Presenters: Malcolm Jolly, Kay Lancefield, Delia Bradshaw, Glenda McPherson, GippsTAFE, Morwell, Australia

Over the past 18 months, GippsTAFE in Victoria, Australia has been exploring the educational potential of SL for vocational training. This presentation will show case a range of practical applications that foreground identity formation and the development of relevant workplace capacities as a component of learning.

GippsTAFE has used SL to meet a range of educational needs with a number of very different learner cohorts. Whilst each SL immersion was guided by a clear educational purpose, many unintended learning outcomes have also occurred. It has been observed that the intricate interplay of role, identity and interaction, and their influence on each other, within a virtual world can extend learning beyond what is possible in a traditional classroom.

In 2006 two pilots took place. One pilot involved a group of young mums who were undertaking a work related skills module in a further education course. They created a holiday resort in SL and took on the roles of resort staff; organizing themselves as an efficient team to create, coordinate and deliver a range of holiday activities for a group of ‘tourists’. The second pilot involved a group of Interior Decorating students who met ‘clients’ in SL. Each client had a unique brief about something that needed changing in the house and the student needed to interpret and respond to that brief.

Each pilot was constructed to support role development, identity formation and workplace preparation differently. The pilots raised a number of important and complex educational questions which will be discussed in this presentation. The questions and outcomes of the pilots are addressed both from an educational and a psychological perspective.

In 2007, pilots in SL are taking place around workplace competencies involving elements of risk. Risk includes behaviours, activities and/or outcomes that may have physical, mental and /or social consequences with not only potential harm to individuals but also with inherent litigation and liability implications for organisations. Emerging data will be included in the presentation.