Microsoft Word - [5]425_AUTHCE copy.docx Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2013, 29(6). ascilite 823 Social presence and motivation in a three-dimensional virtual world: An explanatory study Rabia M. Yılmaz, F. Burcu Topu, Yuksel Goktas Ataturk Univesity Murat Coban Agri İbrahim Cecen University Three-dimensional (3-D) virtual worlds differ from other learning environments in their similarity to real life, providing opportunities for more effective communication and interaction. With these features, 3-D virtual worlds possess considerable potential to enhance learning opportunities. For effective learning, the users' motivation levels and social presence are important. In this study, the motivation and social presence levels of 42 prospective teachers were measured as they engaged in an Open Simulator 3-D virtual world. Related factors affecting motivation and social presence levels were also examined. An explanatory mixed method design was used in this study. Interviews and three different questionnaires were employed. The quantitative results show that the motivation and social presence levels of the participants were high. The qualitative results also revealed several pertinent factors that are related to motivation and social presence. These factors, which include the particular environment and participant satisfaction, clearly affected motivation while the participants were learning new information. Other factors, such as being relaxed, effective communications, and not feeling lonely in the environment affected the social presence measures. Lastly, the participants perceived the environment as warm and sociable. The results suggest that these factors should be taken into account when 3-D virtual learning environments are being designed. Introduction Today's students have recently been called digital natives (Prensky, 2001). Their learning environments have been changing rapidly. New learning environments now facilitate the sharing of information as much as the accessing of it, and emphasize collaboration and three-dimensional (3-D) learning (Bulu, 2011; Kapp & Driscoll, 2010). One particularly attractive innovation is 3-D virtual worlds, such as Active Worlds, Second Life, On Live!, Open-Sim, Traveler, Croquet, and Adobe Atmosphere. These are widely used, and the number of 3-D environments has been increasing steadily (Hew & Cheung, 2010). With the increase of interest in 3-D virtual worlds, academic institutions and training organizations have also begun to investigate features of these environments which support the learning process (Li, D'Souza, & Du, 2011). Three-dimensional virtual worlds are environments in which the real world is simulated. Users can move around using virtual representatives called avatars, and they can interact synchronously with other users (Dede, Ketelhut, & Ruess, 2002; Dickey, 2005; Kapp & Driscoll, 2010; Messinger et al., 2009). These environments include some features that do not exist in the real world, but also offer situations that are similar to real life. For example, some 3-D environments provide opportunities for individuals to teleport (via teleports), or to pass between areas by flying, or to turn into various characters (these can be beasts, warriors, other sorts of characters, etc.). In addition, individuals can participate in various activities just as in real life, but without physical limitations (e.g., founding social clubs, discovering interesting environments, or collaborating in a business; Fetscherin & Lattemann, 2008). Several advantages are offered by these environments, such as providing opportunities for experiential education, increasing motivation and contextual learning, and providing richer and more efficient cooperative learning. These environments are also simpler to use than 2-D environment alternatives (Dalgarno & Lee, 2010). With such features, 3-D virtual worlds can be used as educational tools (Dalgarno & Lee, 2010; Dickey, 2005). For educational purposes, 3-D virtual worlds make accessing information easier, and they increase the motivation of users by engaging them actively in a learning process (Holmberg, 1997; Mishra, 2009). They also create social presence by recognizing individuals' lifelong learning attainments and cooperative study skills, and thus permit users to utilize their own information and skills (Harris & Rea, 2009; Heid & Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2013, 29(6). 824 Kretschmer, 2009; Ozdinc, 2010). Holmberg (1983, 1997, 2003) stressed in his communication and interaction theory that socialization and feeling as if one is a part of the environment are important factors that make the learning process more entertaining. Increasing participant motivation may enhance effective learning. As 3-D virtual worlds are a type of e-learning environment, they make it easier to access information resources, and they can effectively be used to increase motivation while including the users actively in the learning process (Mishra, 2009). Moreover, by encouraging user interactions with other users and with the environment, these 3-D environments affect the level of presence at an important degree (Ketelhut, Nelson, Clarke, & Dede, 2010; Lee, 2004; Mirkopoulos & Strouboulis, 2004). Figure 1 displays the necessary features of an effective learning environment, according to Holmberg's theory (1983, 1997, 2003): Figure 1. The relationship between motivation and social presence in the communication and interaction theory. Concepts such as socialization, the feeling of presence in the environment, individualism, and interaction are emphasized as enhancers of effective learning in Holmberg's communication and interaction theory (1983, 1997, 2003). These affect both social presence and motivation, along with certain additional factors. This has been discussed and demonstrated in the literature. Also based on Holmberg's theory, motivation and social presence are critical to the effectiveness of a