Wednesday, March 15, 2023

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM

111A

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Details

When virtual exchange practice employs multiple digital media, including metaverse applications, how does the current generation of students engage in participation and performance? Our study investigated a VE entrepreneurship camp program with a total of 12 Japanese and American students. The analysis focuses on the participants’ social interactional behaviour using ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (EMCA), focusing on their use of virtual semiotic resources (Goodwin, 2000) engaging with the Virbela platform. Virbela enables user manipulation of an avatar that can be directed to move freely in a 3D virtual world. Two data sets featuring interactions involving the same students (22.5 hours of the Virbela interaction and 25.5 hours of teleconferencing data) were examined. Our preliminary results show that more side talks besides the main event took place in Virbela, and most of such side talks were voluntarily initiated. We illustrate how the participants interactively engaged in the on-going project work, and that their final project sharing event included a wider range of audience. As the technology becomes more affordable and accessible, COIL/VE practices should also seek to evolve alongside them, with the results of our study possibly bringing some new insights to bear on design practices. Learning Objectives: ● How a metaverse space has accelerated the participants’ interactions during the team collaboration work, in comparison to 2-dimension web communication tools such as zoom or spacial chat ● Interactional affordance merited the participants in this COIL module by adopting metaverse virtual space ● Potential use of metaverse in the future developments of online international education Target Audience: Instructors, program coordinators and administrators who are interested in online international education, COIL and virtual exchange. Target Audience Level: Beginner

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Presenter(s)

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Chairperson