TPC-Journal-V2-Issue2

The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 2 170 in the field of education is important. Addressing this gap can provide valuable, alternative educational methods to school counselors and other mental health professionals, as well as parents, school administrators and teachers (Carney, 2008; Wright, Burnham, Inman, & Ogorchock, 2009). Review of the Literature Virtual worlds, digital videos, and gaming can supplement education, making concepts that are abstract or difficult to understand interesting, relevant, and concrete through modeling and interaction (Williamson & Facer, 2004). Virtual technologies also provide students with a safe place that replicates the real world, allowing for ongoing educational interactions (Paperny & Starn, 1989). Yet, research on the use of virtual worlds, digital videos, and gaming to teach adolescents about cyberbullying is limited (Wright et al., 2009), even though technology has been effectively used to teach skills and train youth. Several published studies have illustrated the value of virtual technology. For example, Cobb et al. (2002) reported that completing tasks in a virtual social café helped adolescents and adults with Asperger’s syndrome improve their social skills. Similarly, Padgett, Strickland, and Coles (2006) reported success in using a virtual reality game to teach five children with fetal alcohol syndrome fire safety skills. In another study, Amon and Campbell (2008) used a virtual game to teach relaxation skills to children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Researchers also have reported success in using virtual scenarios and simulations to raise awareness of concepts, including the development of professional skills in teacher education graduate programs (Collins, Cook-Cottone, Robinson, & Sullivan, 2004), improving attitudes for decreasing teenage pregnancy (Paperny & Starn, 1989) and coping with fears such as public speaking (Slater, Pertaub, & Steed, 1999) and flying (Krijn et al., 2007). Using a Virtual Environment to Create Cyberbullying Scenarios The virtual world environment was chosen for this study because of a significant need to provide access to factual and authentic cyberbullying scenarios in an environment that was safe and one that would not compromise the well-being, psychological health, or rights of youth. Studies have suggested that using a virtual environment can be a valuable and safer alternative for conducting research (Zoll, Enz, Schaub, Aylett, & Paiva, 2006) and may make collecting sensitive data more appealing in educational research. Further, researchers have reported that interactions in virtual environments “are governed by the same social norms as social interactions in the physical world” (Yee, Bailenson, Urbanek, Chang, & Merget, 2007, p. 119), making it possible to compare the virtual interactions with interactions in the real world. Finally, adolescents are often motivated to learn about issues and concepts through video or computer games rather than through traditional instructional methods (Ritterfeld & Weber, 2006). With these factors in mind, we reiterated an interest in using virtual world scenarios to raise awareness of cyberbullying and to simultaneously offer an “attractive, but also a potentially powerful means of getting the attention of adolescents” (Wright et al., 2009, p. 40). Having cyberbullying videos to prompt discussion among youth offers school counselors, as well as classroom teachers, additional ways to deal with the challenges they face with cyberbullying. Choosing Second Life Second Life (SL) was chosen as the virtual environment for this current study because it “dominates the virtual world landscape” (Warburton, 2009, p. 423) in education. Linden Lab launched SL in 2003. The immersive, three-dimensional (3-D) virtual environment of SL offers users an opportunity to create or re-create situations, interactions and experiences through the use of avatars, which are animated figures that represent real people. Complete communities, schools and businesses have been recreated in SL. Although educators have benefited from specific Linden Lab invitations to explore SL for teaching, learning and research (O’Conner & Sakshaug, 2009), SL and other virtual communities (e.g., Active Worlds, WebKinz) are considered new innovations on the technological landscape. In recent years, researchers have collected anecdotal and empirical data related to virtual environments including potential uses and effectiveness in role- play and student-centered learning (Inman, Wright, & Hartman, 2010).