training in Second Life as part of the project prior to supporting their students. During this training they created their own avatars and were confident enough to assist the adults with disability create and name their own avatars prior to the first session in the project. One participant noted that even before she was trained, she met with opposition from her colleagues that this project was not part of the curriculum and was neither a good learning context nor a ‘‘proper activity’’ for the students. Consequently she had to support her five students without support from another colleague but with support from Dreaming Peacefully and the research assistant who was also the technology assistant. Nevertheless, this participant was the most enthusiastic about the project and two of her students were able to use Second Life independently by the end of the program. Possibly this success was because they were already avid computer users, had adequate literacy skills, and were prepared to use trial and error. Everyone, including the authors, was unprepared for the problems encountered in Second Life with the sound. There were few sessions when the sound worked perfectly for the whole session. Sometimes the head sets appeared to be faulty but even with additional headsets the quality of sound was very unstable. This was frustrating for everyone, particularly as few of the students with disability were able to type or read well enough to manage without voice. Furthermore, there was sometimes a problem with the visibility of the avatars. On two occasions several avatars turned into ‘‘clouds’’. This is caused by a communication problem between the PC and the Second Life server. Although it was fixed by the technician who was on hand it took up most for the session to correct so was both unsatisfactory and frustrating for those who had lost their avatar. The participants also felt helpless, as although they were all competent computer users, they were unable to do anything to fix the problem. An additional issue was that, although all agreed that Second Life could be a lot of fun it was not an intuitive program. Navigation in Second Life is not easy without a lot of practice and can be particularly difficult not only for those with limited literacy skills but also for those who find it difficult to use a mouse to
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point and click with great accuracy (e.g. people with poor motor skills). Future opportunities
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When asked about using Second Life in the future, participants gave mixed responses. One was continuing to use it in her classes and went with individual students to access different activities and places in Second Life. In addition she was present in the computer classroom at lunchtime twice a week so that students could access Second life in their free time if they wished. All students are able to access computers in the Educational Centre at lunchtime but these computers did not have Second Life installed. Two participants said they would not use Second Life again now that the project was over as it was too difficult. A third (interview 3) said: I haven’t used it yet but we have talked about it and maybe we could use it. I don’t think I could tell them that it will create a new world, but you can do a lot of things. I think there are plenty of possibilities but new friendships are not part of it. These are adults, Second Life may be a safe place to explore sexuality for example. This is not something you can talk about with staff in group homes. The chance to perhaps explore virtual sex and sexuality was also raised independently in Interview 4. They (the two male students supported by the participant) are very interested in sex and I know what they are searching and not everything they find is good. These are not the kind of sexual experiences he should be having – as long as it is not illegal he could be there (in Second Life) alone or with support. Some Internet porn is OK but we should be very concerned about not letting them look at everything. In this same interview, the potential opportunity to meet with others in Education Centres in other parts of Norway was raised: ‘‘I had a group in (another region) that had Aspergers, they were good on computers, perhaps two groups could meet in Second Life that would be good.’’
Discussion The aim of this project was to explore how educators who support adults with intellectual disability perceived Second Life, with a particular focus on the virtual world as a context for social interaction and inclusion. A previous study by Stendal et al. [7,8], indicated that this virtual world provides an important social context for experienced users with a range of disability that did not include intellectual disability. However, the findings of the present study indicated that although the educators involved could identify many benefits for their students accessing Second Life, for the most part they did not perceive that it was a useful medium for increasing social interactions. Indeed, the some participants had some opinions that interactions in the real/physical world were more valuable than those in Second Life. This view is not borne out by many users of virtual worlds who describe the virtual world as meaningful and real [7,8], and, in some instances, preferable to real world interactions (see Stendal & Balandin, this issue). Social interactions in this study may have been compromised by the Norwegian students in this study having additional language and literacy problems; nevertheless, there were a number of issues that impacted on social inclusion that related to the context. It is difficult to feel included in a virtual world if there is little opportunity to interact with others. Second Life comprises a large
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number of islands. It is not known how many islands there are or how many people are in Second Life at any one time but it is possible to spend an hour in Second Life and not meet anyone. Furthermore, it seems that users will either meet at a place which is a context for common interests, such as the Virtual Ability Island [7,8] which caters specifically for people with a disability or any kind, or will arrange to meet beforehand as suggested by one of the participants although usually such meetings are organised within the virtual world. In this project, the students arranged to meet at a specific place with dreaming Peacefully but none outside the project was involved in these meetings. It is not known if others in Second life avoided contact with the students with disability because they did not speak English or write well or had an obvious accent when they spoke, but the first author has had limited success in talking to others in Second Life and assumed that the people she met had other agendas than talking to strangers. Despite the lack of social opportunities, participants perceived that this project offered the students with disability the chance to act independently and experience activities that they could not do in the real world. Thus, it can be argued that virtual worlds can offer opportunities beyond skill training to adults with intellectual disability [17]. The chance to increase self-confidence, fulfil role stereotypes, and be independent had not been foreseen and suggests that virtual worlds may be a novel way to gain some new experiences in a safe environment. There is a small literature that suggests that cyber bullying does occur in virtual worlds [13–15] but the participants did not report any instances of this in our study. The students had limited contact with others not in the project, were mostly in a group with Dreaming Peacefully so it was unlikely that bullying could have occurred. Certainly the participants did not mention cyber bullying and were possibly unaware that this has been identified as a problem. They did, however, note that there is so much to do in Second Life that choosing what activities to follow may be problematic for people with intellectual disability who may be inexperienced in making independent choices about how to spend their time. Participants echoed experiences from other researchers about the intrinsic values of involving people with disability in research projects [30,31]. Thus, in this project, the real-world context of the university college, the involvement of different academic staff and the acknowledgement of participation were all perceived as valuable even if the virtual experiences were sometimes frustrating. In hindsight, some real-world social interaction could have been arranged after the virtual world sessions but this was not part of the larger affordances project. Indeed, the opportunities for social interaction that developed in the real world, for example, in the taxis, were not sustained once the project was completed because the students’ did not have the opportunity to continue meeting regularly. The participants noted that the students involved in the project were isolated at home, yet their learning contexts were not conducive to developing new friendships as the students often had individual lessons or lessons at home. Consequently, this was a support intensive project. It is not known if, as one participant suggested a longer time in the project would have resulted in more independent use of the technology or not, but an argument can be made for offering additional support to enable people to access activities in the real world if there is funding for this. The barrier to computer use in the home was unexpected although it had been difficult to recruit adults to the larger project because staff in group homes were unsure about their own computer abilities or acted as gatekeepers to recruitment. The lack of support available in group homes was highlighted by the participants in this project; nevertheless, we were surprised that one able student was not allowed Internet access in her own home.
