Building virtual clubs for jazz history in second life

Abstract

The use of Second Life to contextualize assigned course readings was conceived of as a way to stimulate critical thinking in the online discussion forum. Second Life offered a means for students to not only hear the jazz masterpieces of each jazz style, but also a method to observe the environment, musical instruments used, race of the musicians, and activity of patrons attending the performance throughout the various style periods of jazz. Students were provided Second Life URLs inside of the learning management system each week to lead avatars to the simulation of the week. Bots-scripted/non-human controlled avatars-interacted with the students to provide direction and context during the students' exploration of each simulation. The results indicated that Second Life was a suitable platform and method for use as an instructional aid to teach jazz styles in an online undergraduate course to non-music majors. The results also documented a significant spike in discussion forum posts, length of posts, and quality of thinking present.