Exploring Intentions to Use Second Life for Education at University of Bahrain

Abstract

Second Life (SL) is an online virtual world that is capturing popularity in academic institutions as an alternative means for collaborative and distance education. University of Bahrain is an academic institution with an intension to apply this application to overcome some of the obstacles they are encountering in education. Before using SL in education in the academic institutions, it is essential to measure the students' initial experience and the factors associated with the intension to use it to enforce its success. Therefore, this study is to present the experience of using SL at University of Bahrain in terms of the students' initial experience and factors that affect their intention to use it. Toward achieving the objectives a survey was employed using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and extended factors are employed for this purpose. The model is tested through a survey administered to UOB's students. Results of the initial investigation suggest that that almost two third of the respondents agreed on SL being easy to use and useful tool in education thus accepting the use of it for educational purposes. Results of the research show that perceived ease of use affects user's intention to adopt SL through perceived usefulness. Computer self-efficacy, computer playfulness, and computer anxiety are also significant antecedents to perceived ease of use of virtual worlds. Implications for educators and designers are presented.