You’ve developed a typology of avatars for use in a virtual learning environment. What types have you identified?

Nicole Steils: I looked at different ways that students create and express their identity through avatars or virtual personas in virtual worlds like Second Life. On the one hand, the typology takes account of customizing the avatar’s bodily appearance, as well as avatar-name-giving processes. On the other hand, the typology relates to how users position the avatar as a representation in the virtual world or identify with the avatar as extensions of themselves. From the research undertaken, which I will describe below, I developed a typology that consists of five concepts: dislocated avatars, representative avatars, avatars as toys and tools, avatars as extensions of self, and avatars as identity extensions.

In the first three dimensions, the avatars were positioned as objects by their users. In the first category, this involves ignoring individual representation through the avatar. In the second dimension, the avatars were identified as an individual representation that could, but did not have to, represent physical-world bodily features. The third concept highlights an understanding of avatars as tools or toys to be playful with. In the fourth and fifth categories, avatars take on more subjectified characterisations, and users described a deep psychological relationship with their avatar beyond representative aspects. This involves the avatar being described as having features beyond those of the user in the physical world, and – in some cases – the user became a representation of the virtual-world avatar in the physical world.

My research indicates that students’ identities in virtual worlds overlap with how their identities in the physical world are shaped by how they perceive themselves and others and how they interact with others in the physical world. However, the research also shows that decision-making processes regarding the avatars’ appearances are subjected to both the options given by the virtual environment and the users’ interests and skills, as well as the users’ level of engagement with possible options.

It seems important to highlight that the five concepts are not to be seen as static. They are understood as a declaration of how students defined their avatars’ identities at a given time and circumstance. Thus an avatar could consist of many different layers and take on different associated identities simultaneously. Furthermore, students indicated that their concept of an avatar could change with the context they were used in. Thus, some students created and used avatars for educational or professional use that differed from those used for leisure or personal, private use.

Upon which types of enquiry has your research interest been based?

Nicole Steils: The research was based on a qualitative research enquiry and adopted a narrative research methodology. The typology is based on data collected and analyzed for a PhD study as part of the CURLIEW project (Coventry University Research into Learning in Immersive Educational Worlds) funded by The Leverhulme Trust. The aim of my PhD study was to explore and inform learning and teaching in regard to virtual worlds as a teaching tool and environment. The study specifically examines how learners understand, construct, and express identity when virtual worlds are used in higher education and how the virtual world itself might impact on students’ concepts of identity.

To gain these objectives, I collected data from 75 student participants and three tutors at two British universities. I undertook 27 in-depth interviews with 37 participants, examined two focus groups with twelve further students, and did 100 hours of observations and participation with students in five higher-education/university modules that used Second Life as a classroom technology. Each module took place over ten weeks. Based on the narrative research approach, interview and focus-group transcripts, as well as observation data, were thematically analyzed and interpreted.

How did you create the typology?

Nicole Steils: The typology was developed from themes that emerged from the data. For instance, during the observations, I noted changes in appearance of students’ avatars and could directly discuss with students what had influenced the creation and customization processes. I analyzed how students described the creation process of their avatar in regard to the avatar’s name and bodily features. Additionally, I investigated how students characterized their use of the avatar and their individual behaviours and interactions with others in the virtual world.

Several individual categories emerged. For instance, there were similarities or differences between the avatar’s appearance and the user’s physical-world appearance: skin and eye colour, clothes, and hair style. I also observed experiences and behaviours from the physical world that were simulated or repeated in the virtual world, especially concerning communication and interaction with other students’ and tutors’ avatars. Finally, I enquired how students positioned and defined their relationship with their avatars. I discovered a continuum from ignorance to acceptance of the avatars’ existence as a useful or necessary tool; there was also playful engagement and even close identification with the avatars. Re-investigation of categories and merging of dimensions led to the final development of five concepts.

Do you believe your results have implications for future 3D learning scenarios? What are you hoping for?

Nicole Steils: I am sure that the findings have implications for future learning scenarios that are based on use of avatars or similar personal 3D representations (‘alter egos’). As such, the typology I’ve developed makes an important contribution to existing scholarly knowledge: It provides a systematic understanding of both what learner identity entails and how learners create and express identity through their avatars in virtual worlds. However, my hope is that the implications can go beyond the use of avatars and actually establish identity as an issue in education and society in general.

Most learners involved in this study indicated that being able to individualize and customize their avatars was pivotal to creating, expressing, and managing their identity in the real world, which the students then directly linked to learning experiences and outcomes. Avatar creation and customization, however, is often experienced as time consuming and “difficult”. It seems that there is a tendency to omit this process by utilizing default avatars or custom-made avatars for specific situations. Whilst this can have value in itself, it seems pivotal that students in this study expressed a great need and desire to be individual and different from other users in the virtual environment, specifically when interaction with others was an integral part of the learning content or exercise.

Thus, I would hope that identity is brought further to the forefront in education, which could enable critical thinking and discussion of what shapes and influences our identity in different environments and contexts.