As part of our outreach work, the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research will host a morning get-together at the ICIS Shanghai Conference. Meeting will occur on :
Monday Dec 5th: 7:30 AM-8:30 AM 5F
Shanghai International Convention Center
- Chair: Dr. Yesha Sivan, managing editor of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research. Tel Aviv, Israel.
- Special guest will be Yiqing (Anthony) He, Senior Learning Specialist – Manager, IBM Center for Advanced Learning. Beijing, China.
- Discussant: Marco De Marco, on building a new discipline.
Professor of organization and information systems Università Guglielmo Marconi, Roma, Italy.Abstract
Virtual Worlds for Learning: The IBM China Perspective
IBM has officially debuted on the virtual worlds business since 2007, and ever since learning has been one of the mainstream applications of virtual worlds inside IBM. With the advancement of some newly emerged 3D virtual world platforms, we believe it could mean a perfect storm for learning by leveraging on the virtual worlds and social computing technologies.
In order to provide the thought leadership and develop best practices for learning within a virtual social environment, IBM 3D Immersive Learning Center of Excellence (3DIL CoE) was formed in 2008. Built upon the abundant collective experience from both internal and external teams who have engaged in virtual world learning, the IBM 3DIL CoE has developed some reusable assets and templates for designing and developing learning programs, activities, and events.
Different countries may have different adoption level of learning within a virtual social environment. The comparatively poor bandwidth conditions and low configuration of laptop are the top two reasons that keep some employees from India and China away from such innovative learning opportunities.
Despite the technical constraints, business owners in IBM China have embraced the virtual world learning with great enthusiasm. So far it has been piloted in pillars such as professional development, technical development, and even leadership training courses. The format of the application ranges from smart workplace, business simulation, collaborative learning, new employee orientation, speed mentoring, posters session, and events such as virtual world graduation ceremony.
About Yi Qing He
Yiqing He (Yiqing Hereter, SL) is a senior learning designer and developer with the 3D Immersive Learning CoE. He is responsible for designing and developing reusable learning assets, coaching and enabling best practices, and leading the business transformation with 3D virtual world learning in IBM.
Yiqing has diverse and seasoned experience in designing and developing technology-enhanced learning products, ranging from digital textbook, interactive learning games, simple e-learning courses, to college-wide curriculum design, LMS implementation, and LCMS solution design and development. Prior to joining IBM, Yiqing worked with many multinational teams and corporations in the e-learning industry. The most successful project he led was a $4 million project co-sponsored by US Department of Education and China Ministry of Education, with 15 team members working for 2.5 years.
Yiqing was hired by IBM in early 2008 into the GCG HR Learning team as an advisory learning specialist. Beginning October of that year, he joined IBM Center for Advanced Learning and became one of the core members of the 3D Immersive Learning CoE. Yiqing quickly adopted the design skills for 3D virtual world learning, and successfully led several pilot products in both Active Worlds and Second Life platforms, including Blue Pathway, G100 Club, Blue Team Beyond Boundaries, and IBM Learning Center Island. Yiqing has also evangelized about best practices on 3D virtual world learning to more than three thousand IBMers, including GCG HR Learning facilitators, ISC DE mentors and mentees, ISSC ADM Sharenet participants, and GCG technical group Sharenet participants.
