The Schome Park Programme: Exploring Educational Alternatives
Researching Learning in Virtual Worlds, (2010)Abstract
The Schome Park Programme set out to extend thinking about what the
education system for the information age (Schome) should be like.
The first three phases of the programme spanned 13 months and involved
the use of Schome Park, our closed island(s) in Teen Second LifeTM
(TSL) virtual world alongside a wiki and forum. During this time
approximately two hundred 13-17 year olds and around 50 adults were
given access to Schome Park. Having explained the context in which
this work took place the paper outlines the initial educational design
underpinning the programme and describes some of the activities which
took place. It goes on to explore some dimensions of practice which
emerged from the data analysis towards the end of Phase 3, focusing
on learner experiences of experimentation, playfulness, curriculum,
choice, participation and the expression of the learner voice.