learning environment. Thus, in the present study, a 3-D virtual world was evaluated within the framework of this theory to examine its effects on motivation and social presence. Motivation in 3-D virtual worlds New media articles used in learning environments have the potential to motivate individuals; they can thereby increase the effectiveness of these environments (Keller, 2006; Mills, 2010). The positive effects on user motivation of entertaining and interactive environments which feature eye-catching objects has been amply demonstrated (Allison, Miller, Sturgeon, Nicoll, & Perera, 2010; Horton, 2000; Sancho, Torrente, & Fernández-Manjón, 2009). Because 3-D virtual worlds possess such objects, those environments are thought to stimulate motivation levels (Falloon, 2010; Iqbal, Kankaanranta, & Neittaanmaki, 2010; Sierra, Gutiérrez, Garzón-Castro, 2012; Zhou, Jin, Vogel, Fang, & Chen, 2011). In the literature, it has also been demonstrated that other features of 3-D environments, such as interactions between users and between individual users and the environment, participation in the provided activities, and the feeling of being truly in the environment (Kapp & Driscoll, 2010) all increase the users' learning capacities (Mishra, 2009). Students with specials needs also can be motivated with the help of avatar properties, 3-D animations, voice effects, and chat rooms within these environments (Cheng & Ye, 2010). Effective Learning Individual differences Interaction Presence Motivation Satisfaction Socialization Social Presence Motivation Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2013, 29(6). 825 Users who have fun, are interactive, and cooperate within 3-D virtual worlds tend to be more motivated (Arya, Hartwick, Graham, & Nowlan, 2011), pay attention for longer durations of time (Bouta, Retalis, & Paraskeva, 2012), and evaluate the environment as entertaining and fruitful for learning (Verhagen, Feldberg, van den Hooff, Meents, & Merikivi, 2012). Being granted opportunities to show their talents in these environments (Xu, Park, & Baek, 2011) and enjoying interesting experiences while processing the applications additionally enhance motivation (Cheng & Wang, 2011). Zhou et al. (2011) explained that stimulating motivation in 3-D virtual worlds requires the inclusion of various applications in the design, which take individual user differences into consideration, permit entertaining and relaxing experiences, and allow opportunities for users to socialize in the environment. According to the literature, socialization, the sense of presence, recognition of user differences, satisfaction, and interaction are all related to Holmberg's communication and interaction theory. It is therefore important to evaluate how much these factors really affect users' motivation levels in 3-D virtual worlds. Social presence in 3-D virtual worlds Social presence, defined as a sense of feeling togetherness with others (Thie & Wijk, 1998), has recently been described as a factor that contributes to the effectiveness of new technologies (Biocca, Harms, & Burgoon, 2003). The reason for providing a sense of social presence in an education environment is to encourage qualitative interactions and user questioning of encountered circumstances, which enhance the aims of education (Garrison, 2007). Social presence helps to generate a social identity rather than merely an individual identity (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2010). Social presence also reflects the development of interactions in an environment (Akyol & Garrison, 2011); this activity requires users to explain their emotions and thoughts in communications with other users (Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, & Archer, 2001), and to maintain focus on supporting cooperation and group choices (Burgess, Slate, Rojas- LeBouef, & LaPrairie, 2010). Dickey (2005) revealed that social presence increases when the users' individual skills and ways of thinking are displayed by their avatars in a 3-D virtual world. Whiteman (2002) concluded that social presence enhances interaction in an environment, encourages users to demonstrate their skills, promotes leadership in interactions, and facilitates socialization and communication. Leh (2001) studied the positive effects of social presence in the process of creating a friendly learning environment, and stressed that participants did not feel confident in environments without a sense of social presence. Without it, there was a decrease in interaction. Tu and McIssac (2002) stated that social presence has a highly positive influence on learning. The relationships between the factors which are mentioned in the communication and interaction theory, such as socialization, presence, individual differences, effective learning, interaction, and social presence, are discussed in these studies. Accordingly, it is important to analyse the participants' sense of social presence in 3-D virtual environments. In order to increase the number of participants who will use these 3-D environments, motivation levels must be carefully considered (Zhou et al., 2011). The relationships between motivation and socialization, individual differences (Zhou et al., 2011), satisfaction (Bulu & Isler, 2011), interaction, and presence (Kapp & Driscoll, 2010) have been considered. But social presence has not yet been fully examined in the context of education. Social presence has been used to explain the effectiveness of new technologies (Biocca et al., 2003), and it is related to presence (Leh, 2001; Whiteman, 2002), individual differences (Dickey, 2005), interaction (Arya et al., 2011), socialization, and learning (Tu & McIssac, 2002). If all of the factors mentioned above are taken into consideration, 3-D virtual worlds may considerably affect both motivation and social presence. Few studies currently exist on motivation in 3-D virtual worlds used as learning environments (Zhou et al., 2011), and it remains difficult to explain the educational effects of social presence (Messinger, et al., 2009; Ozdinc, 2010). It is also important to analyse whether the other factors that affect motivation and social presence have the same degree of impact within 3-D virtual worlds. This study will therefore contribute new information to the literature and will be a useful resource for future studies. In this study, our first goal was to determine the participants' degrees of motivation and social presence in the 3-D virtual world. The second goal was to discover which factors affected motivation and social Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2013, 29(6). 