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We suggest that in the twenty-first century, all staff supporting people with disability in community settings should have basic computer skills just as they expected to have cooking and individual finance management skills. Nevertheless problems encountered with technology in this project went beyond the individual skills of the participants. Second Life was not a stable platform for this project and resulted in frustration and time wasted. It was important to have technical assistance available and we should have ensured that the assistant understood that as part of the project, there was a responsibility to interact with participants when they came into and left each session. Involving a competent Second Life user, Dreaming Peacefully, in the project was important and clearly added to the students’ enjoyment of the project and helped the participants support their students. All participants had received information about the project and the aims of the research. However, we were not able to foresee the difficulties that might occur; consequently, the participants perceived that they would have benefited from additional briefing. This could have occurred in Second Life that would have had the added benefit of giving the educators more practice in the medium. We would recommend that ongoing briefings be built in to projects where so little is known about what is likely to occur. The project team had discussed how Dreaming Peacefully should be involved with students and had been concerned about introducing someone who might be seen as a friend but who would not be able to have ongoing contact with students. This is an issue that others have identified [30,31] and although it meant Dreaming Peacefully, the doctoral student on the project sacrificed some opportunity to gain information that would have been helpful to her research, participants confirmed that the relationships that developed were indeed virtual ones for the most part, confined to the computer. Despite research identifying that novice and experienced Second Life users with disability use Second Life differently, this research project has shed little light on the skills needed to use a virtual world successfully. They identified that language, literacy, and experience of computer use were all important but the only skill attributed to the successful use by two students was determination. It was beyond the scope of this project to explore if these two students were known to be persistent in achieving goals or if, because they started with project with good literacy and computer skills that enabled them to move on to independent use quickly. Further research is required in this area as the participants were positive about the project and could see other opportunities for using virtual worlds. There is no information on whether people with disability could or do use virtual worlds to maintain or initiate contacts with others who they know or with whom the might share similar interests. Second life is a free program so individuals might find it easier to use than a phone, particularly, is calls were non-local and, therefore, expensive. Implications for social media research Although the participants in this study all worked in the area of computer use for students in Adult Education Centres, the results of this project suggest there is an urgent need to identify what skills are required for students to be able to function in a virtual world. Apart from a basic understanding of computer use what else is required? Is, for example, it necessary to have good literacy skills or is it possible for adults with intellectual disability to navigate the virtual world without these and still experience enjoyment? This project indicates that Second Life did not present opportunities for social interaction, yet there are many other things to do in a virtual word that do not involve others.
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There is also a need to identify what support is critical to ensure people with intellectual disability can gain confidence in using social media such as virtual worlds. The educators provided ‘‘hands on’’ support to the students in this project and Lotan et al. [23] noted that support with the technology is also important. It is not feasible to suggest such high levels of support are provided all the time but it is also not clear what level of competency is needed before support can be faded bearing in mind that this group of users are unlikely to be able to seek answers from the Internet themselves. There is also an urgent need to explore cyber safety in the virtual world to identify the risks and how to manage them. The possibility of using a virtual world for virtual sex education is also a novel idea and one that warrants further exploration. The authors would caution that all users of virtual worlds understand and follow basic Internet safety practices including not disclosing personal information such as addresses, bank accounts and phone numbers and knowing how to turn the computer off, or in a virtual world, understand how to teleport elsewhere if feeling uncomfortable with the situation. The anonymity offered by the virtual world contributes to safety and also to allowing participants to interact without disclosing their abilities if they so choose. It would also be possible to set up some mentoring or shadowing in the virtual world as occurred successfully in this project. Two students, who could enter and enjoy Second Life independently, were not allowed to use the Internet in their own homes but it is not clear if this was because of concerns about safety or because the staff were not comfortable with computer use or social media. It is unlikely that Norwegian adults who are able to read and speak some English can legally be prevented from using the Internet in their own homes but it was beyond the scope of this project to explore this. Nevertheless, the attitudes of paid and unpaid support personnel that result in gatekeeping warrant further investigation, as there may be a need for information and education programs to ensure that adults with disability are able to use the Internet and participate in the virtual world if they wish. We were fortunate in this project to have participants who, although they had not used Second Life before, were able to support their students after only a short training session. Second Life is not an easy medium, there is a need for research to explore other virtual media that may be accessible by adults with intellectual disability and to develop best practice guidelines in teaching the skills to access and utilise these. Finally, the students in this project all experienced communication difficulties but none used augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Further research is needed to explore if and how people who use AAC, in particular, speech-generating devices (SGDs) could benefit from and utilise virtual worlds. Limitations This was a small project involving five educators who supported 10 students, thus it is not possible to generalise the results. The added problems with technology as well as language issues impacted negatively and it would be interesting to see if the results were more positive if the project was replicated in English and maybe used a more stable platform that Second Life.
Conclusions Overall, the participants, although positive about the project, did not perceive that Second Life worked as a context for increased social interactions and inclusion. However, they identified other benefits that warrant further research. They also raised the difficult issue of how best to use funding to support for people with disability. We would argue that research such as the current
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project is important. Virtual worlds offer a range of learning, leisure, and social opportunities to those in the community who wish to access them, these opportunities are available to some people with intellectual disability also but more research is required to identify the skills needed and how to offer the optimal level of support.
Acknowledgements First, we would like to thank the five educators for participating in research and sharing their views with us. We would also like to thank the students who committed to the study and made the research possible.
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Declaration of interest This work was part of a Strategic College Project funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The authors report no conflicts of interest.
