"Exploring Body Image in Second Life" submitted by Peggy Sheehy, Ramapo Central School District

1. Organization/Institution Name
Ramapo Central School District

2. Project Name
Ramapo Islands: A New Dimension for Learning

3. Names of project lead(s) at your organization
Peggy Sheehy, James Yap

4. Names of best practice author:
Peggy Sheehy

5. Contact Information
Name: - Peggy Sheehy
Company: - Suffern Middle School
Address: - Library
Address 2: - 80 Hemion Road
City/Town: - Suffern
State: - New York
ZIP/Postal Code: - 10901
Country: - USA

6. Funder for project
Ramapo Central School District

7. A description of your project and how it leverages virtual worlds for learning:
In September of 2006, Ramapo Central School District established the first public school presence of the Teen Grid of Second Life. On our private estate, now comprised of six islands housing unique learning environments, our students are engaged in standard-based learning and the demonstration of applied concepts and content mastery. Student participation in the virtual world has proven to be extraordinarily engaging and accommodates many learning styles in a differentiated, rigorous approach to simulation, role-playing, content creation, problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration.

8. In which of the following settings does your project take place:
K-12
Home

9. Your best practice will explore the following:
Tools
Other
Outcomes
Skill development
Body Image Issues for Middle School Students

10. Which virtual world(s) or gaming environment are you utilizing in the program being described?
Second Life

11. Why did you choose that specific platform or community for your project?
Second Life allows users to come together to interact, play, learn, and communicate in an online 3-D environment which is 100% user created. The platform provides tools which allow students to build their own environments, create highly customized avatars, and simulated learning environments. With a minimal amount of training, the interface is manageable for most and the capabilities are boundless! identify trends and forecast possibilities. 2. Communication and Collaboration Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

12. What are the learning objectives of your project?
1. Examine the factors that influence body image
2. Explore how students can create a more positive regard for themselves.
3. Foster an environment that encourages honest and thoughtful discussions
4. Master the tools of avatar creation and appearance in Second Life
5. Use social networking in a positive manner to support learning From the NETS: . Creativity and Innovation Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
Students: a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression. c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues. d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.
6. Communication and Collaboration Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.


13. What is one best practice that you would like to share with the RezEd community?
The project began in the library Mac Lab with the students viewing the short video, http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat4.asp?id=6909 Students were then asked to create avatars that resembled their actual real life appearances as closely as possible. After they created their realistic avatars and each took a snapshot for comparison purposes later, they were put into groups to discuss how comfortable they were with these images in Second Life. The next day, they changed their avatars to resemble what they thought was the media’s representation of perfect beauty. Again, they went into groups to discuss how they felt about that process. On the third day, students were again challenged to represent media beauty, but this time they were asked to switch gender. The girls then portrayed the media explanation of beauty for males and vice-versa. Afterwards, in discussion, many illuminating misconceptions were revealed. This allowed students to discuss how the media portrays beauty, how realistic those images are, and how they personally felt in these different portrayals. Once students became comfortable using the messaging systems and note cards, I was amazed to see the learning that was happening in the discussion groups. At first it was difficult to predict what the students would get out of this project. I expected them to enjoy the process of creating avatars, but I had no idea how profound their discussions would become when they formed groups in the “pods”. These hexagonal pods are situated in a whole group setting (looks a bit like a series of gazebos in a circular formation) until the facilitator enables flying. They then fly apart to heights that are more than 20 meters apart to enable break out small discussion groups. A transcript of the small chat discussions is emailed to the facilitator who also has the capability of teleporting from pod t pod in order to support or engage in the small group discussions. (For more information on the pods see “Decka’sDecks” on Terra Incognita on the Main Grid) The culminating activity for this project is then to have the students decide on he avatar appearance with which they are most comfortable and to discuss the rationale behind their choice. When we cover body image in a traditional class, it’s easy for most students to discuss how they fell about the media, but it’s more difficult for students to discuss how these messages affect them personally.

One best practice that evolved from facilitating this project with 8 different classes was
to develop clear expectations for each day’s goals. In our case, we had developed a rubric that the students reviewed before each class. We talked briefly about what each of the components “looked like” and we held them to task with just enough structure for each day. Since there is always a wide range of capabilities in a typical student body, we also encouraged in-world peer support during class.
Although the buzzer, bell, stop, and start of a traditional school setting is something we are trying to steer away from, the reality is that we are all working under time constraints, and things like messages to the estate giving “5 minute heads-up” warnings seemed to help keep the kids on track and make the most of our time together.


14. What would need to be in place (in terms of skills, staffing, infrastructure, systems, etc.) for someone else to reproduce your best practice?
1. copy of Decka's Decks, and a working knowledge of its use. In-world video tutorial available at: (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Terra%20incognita/183/38/67) 2. availability of numerous selections of appearance variables (hair, clothing, jewelry, etc.) 3. The skills students will be asked to apply: * joining a group, * creating a note-card and delivering it to the teacher’s inventory, * taking and saving a snapshot, * managing their inventory * changing their appearance and clothing/hair

15. Please write a short anecdote that reflects this best practice.
Note from the teacher, Diane Whiting: “As a health teacher, it was incredibly rewarding to see my students examine these issues frankly and support the goal of self-acceptance for one another. I do not believe this level of communication could have happened in a traditional classroom. Second Life is a tool that has allowed my students to explore feelings and concerns that I know would not have happened otherwise. Not only did they discuss their concerns, but they were able to provide each other support. Second Life is a forum that easily lends itself to teaching body image and self-acceptance.”


16. Please include the URLs of any photo(s), video(s), or sound file(s) that are specific to the program you are describing.