The Development of Virtual World Tools to Enhance Learning and Real World Decision Making in the Australian Sugar Farming Industry

International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning (iJAC)

Adam Loch¹  Neil Martin¹  Janette Lindesay¹  Joanne Doyle¹  Torben Marcussen¹  Helen Farley¹  Tek Maraseni¹  Shahbaz Mushtaq¹  Neil Cliffe²  Kate Reardon-Smith¹  Roger Stone¹  Jenny Ostini¹ 

[1] University of Southern QueenslandUniversity of Southern QueenslandUniversity of Southern Queensland

关键词: agricultural extension;    climate risk management;    discussion support tools;    Second Life machinima;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: International Association of Online Engineering

【 摘 要 】

In farming, the outcome of critical decisions to enhance productivity and profitability and so ensure the viability of farming enterprises is often influenced by seasonal conditions and weather events over the growing season. This paper reports on a project that uses cutting-edge advances in digital technologies and their application in learning environments to develop and evaluate a web-based virtual ‘discussion-support’ system for improved climate risk management in Australian sugar farming systems. Customized scripted video clips (machinima) are created in the Second Life virtual world environment. The videos use contextualized settings and lifelike avatar actors to model conversations about climate risk and key farm operational decisions relevant to the real-world lives and practices of sugarcane farmers. The tools generate new cognitive schema for farmers to access and provide stimuli for discussions around how to incorporate an understanding of climate risk into operational decision-making. They also have potential to provide cost-effective agricultural extension which simulates real world face-to-face extension services but is accessible anytime anywhere.

【 授权许可】

Unknown