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13. Carter MA. Protecting oneself from cyber bullying on social media sites – a study of undergraduate students. Proc – Social Behav Sci 2013;93:1229–35. 14. Kowalski RM, Fedina C. Cyber bullying in ADHD and Asperger Syndrome populations. Res Autism Spect Disord 2011;5:1201–8. 15. Marzano G, Lubkina V. Cyberbulling and real reality. In: Proceedings of the International Conference in Society, Integration. Education Vol. II. Re¯zeknes, Latvia: RHEI; 2013:412–22. 16. Standen PJ, Brown DJ, Anderton N, Battersby S. Systematic evaluation of current control devices used by people with intellectual disabilities in non-immersive virtual environments. Cyberpsychol Behav 2006;9:608–13. 17. Standen PJ, Brown DJ, Cromby JJ. The effective use of virtual environments in the education and rehabilitation of students with intellectual disabilities. Br J Educ Technol 2001;32:289–99. 18. Lewis-Brookes A. Commentary on Standen, P. J., & Brown, D. J., Virtual reality in the rehabilitation of people with intellectual disabilities: review. CyberPsychol Behav 2005;8:285–6. 19. Harrison M. Commentary on Standen, P. J., & Brown, D. J., Virtual reality in the rehabilitation of people with intellectual disabilities: review. CyberPsychol Behav 2005;8:284. 20. Yalon-Chamovitz S, Weiss PLT. Virtual reality as a leisure activity for young adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. Res Dev Disabil 2008;29:273–87. 21. Lotan M, Yalon-Chamovitz S, Weiss PLT. Improving physical fitness of individuals with intellectual and developmental disability through a Virtual Reality Intervention Program. Res Dev Disabil 2009;30:229–39. 22. Lotan M, Yalon-Chamovitz S, Weiss PLT. Virtual reality as means to improve physical fitness of individuals at a severe level of intellectual and developmental disability. Res Dev Disabil 2010;31: 869–74. 23. Lotan M, Yalon-Chamovitz S, Weiss PL. Training caregivers to provide virtual reality intervention for adults with severe intellectual and developmental disability. J Phys Ther Educ 2011; 25:15–19. 24. Balandin S. Participation by adults with lifelong disability: more than a trip to the bowling alley. Int J Speech-Lang Pathol 2011;13: 207–17. 25. Julnes S, Balandin S, Molka-Danielsen J. An exploration of leisure activities in real and virtual worlds. J Appl Res Intellect Disabil 2010;23:509. 26. Balandin S. Participation by adults with lifelong disability: more than a trip to the bowling alley. Int J Speech-Lang Pathol 2011;13: 207–17. 27. Biever C. Web removes social barriers for those with autism. New Sci 2007;2610: 26–7. 28. Patton MQ. Qualitative research & evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage Publications; 2002. 29. Ballin L, Balandin S, Stancliffe RJ. The speech generating device (SGD) mentoring programme: an evaluation by participants. Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol 2013;8:195–203. 30. Alm N. Ethical issues in AAC research. In: Brodin J, Bjo¨rck˚ kesson E, eds. Methodological issues in research in augmentative A and alternative communication (International Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC). Kerkrade, Holland: Jonkoping University Press; 1994:98–104. 31. Balandin S, Raghavendra P. Challenging oppression: augmented communicators’ involvement in AAC research. In: Filip Loncker, John Clibbens, Lloyd L, eds. Augmentative and alternative communication: new directions in research and practice. London: Whurr Publishing Ltd.; 1999:262–77.
ISSN: 0963-8288 (Print) 1464-5165 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/idre20
Teachers’ perceptions of virtual worlds as a medium for social inclusion for adults with intellectual disability Susan Balandin & Judith Molka-Danielsen To cite this article: Susan Balandin & Judith Molka-Danielsen (2015) Teachers’ perceptions of virtual worlds as a medium for social inclusion for adults with intellectual disability, Disability and Rehabilitation, 37:17, 1543-1550, DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1052574 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2015.1052574
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http://informahealthcare.com/dre ISSN 0963-8288 print/ISSN 1464-5165 online Disabil Rehabil, 2015; 37(17): 1543–1550 ! 2015 Informa UK Ltd. DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1052574
RESEARCH PAPER
Teachers’ perceptions of virtual worlds as a medium for social inclusion for adults with intellectual disability Susan Balandin1 and Judith Molka-Danielsen2
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1
School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia and 2Department of Logistics, Molde University College, Molde, Norway Abstract
Keywords
Purpose: The aim of this research was to explore educators’ perceptions of a virtual world Second Life TM as an environment for social interaction and social inclusion for the Norwegian adult students with intellectual disability that they supported. Method: Five educators who supported a total of 10 adult students with intellectual disability in computer classes in community Adult Education Centres participated in individual in-depth interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a content analysis. Results: Participants were positive about Second Life although they did not perceive that it offered a successful context for social interaction or inclusion. They identified a number of benefits to using a virtual world and for students participating in virtual world research. Barriers identified included language, literacy, and technology issues along with the complexity of participating independently in a virtual world. Conclusions: Some people with intellectual disability can use virtual worlds but the skills required need additional research. Virtual worlds may provide a stimulating, safe, and exciting context for a range of activities but the level of support required by many people is high and consequently expensive.
Educators, intellectual disability, second life, social inclusion, virtual world History Received 7 April 2015 Accepted 14 May 2015 Published online 11 June 2015
ä Implications for Rehabilitation
Educators can use virtual worlds such as Second LifeTM with people with intellectual disability as an enjoyable medium to experience new activities and gain feelings of independence. People with intellectual disability can use Second Life with support and those with good literacy and computer skills can be trained to use it independently. Technology support is needed as virtual worlds are not easy to use for those who have problems with literacy or with speaking or reading English and if the virtual world platform is not stable, the ensuing problems with sound and/or images can be frustrating. Further research is required to explore how virtual worlds could be used to expand teaching programs and allow individuals to build on independent and new experiences in the virtual world safely.
