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

Authors

  • Neil Cliffe
  • Joanne Doyle
  • Helen Farley
  • Janette Lindesay
  • Adam Loch
  • Tek Maraseni
  • Torben Marcussen
  • Neil Martin
  • Shahbaz Mushtaq
  • Jenny Ostini
  • Kate Reardon-Smith University of Southern Queensland
  • Roger Stone

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijac.v7i3.4002

Keywords:

agricultural extension, climate risk management, discussion support tools, Second Life machinima

Abstract


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.

Author Biography

Kate Reardon-Smith, University of Southern Queensland

Digital Futures-CRN Research Fellow (Climate Risk Management), International Centre for Applied Climate Sciences

Downloads

Published

2014-10-13

How to Cite

Cliffe, N., Doyle, J., Farley, H., Lindesay, J., Loch, A., Maraseni, T., … Stone, R. (2014). 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), 7(3), pp. 17–23. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijac.v7i3.4002

Issue

Section

Papers