Facilitating Group Discussions in Second Life

This paper reports on a case study of group facilitation in Second Life, a threedimensional virtual world that simulates places either in the real or imaginary worlds with capabilities of synchronous communications in text, gesture, and audio formats. The participants were four graduate students facilitating group discussions in a virtual world called Second Life. The study took a qualitative approach revealing the essence of group facilitation in a virtual world (e.g., Second Life). The article discusses five important themes that emerged through data analysis and offers implications and suggestions for group facilitators to work in a virtual world like Second Life.

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