826 presence. Lastly, the third goal was to analyse the users' perceptions of their own social presence in the virtual environment. The study is divided into categories related to three main research questions: 1. What are the motivation levels of the participants in the 3-D virtual world? 1.1. What are the factors affecting the participants' motivation levels? 2. What degrees of social presence are exhibited by the participants in the 3-D virtual world? 2.1. What are the factors affecting the participants' social presence levels? 3. What are the participants' perceptions of their social presence in the virtual environment? Method Overview This study is based upon the explanatory method. This is one of the mixed research designs, in which quantitative and qualitative methods are used together. The method facilitates the acquisition of more comprehensive data, which strengthens the results (Burke & Christensen, 2004; McMillan & Schumacher, 2010). In other words, the explanatory method permits deeper explanations of the results of quantitative data analysis. Results from qualitative methods alone permit only more limited interpretations, but the explanatory method supplements the data and so reduces these limits. The motivation and social presence levels of the participants were determined by quantitative methods. Then, in order to analyse the data in detail and to interpret that information with regard to the factors which affect motivation and social presence, qualitative methods were used. Participants The sample consisted of 42 teacher candidates, of whom 19 were females and 23 were males. All were undergraduate students. The participants firstly designed the environment within their Project Development and Management course, during the second term of the 2011-2012 academic year. One purpose of this stage was to get the attention of project supporting institutions in Turkey. All of the students had prior knowledge and experience with 3-D virtual worlds, and all were then attending a senior class in Atatürk University's Department of Computer and Instructional Technologies. A purposeful sampling method was used to determine the participants. This permits the examination of facts, events, and information-rich situations. After completing an analysis in the first two weeks of their schedule, the student participants took the role of designers in the following four weeks. They were not developing the environment while they were receiving instruction in the classroom phase, but instead completed the environment interactively via remote access. They worked on applications after completing the design phase. Same participants interacted within the environment that they had already designed, and they also obtained information about the institutions in 3-D virtual world. In the last two weeks, interviews were conducted and the evaluation phase was completed. Thus, the participants took part in the project as both designers and learners. The role of the researchers Four researchers working in the Department of Computer and Education Technologies in Atatürk University, Turkey conducted the study. One had experience in the field of 3-D virtual worlds, and acted as a consultant and coordinator. The other researchers were assistants and investigators. The process One aim of the environment was to attract the attention of project supporting organizations in Turkey. The research process included the stages of analysis-design, development, implementation, and evaluation. In the analysis-design stage, the participants were notified about the 3-D virtual world, and the general 3-D environment was chosen. An Open Simulator environment (Open Sim) was selected for the study, as it is a powerful independent module (Zhou, Sun, Wu, & Hu, 2010) and one that utilizes open sources (Open Simulator, http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page). In the development stage, the interactive platform was designed by the participants. This platform facilitated practice and was enriched with presentations, videos, and exhibitions. Moreover, the environment allowed the participants to Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2013, 29(6). 827 conduct their own research and had various features for socialization. The participants were able to interact with other group members with audio communications and in writing. Each of the supporting organizations in Turkey utilized a portion of the environment. Their respective portions each had a presentation room that provided information about the institution, a conference room, a donated exhibition room with sample applications, a research room, and also important historical structures for the organization. The participants had the opportunity to visit any area that they wished to investigate. Moreover, a social room was designed, wherein the participants could easily interact. In the implementation stage, all the participants interacted with each other, and each group promoted and presented their subject of research in their own area of the environment. Then, measuring scales were implemented. Lastly, in the evaluation stage, the process and results were analysed and evaluated. The study's duration was 14 weeks. Screenshots of the virtual world are presented in Figure 2, and more information about all of the stages is presented