Introduction Virtual worlds and people with intellectual disability Despite the increase in social media use to maintain friendships, keep informed, exchange news, and fulfil leisure needs [1,2], there are few reports on how adults with intellectual disability utilise the social media of virtual worlds [3,4]. Although virtual environments have been used to promote skills for independence, improve fitness [5], and improve cognitive performance for people with disability [2], few programs have aimed at increasing Address for correspondence: Professor Susan Balandin, Deakin University, Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia. Tel: +61 39244 6124, Mobile: +61 477 540 893. Fax: +61 3 92446553. E-mail: [email protected]
socialisation opportunities and reducing loneliness for people with lifelong disability. Researchers in Norway conducted two studies, focusing on social media and people with disability, one explored the affordances of a virtual world for 11 adults with a lifelong disability [6–8], and another introduced the program Flickr to adults with disability during the lunch break in their work centre [3,9]. Several studies have explored how virtual worlds can be used for training purposes with people with intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorders [10–12], yet the majority of users of virtual worlds access these worlds for pleasure or to learn about something of their own choosing. Consequently, little is known about how adults with intellectual disability might use a virtual world such as Second Life TM or the barriers and facilitators to virtual world use for this group of people. In addition, there is little information on the safety issues
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for people with disability interacting in a virtual world. The small literature on cyber bullying in virtual worlds acknowledges that bullying may occur but as yet there is no research framework describing how it occurs or how it can be managed effectively for people with or without disability [13–15]. Although people with intellectual disability may require support to access virtual worlds, there is little information available on the perceptions of those who provide such support or on what support staff may perceive as critical issues relevant to successful virtual world use. Standen and Brown [16,17] argued that the potential of the virtual environment for learning and practice is as yet relatively untapped, although they acknowledged also that virtual environments might not suit or be applicable to everyone with a disability. In a commentary on Standen and Brown’s review, a number of researchers [18,19] agreed that virtual environments offer new opportunities for people with disability. They noted that rigorous research is required to reveal the opportunities these environments offer. Such research could ascertain the applicability of virtual technology to other disadvantaged groups (e.g. people with acquired brain injury or mental health issues) [18]. Thus, there is agreement that virtual technology and virtual reality such as virtual games may benefit people with a range of disability [20]. In their study of the affordances provided to people with disability in the virtual world of Second Life, Stendal et al. [7] identified that the 10 participants with intellectual disability who were novice users of Second Life perceived that activities in Second Life improved their feelings of independence and selfdetermination but did not increase feelings of social inclusion. These perceptions contrasted with those of the seven participants who were experienced users with disability that did not include intellectual disability. The experienced users cited social interaction and inclusion in virtual communities as a major reason for accessing Second Life. Indeed, there are a growing number of reports about the use of virtual technology for leisure activities. Researchers have examined the application of virtual technology of Sony PlayStation II EyeToy VR system [21] and the IREX/GX video capture VR system [22] to develop an effective physical fitness training program for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A third study by Lotan et al. [23] focused on teaching six caregivers of adults with mild to severe intellectual disability to implement a virtual reality exercise program. The caregivers were taught how to implement the program and were able to contact support if they experienced problems. The educational programs were effective for increasing the engagement of people with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability and for some people with severe intellectual disability for all study groups regardless of the educators’ backgrounds. The caregivers reported that although they and the clients enjoyed the program, without technical and administrative support, it would not have been possible to deliver it, despite the caregivers’ motivation and computer knowledge. This is one of the few studies that have focused on the experiences of those who support people with disability to access virtual technology. However, to date, there is limited information on adults with disability accessing virtual worlds, despite the advantages that these worlds offer, including free entertainment and access from a person’s own home computer [24,25]. Balandin [26] suggested that there is a need to further explore virtual worlds as a context not only for people with disability but also to examine the views of other stakeholders including professionals and service providers on the use of virtual worlds, such as Second Life. Second Life is an open access technology platform where a community of participants creates the content of a virtual world. The environment allows participants, called ‘‘residents’’, to
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interact through motional use of avatars (3D characters) that can be personalised in the greatest detail. Besides interactions of avatars in the 3D space, residents can communicate through tools such as text chat or voice chat, using public broadcast or private 1-to-1 talk options [27]. The benefits of using a virtual world such as Second Life are clear. They include opportunities for the person with a disability to socialise, move freely, and to choose whether or not to disclose the disability [2]. What is unclear is how easy it is for adults with an intellectual disability to use virtual worlds and what supports they may need to access these worlds effectively. Furthermore, the majority of evidence regarding the benefits of virtual worlds on building friendships or reducing feelings of loneliness for people with lifelong disability is anecdotal [24]. Consequently, it is not known if the social benefits of using a virtual world extend to people with intellectual disability. The research reported here formed part of a larger project that focused on the affordances that Second Life offers people with developmental disability [6]. This paper focuses on the views and perceptions of five Norwegian educators who were the teachers of the 10 adults with intellectual disability who participated in the larger affordances project [7] that was conducted in the virtual world of Second Life. Nine of the adults with intellectual disability spoke Norwegian and seven knew a little English. One had arrived recently in Norway and spoke English better than Norwegian. All had a heavy accent when speaking English. The aim of this smaller project was to explore how expert educators perceived Second Life as an environment for social interaction and social inclusion for the adult students with intellectual disability that they supported.
Methods Ethical clearance for the research was obtained from the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD). The study reported formed part of a Strategic College Project funded by the Norwegian Research Council. Recruitment Letters were sent to the principals of two community adult education colleges requesting them to distribute an invitation to students with disability attending classes in basic computer use offering them the opportunity to participate in the larger Virtual World study. Letters were provided also for the educators who gave these classes asking them if they would be prepared to support any students from their classes who wished to attend and to undergo a short, 2-h training course in accessing and using Second Life. The educators were paid through the grant funding for the time they spent in the virtual world training and supporting their students to participate in the program. All participants in the program gave informed consent and were assured of confidentiality protection and the right to withdraw at any time without penalty. Participants Five educators working in two community adult education centres in the west and south of Norway agreed to participate in the project. Because Norway has a small population and this project is well known, we are unable, for confidentiality reasons, to provide details of the educators but all had teaching qualifications and had worked for more than 5 years with adults with disability. All participants conducted small group and individual teaching sessions with adults who attended computing courses at the colleges, some courses were also provided at home. The overall content of the courses had to comply with the Norwegian adult
Educators’ perceptions
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education curriculum. These courses were conducted during the day and were open to anyone with a disability. Prior knowledge of computers or any specified levels of literacy skills were not the criteria for acceptance into these courses. The course venues were well equipped with assistive technology including switches and adapted keyboards.