in Table 1. Table 1 The research process Stages A na ly si s- D es ig n • The students were notified about the 3-D virtual world. • An Open Sim platform, a type of 3-D virtual world, was chosen and introduced to the students. • Teams (groups) were formed. • The students were informed about the installation and use of Open Sim. • As a tool for effective communication and interaction, a Facebook group was created; the Facebook website was used as a communication tool. D ev el op m en t • A server for Open Sim was installed, and a platform was formed. • Pilot tests were conducted with the Open Sim platform. • The participant groups designed the environment to attract the interest of project supporting organizations in Turkey. • Problems faced during the process and recommended solutions were shared on the Facebook site. • Screenshots of the designed environment were shared on the Facebook site. • Feedback was given to the students about deficiencies in the designed environment. Im pl em en ta tio n • Each section of the environment designed by the different groups was introduced to the rest. • All of the participants interacted with each other. • Each group promoted and presented their subject of research in their own part of the environment. • Measuring scales, previously selected, were applied to the participant data to reveal the effects of the designed environment on motivation and social presence. • To supplement the quantitative findings, focus group interviews were conducted with nine students, chosen randomly. E va lu at io n • The findings were analysed statistically. • The focus group interview findings were analysed. • The quantitative results were presented statistically and in graphic form. • Codes were assigned to the qualitative data. • All of the qualitative and quantitative findings were interpreted. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2013, 29(6). 828 Figure 2. Screenshots of the 3-D virtual environment in this study. Instruments Four different instruments were used. For the quantitative analysis, an instrument prepared by Keller (1987) in a Turkish translation (Kutu & Sozbilir, 2011) was used to gather data to answer the first research question. This was the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey. The Cronbach alpha reliability score was 0.88 for this dual-factor, 5-point Likert scale survey, which consisted of 24 items. This instrument is widely used for evaluating motivation levels. The instrument used to gather data for the second research question was the Turkish version (Bardakci, 2010) of the Social Presence Scale for Measuring Online Learners' Involvement developed by Kreijns, Kirschner, Jochems, and Buuren (2007). The Cronbach alpha reliability score was 0.80 for this single- factor, 5-point Likert scale survey, which is composed of 10 items. This instrument was selected in order to determine the levels of the participants' social presence in the online environment. It was prepared by field experts and has been translated into Turkish. For the third research question, six items (Hills, 2005) were selected from the scale of Social Presence developed by Short, Williams, and Christie (1976). This set asked the participants to describe the environment. The items in the seven-point semantic differential scale survey were cold-warm, personal- impersonal, passive-active, unsociable-sociable, closed-open, and boring-interesting. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2013, 29(6). 829 For the qualitative part of the study, focus group interviews (around 60 minutes each) were conducted with nine students, chosen randomly. This was done to strengthen the data from the scales, to more fully understand the reasons for the results, and to inquire about the experiences of the users in the 3-D environment. All of the instruments were employed immediately after the implementation of the 3-D virtual world at the end of the fall semester in 2011-2012. Data analysis The collected quantitative data were analysed using SPSS 18.0. Firstly, negative items in the scales were replaced before the analysis (Colton & Covert, 2007). Then, the Cronbach alpha reliability (α) score was measured, and the result was high (α > 0.8). Standard deviations and means were also determined for the items in each scale. For the qualitative data, the focus group interviews were transcribed by two experts. Then, content analysis was conducted, and the scale results were used to create categories and codes. Results The findings of the study are provided in relation to the research questions. The quantitative findings were the initial focus. Then, to strengthen and analyse them more deeply, the qualitative findings were coordinated with them. For the quantitative findings, tables and graphs are used to present the statistical data. For the qualitative findings, each participant was assigned a separate code. These codes are "S_X." The motivation levels of the participants in the 3-D virtual world When the quantitative data on the motivation levels of the participants were analysed, the Attention- Relevance and Confidence-Satisfaction sub-sections of the questionnaire were the focus. As may be seen in Table 2, the mean score of the Attention- Relevance section was (M = 4.14); the mean score of the Confidence-Satisfaction section was (M = 4.08); and the general mean was (M = 4.10). This coincided with the "I agree" level of the scale. The means of certain other items coincided with the "I totally agree" level of the scale. These results show that the participants' motivation levels in the environment were high. The Attention- Relevance and Confidence-Satisfaction sub-dimensions of motivation are also close to each other. That indicates the stability of the motivation levels. In other words, strong motivation was observed in dimensions of attention, interest, confidence, and satisfaction. The most important factors for promoting motivation were the items with the highest means (4.20