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Training and support procedures As part of a course assessment task, postgraduate students in Informatics at Molde University College developed and gave a basic training package for Second Life to four participants. The package was in Norwegian and covered what Second Life is, and how to access it, how to create an avatar and navigate in the virtual world. The fifth participant was given training in her place of work by the second author. Molde University College has its own island in Second Life and all participants in the project, including both the participants with intellectual disability and the educators, had their avatars created and ready to start from this island whenever they logged in and to teleport back to the island if they became lost. In addition to this support, a person with Second Life and technology experience was on hand whenever participants attended an activity session to help problem solve. The five educators each attended 8 weekly sessions with the participants with disability1 to support these students to participate in the larger program. They assisted the students to enter the virtual world. Once there, the students met up with the avatar Dreaming Peacefully (a pseudonym) of a doctoral student who assisted them to participate in a range of activities that she had selected or that they requested. Each educator had an avatar and so was present in the virtual world as well as sitting in the real world with the students they were supporting. They assisted the students to log in to Second Life and then shadowed them to provide additional assistance if needed, although Dreaming Peacefully led the activities and provided support. Dreaming Peacefully spoke in Norwegian. Although 7 of the 10 the students had some literacy skills, there are no Norwegian instructions in Second Life so the students needed help with translation. Some could read a little English and two could understand the instructions on the Danish version of the browser interface. Data collection One month after the virtual world program finished all five educators participated in an in-depth individual interview with the first author to discuss their experiences and the perceptions of the Second Life as a context for inclusion and socialisation. The first author used an interview guide consisting of four main questions: (1) What did you think of Second Life for people with intellectual disability? (2) What was good about the project? (3) What was difficult? (4) Do you think there are opportunities for ongoing use now the project is over? Interviews took place in the educator’s office and were digitally recorded. They were conducted in a mix of Norwegian and English. Analysis Interviews varied in length from 15 to 62 min and were transcribed in English. The first author listened to the recordings once, before she listened to them a second time as she did the transcriptions. She then reread the transcripts and conducted a content analysis [28] following the method used by Ballin et al. [29]. Qualitative content analysis has been defined as ‘‘any qualitative data reduction and sense-making effort that takes a 1
As they were students at the adult education centre these participants will be referred to as students.
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volume of qualitative material and attempts to identify core consistencies and meanings’’ [27, p. 453]. The first author read the first interview to develop an initial coding scheme by labelling units of text. She then coded the rest of the interviews and added new codes as she identified new meanings. She compared codes within and across interviews to develop patterns of meanings that were then grouped them into core meanings or themes. In order to improve the rigour of the coding, a bilingual Norwegian/English speaker, experienced in qualitative research, checked 25% of the translations and together with the first author discussed the codes, the patterns and themes [28]. Any disagreements were resolved by consensus. Findings Five main themes emerged from the interviews: (1) participants’ perceptions of the experience, (2) barriers to using Second Life, (3) support needed, (4) technology issues, and (5) future opportunities. Participants’ perceptions of the experience Overall, the five participants were positive about the experience. None of them had used Second Life before commencing in the project either personally or as part of their teaching programs. They all thought it was an exciting experience for their students and also useful for them as educators I think it was like a journey. You learned something. You learned more about the student, you have to cooperate together. You learn will they ask for help or are they more conservative? I think it has been very interesting (Interview 3). All participants noted that at the start they were hopeful that the project would result in increased social interaction in the virtual world. Because one of my students, one of them I suggested, is quite lonely and he has some problems with social interactions. So I thought this might be a good idea since he already sat at home watching TV. It would be better if he went out and met people but he doesn’t (Interview 4). All participants agreed that social interactions in real life would be preferable but that this rarely happened, consequently four of the five were disappointed and frustrated that there was so little interaction with others in the virtual world. We never met anyone, there was nobody there but us (Interview 1). We found a Norwegian club and the girls loved it. They danced and stood near guys but no one danced with them and when they spoke, the guys went away, but they still liked going there anyway. They can’t go to clubs in real life (Interview 5). They never spoke with anyone. They (the students with disability) found it kind of strange. ‘‘I am saying hello and they are not answering’’ so that was a bit of a surprise for me and for them because it is a social media and you try to use the social skills you know from the normal world. They had the illusion of inclusion. My conclusion was it didn’t work (Interview 3). Yet the participants perceived that the project offered a number of advantages even if it did not fulfil the hoped for opportunities of social inclusion. Five of the students and four educators went to a university college to access Second Life from the computer labs there. Two participants noted that there was increased social interaction between the two male students who travelled together
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to participate in the project by taxi. These men talked together about what they hoped to do each week and about what happened. The two participants both stated that they had been hopeful that perhaps a friendship was developing as a result of the project but both stated that afterwards the interactions did not continue. They perceived that this was because there was no ongoing opportunity for the men to meet. They did not go to the same classes at the Centre and attended different work centres. One of these participants suggested that it might have been helpful if there had been greater opportunity for social interaction between the students before or after the project in a cafe´ or restaurant, although this was difficult because the program happened after hours when the university college facilities were closed. Nevertheless, the four participants who supported adults at the college computer lab all commented on the importance of the context. Going to the university college was a highlight. They felt it was so great. They were so proud to be in the project at the college and meet a professor (Interview 2). The certificates they received for taking part were important, they felt proud to have their contribution recognised by the university (Interview 1). All participants also noted that the activities in Second life offered new opportunities for independence and developing confidence: It was so good for their self confidence. They were asked if they would like to participate, they had to agree and then go for 8 weeks. They were so proud to participate in research. It was so good. I would do it again (Interview 4). For the first time these girls could do things on their own. Fly away, get lost, do things spontaneously. Do things they had never done before, like walk on the ocean floor, go line dancing, or go to Africa. Two girls can use it independently, they can use it at lunch time, one uses it at home now. I think they don’t make new friends but they can hang out where others are and feel part of the experience (Interview 5). The ghost house (an activity where three students visited a fairground with Dreaming Peacefully), that was a special moment- he (one of the students) he was there. He was a little bit scared but he took care of everyone and got them out. Because he is a man. He liked that. It was a good moment for him (Interview 4). In discussing the experiences of Second Life, the participants all agreed that the project was a positive experience for everyone but did not increase social interactions with others or result in inclusion in virtual communities for their students. They also agreed that Second Life did not support friendship development, even among the students who entered the medium as a group. However, one participant suggested that this might occur if the project had been set up differently. You can’t just go in and find a friend. Maybe if we had set up meetings with other people beforehand. I think people go into Second life to meet with others after they have set up an appointment (Interview 3).
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Norwegian and although most had some knowledge of English, the participants stated that they perceived language as a barrier. Indeed one participant noted that it was difficult for the educators too as they had to translate everything into Norwegian. All participants stated that problems with English would also be a barrier to people with intellectual disability using Second life in residential settings if support workers are not computer literate and perhaps did not speak English fluently as young Norwegians usually do. However, one participant noted that Second Life was a good medium for one of the men supported in the group but not the other. He is good on the PC and good in English, he does not speak Norwegian well so it was nice for him, he liked it. But the other could never do it alone. He uses Facebook a little bit but not alone. He could never use it (Second Life) alone, too many things to do (Interview 4). Indeed four of the five participants commented that there were too many things to do in Second Life in order to make things happen and too many choices. We went to a huge shopping centre (in Second Life). It was so difficult. We tried on shoes but it was difficult and we could not load things into our baskets or pay with our free money. It was difficult and tiresome. They (the students with disability) could move around and they can click and drag but this was too hard (Interview 2). An unexpected barrier was raised in Interview 5. This participant had two students who could use Second Life independently. However, one did not have a computer at home and the other was not allowed to access the Internet without close supervision and this took away her feeling of independence that was what she valued most about Second Life. Participants also mentioned that time was a barrier. The project went for eight 1-h meetings over 8 weeks, with one group having a break of 3 weeks due to a semester break in the middle. One participant stated: Maybe the time was too short. We often find that we try something for a long time and think maybe we should leave it, and then bang, the student suddenly understands what to do and suddenly can go on- you may not see progress and then it is like from winter to summer with no spring (Interview 3). As is often the case, transport was also mentioned as a barrier. Five of the students and the participants who supported them travelled to the university college by taxi. Although the taxis were booked in advance they never arrived on time to collect them or to take them home. Although two participants had mentioned that participating in the project was a lot of extra work, three others stated that there was little extra work other than dealing with the taxis, which took time. Furthermore, because they always had to wait for a pick up transport made their days longer than was necessary. The participants would have been happy to use their own cars for transport but the adult education centre did not allow this because of insurance issues. Yet, of all the barriers that were identified, the most persistent and difficult to overcome were issues with the technology.
Barriers to using Second Life Perhaps not surprisingly, the participants identified a number of barriers to using Second Life. The first was the language issue. All but one of the students with intellectual disability were
Support needed Three of the participants commented that the pre project training was excellent and suggested that the students with
Educators’ perceptions
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disability would also have benefited from some initial training. One noted:
them and join in their different activities in Second Life. We had so much to talk about in class after a session (Interview 5).
I was kind of surprised that they needed more help than I expected and that they would rather ask us than the research assistant or try it out for themselves. An issue was I was not sure whether to help or to let them ask Dreaming Peacefully to do it. Also it seemed that every week they had forgotten what they had learned. This surprised me. What would they have done if we (the educators) weren’t there- this is interesting. Perhaps they should have had some training like we did (Interview 3).
One unexpected support issue arose when the first author was on sick leave and away from the project. Usually the group at the college had cold drinks and biscuits before starting the session but this did not happen when only the technical assistant was present. In addition, the assistant, whose role was to manage any technological problems, did not interact with the group. The four participants who attended the computer lab all commented on this noting that it was strange and that the students had also commented that the technician was unfriendly. ‘‘It was not good. They (the students) didn’t understand. They need clear borders and routines, we spend a lot of time teaching them how to interact with others’’ (Interview 3). In summary, there was overall agreement that with support everyone could access the virtual world but the degree of support needed varied. The final word may go to the participant who stated:
Another said:
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They could never do this alone. Some can play interactive games but these can be hard and Second Life is much too hard. They can’t log in or go in alone, I forget how to do it too, but they can do a lot of things with help and they love it (Interview 2). All participants agreed that for most people with intellectual disability Second Life is too hard to access alone unless, as one participant noted ‘‘They have good computer skill, can read a bit, understand a bit of English and are very determined’’ (Interview 5). The participants also stressed that the support provided by Dreaming Peacefully, who met the students with disability in Second Life each session and helped them to access and find a range of activities was invaluable. ‘‘Oh Dreaming Peacefully was so kind and found so many interesting things for them to do. She gave so much support’’ (Interview 1). I think Dreaming Peacefully became the only real friend they made in Second Life. They all looked forward to seeing her each week. My two guys were a little bit in love with her I think. I could see them flirting and being quite competitive for her attention (Interview 4). Another participant thought the men in the project were falling in love with Dreaming Peacefully. The researchers had been concerned about this possibility. Consequently, Dreaming Peacefully had no contact with any participants other than in Second life and her real world identity was kept secret. When asked about whether it was difficult for the adults with disability when the project ended, four of the five participants stated that they thought not. One said they mentioned her occasionally for a week or so asking if she lived locally or only in Second Life but understood that she was part of the project, which was now completed. The fifth participant noted that one of her students, a woman, had met Dreaming Peacefully a couple of times in Second Life after the project ended but that this did not seem to be a prime motivator to enter the virtual world. ‘‘The computer was turned off and she was gone’’ (Interview 5). Yet despite the support offered by Dreaming Peacefully two participants indicated that they felt some anxiety about how to offer support. They were not sure when to provide support or when to hold back and felt that they were not quite clear on their role as they were worried they might interfere with the data collection if they intervened too much in what Dreaming Peacefully had prepared. They felt they needed a better understanding of what would happen each time and a checklist of supports they could offer. In contrast, another stated: I was so happy to be involved in this project. I learned so much from supporting my students and it was so nice to interact with
I didn’t like it (Second Life) much. If the technology works it is OK but there is still a whole world where they live – if you have to have someone paid to be there then you should go out in the real world together (Interview 4).
Technology issues All the participants had received some training in Second Life as part of the project prior to supporting their students. During this training they created their own avatars and were confident enough to assist the adults with disability create and name their own avatars prior to the first session in the project. One participant noted that even before she was trained, she met with opposition from her colleagues that this project was not part of the curriculum and was neither a good learning context nor a ‘‘proper activity’’ for the students. Consequently she had to support her five students without support from another colleague but with support from Dreaming Peacefully and the research assistant who was also the technology assistant. Nevertheless, this participant was the most enthusiastic about the project and two of her students were able to use Second Life independently by the end of the program. Possibly this success was because they were already avid computer users, had adequate literacy skills, and were prepared to use trial and error. Everyone, including the authors, was unprepared for the problems encountered in Second Life with the sound. There were few sessions when the sound worked perfectly for the whole session. Sometimes the head sets appeared to be faulty but even with additional headsets the quality of sound was very unstable. This was frustrating for everyone, particularly as few of the students with disability were able to type or read well enough to manage without voice. Furthermore, there was sometimes a problem with the visibility of the avatars. On two occasions several avatars turned into ‘‘clouds’’. This is caused by a communication problem between the PC and the Second Life server. Although it was fixed by the technician who was on hand it took up most for the session to correct so was both unsatisfactory and frustrating for those who had lost their avatar. The participants also felt helpless, as although they were all competent computer users, they were unable to do anything to fix the problem. An additional issue was that, although all agreed that Second Life could be a lot of fun it was not an intuitive program. Navigation in Second Life is not easy without a lot of practice and can be particularly difficult not only for those with limited literacy skills but also for those who find it difficult to use a mouse to
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point and click with great accuracy (e.g. people with poor motor skills). Future opportunities
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When asked about using Second Life in the future, participants gave mixed responses. One was continuing to use it in her classes and went with individual students to access different activities and places in Second Life. In addition she was present in the computer classroom at lunchtime twice a week so that students could access Second life in their free time if they wished. All students are able to access computers in the Educational Centre at lunchtime but these computers did not have Second Life installed. Two participants said they would not use Second Life again now that the project was over as it was too difficult. A third (interview 3) said: I haven’t used it yet but we have talked about it and maybe we could use it. I don’t think I could tell them that it will create a new world, but you can do a lot of things. I think there are plenty of possibilities but new friendships are not part of it. These are adults, Second Life may be a safe place to explore sexuality for example. This is not something you can talk about with staff in group homes. The chance to perhaps explore virtual sex and sexuality was also raised independently in Interview 4. They (the two male students supported by the participant) are very interested in sex and I know what they are searching and not everything they find is good. These are not the kind of sexual experiences he should be having – as long as it is not illegal he could be there (in Second Life) alone or with support. Some Internet porn is OK but we should be very concerned about not letting them look at everything. In this same interview, the potential opportunity to meet with others in Education Centres in other parts of Norway was raised: ‘‘I had a group in (another region) that had Aspergers, they were good on computers, perhaps two groups could meet in Second Life that would be good.’’
Discussion The aim of this project was to explore how educators who support adults with intellectual disability perceived Second Life, with a particular focus on the virtual world as a context for social interaction and inclusion. A previous study by Stendal et al. [7,8], indicated that this virtual world provides an important social context for experienced users with a range of disability that did not include intellectual disability. However, the findings of the present study indicated that although the educators involved could identify many benefits for their students accessing Second Life, for the most part they did not perceive that it was a useful medium for increasing social interactions. Indeed, the some participants had some opinions that interactions in the real/physical world were more valuable than those in Second Life. This view is not borne out by many users of virtual worlds who describe the virtual world as meaningful and real [7,8], and, in some instances, preferable to real world interactions (see Stendal & Balandin, this issue). Social interactions in this study may have been compromised by the Norwegian students in this study having additional language and literacy problems; nevertheless, there were a number of issues that impacted on social inclusion that related to the context. It is difficult to feel included in a virtual world if there is little opportunity to interact with others. Second Life comprises a large
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number of islands. It is not known how many islands there are or how many people are in Second Life at any one time but it is possible to spend an hour in Second Life and not meet anyone. Furthermore, it seems that users will either meet at a place which is a context for common interests, such as the Virtual Ability Island [7,8] which caters specifically for people with a disability or any kind, or will arrange to meet beforehand as suggested by one of the participants although usually such meetings are organised within the virtual world. In this project, the students arranged to meet at a specific place with dreaming Peacefully but none outside the project was involved in these meetings. It is not known if others in Second life avoided contact with the students with disability because they did not speak English or write well or had an obvious accent when they spoke, but the first author has had limited success in talking to others in Second Life and assumed that the people she met had other agendas than talking to strangers. Despite the lack of social opportunities, participants perceived that this project offered the students with disability the chance to act independently and experience activities that they could not do in the real world. Thus, it can be argued that virtual worlds can offer opportunities beyond skill training to adults with intellectual disability [17]. The chance to increase self-confidence, fulfil role stereotypes, and be independent had not been foreseen and suggests that virtual worlds may be a novel way to gain some new experiences in a safe environment. There is a small literature that suggests that cyber bullying does occur in virtual worlds [13–15] but the participants did not report any instances of this in our study. The students had limited contact with others not in the project, were mostly in a group with Dreaming Peacefully so it was unlikely that bullying could have occurred. Certainly the participants did not mention cyber bullying and were possibly unaware that this has been identified as a problem. They did, however, note that there is so much to do in Second Life that choosing what activities to follow may be problematic for people with intellectual disability who may be inexperienced in making independent choices about how to spend their time. Participants echoed experiences from other researchers about the intrinsic values of involving people with disability in research projects [30,31]. Thus, in this project, the real-world context of the university college, the involvement of different academic staff and the acknowledgement of participation were all perceived as valuable even if the virtual experiences were sometimes frustrating. In hindsight, some real-world social interaction could have been arranged after the virtual world sessions but this was not part of the larger affordances project. Indeed, the opportunities for social interaction that developed in the real world, for example, in the taxis, were not sustained once the project was completed because the students’ did not have the opportunity to continue meeting regularly. The participants noted that the students involved in the project were isolated at home, yet their learning contexts were not conducive to developing new friendships as the students often had individual lessons or lessons at home. Consequently, this was a support intensive project. It is not known if, as one participant suggested a longer time in the project would have resulted in more independent use of the technology or not, but an argument can be made for offering additional support to enable people to access activities in the real world if there is funding for this. The barrier to computer use in the home was unexpected although it had been difficult to recruit adults to the larger project because staff in group homes were unsure about their own computer abilities or acted as gatekeepers to recruitment. The lack of support available in group homes was highlighted by the participants in this project; nevertheless, we were surprised that one able student was not allowed Internet access in her own home.
Educators’ perceptions
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DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1052574
We suggest that in the twenty-first century, all staff supporting people with disability in community settings should have basic computer skills just as they expected to have cooking and individual finance management skills. Nevertheless problems encountered with technology in this project went beyond the individual skills of the participants. Second Life was not a stable platform for this project and resulted in frustration and time wasted. It was important to have technical assistance available and we should have ensured that the assistant understood that as part of the project, there was a responsibility to interact with participants when they came into and left each session. Involving a competent Second Life user, Dreaming Peacefully, in the project was important and clearly added to the students’ enjoyment of the project and helped the participants support their students. All participants had received information about the project and the aims of the research. However, we were not able to foresee the difficulties that might occur; consequently, the participants perceived that they would have benefited from additional briefing. This could have occurred in Second Life that would have had the added benefit of giving the educators more practice in the medium. We would recommend that ongoing briefings be built in to projects where so little is known about what is likely to occur. The project team had discussed how Dreaming Peacefully should be involved with students and had been concerned about introducing someone who might be seen as a friend but who would not be able to have ongoing contact with students. This is an issue that others have identified [30,31] and although it meant Dreaming Peacefully, the doctoral student on the project sacrificed some opportunity to gain information that would have been helpful to her research, participants confirmed that the relationships that developed were indeed virtual ones for the most part, confined to the computer. Despite research identifying that novice and experienced Second Life users with disability use Second Life differently, this research project has shed little light on the skills needed to use a virtual world successfully. They identified that language, literacy, and experience of computer use were all important but the only skill attributed to the successful use by two students was determination. It was beyond the scope of this project to explore if these two students were known to be persistent in achieving goals or if, because they started with project with good literacy and computer skills that enabled them to move on to independent use quickly. Further research is required in this area as the participants were positive about the project and could see other opportunities for using virtual worlds. There is no information on whether people with disability could or do use virtual worlds to maintain or initiate contacts with others who they know or with whom the might share similar interests. Second life is a free program so individuals might find it easier to use than a phone, particularly, is calls were non-local and, therefore, expensive. Implications for social media research Although the participants in this study all worked in the area of computer use for students in Adult Education Centres, the results of this project suggest there is an urgent need to identify what skills are required for students to be able to function in a virtual world. Apart from a basic understanding of computer use what else is required? Is, for example, it necessary to have good literacy skills or is it possible for adults with intellectual disability to navigate the virtual world without these and still experience enjoyment? This project indicates that Second Life did not present opportunities for social interaction, yet there are many other things to do in a virtual word that do not involve others.
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There is also a need to identify what support is critical to ensure people with intellectual disability can gain confidence in using social media such as virtual worlds. The educators provided ‘‘hands on’’ support to the students in this project and Lotan et al. [23] noted that support with the technology is also important. It is not feasible to suggest such high levels of support are provided all the time but it is also not clear what level of competency is needed before support can be faded bearing in mind that this group of users are unlikely to be able to seek answers from the Internet themselves. There is also an urgent need to explore cyber safety in the virtual world to identify the risks and how to manage them. The possibility of using a virtual world for virtual sex education is also a novel idea and one that warrants further exploration. The authors would caution that all users of virtual worlds understand and follow basic Internet safety practices including not disclosing personal information such as addresses, bank accounts and phone numbers and knowing how to turn the computer off, or in a virtual world, understand how to teleport elsewhere if feeling uncomfortable with the situation. The anonymity offered by the virtual world contributes to safety and also to allowing participants to interact without disclosing their abilities if they so choose. It would also be possible to set up some mentoring or shadowing in the virtual world as occurred successfully in this project. Two students, who could enter and enjoy Second Life independently, were not allowed to use the Internet in their own homes but it is not clear if this was because of concerns about safety or because the staff were not comfortable with computer use or social media. It is unlikely that Norwegian adults who are able to read and speak some English can legally be prevented from using the Internet in their own homes but it was beyond the scope of this project to explore this. Nevertheless, the attitudes of paid and unpaid support personnel that result in gatekeeping warrant further investigation, as there may be a need for information and education programs to ensure that adults with disability are able to use the Internet and participate in the virtual world if they wish. We were fortunate in this project to have participants who, although they had not used Second Life before, were able to support their students after only a short training session. Second Life is not an easy medium, there is a need for research to explore other virtual media that may be accessible by adults with intellectual disability and to develop best practice guidelines in teaching the skills to access and utilise these. Finally, the students in this project all experienced communication difficulties but none used augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Further research is needed to explore if and how people who use AAC, in particular, speech-generating devices (SGDs) could benefit from and utilise virtual worlds. Limitations This was a small project involving five educators who supported 10 students, thus it is not possible to generalise the results. The added problems with technology as well as language issues impacted negatively and it would be interesting to see if the results were more positive if the project was replicated in English and maybe used a more stable platform that Second Life.
Conclusions Overall, the participants, although positive about the project, did not perceive that Second Life worked as a context for increased social interactions and inclusion. However, they identified other benefits that warrant further research. They also raised the difficult issue of how best to use funding to support for people with disability. We would argue that research such as the current
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project is important. Virtual worlds offer a range of learning, leisure, and social opportunities to those in the community who wish to access them, these opportunities are available to some people with intellectual disability also but more research is required to identify the skills needed and how to offer the optimal level of support.
Acknowledgements First, we would like to thank the five educators for participating in research and sharing their views with us. We would also like to thank the students who committed to the study and made the research possible.
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Declaration of interest This work was part of a Strategic College Project funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The authors report no conflicts of interest.
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