A virtual reality intervention (Second Life) to improve weight maintenance: Rationale and design for an 18-month randomized trial

In order to improve teacher preparation courses offered online, a study of the use of Second Life virtual world for peer-teaching activities was conducted. The research period was over one year and the sampling group consisted of 25 Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) students. The methods practiced during the study follow the suggestions and implications given in previous research in hopes that an informed design would be the means to overcome the published limitations of Second Life. Despite this, the authors were not able to overcome previous difficulties, and did not find Second Life to be useful as a tool for classroom role-playing in online teacher-development courses. Virtual reality, however, has promise for facilitating teacher development; thus, further investigation is needed to find an appropriate virtual venue for this purpose.

Download Full-text

Virtual World Classrooms

Educational Technology Use and Design for Improved Learning Opportunities - Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-6102-8.ch013 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 233-260 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Susan Martin Meggs ◽

Sharon Kibbe ◽

Annette Greer

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Interior Design ◽

Second Life ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Outcome Evaluation ◽

Educational Value ◽

Traditional Course ◽

Laboratory Component

This chapter provides a comprehensive case study to demonstrate the longitudinal development of online pedagogy for higher education through a lens of interior design. The chapter presents constructivist theory as a guiding pedagogical framework for the creation of learning environments within Second Life (SL) virtual reality. Details of the rigorous process of incorporation of SL, as an enhancement to a traditional course with a laboratory component, is presented to validate the integrity of the scholarship of teaching and learning undertaken in the exemplar case study. The concluding components of the chapter review the iterative process of course outcome evaluation compared to course and accreditation standards to further demonstrate the educational value of virtual reality as an environment for learning.

Download Full-text

What’s In It for Me?

Advances in Library and Information Science - Advancing Library Education ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-3688-0.ch006 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 91-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Esther Grassian ◽

Rhonda Trueman

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Virtual Reality ◽

Information Sharing ◽

Virtual Worlds ◽

Second Life ◽

Low Cost ◽

Real Life ◽

Peer To Peer ◽

Knowledge Innovation ◽

3D Virtual World

Virtual worlds offer synchronous (simultaneous) real life participation through virtual reality, combining the two to provide convenient and low-cost options for librarians’ professional development. This chapter explores the use of virtual worlds for meetings, training, conferences, discussions, mentoring, networking, and peer-to-peer information sharing, with a focus on the 3D virtual world of Second Life. Definitions of “professional development” and “virtual worlds” precede discussion of the issues surrounding the use of this type of environment for a variety of training events and activities to support and encourage ongoing expansion of knowledge, innovation, and creativity among librarians. This chapter also includes information about planning and implementing professional development sessions in this arena, along with information on effective methods for publicizing these activities for parties interested in using virtual worlds for professional development. For those interested in attending professional development opportunities in virtual worlds, the chapter provides information on how to discover and choose useful activities and events in virtual worlds.

Download Full-text

Less lonely in a second life? A psychologist goes under cover in virtual reality

Loneliness and Longing ◽

10.4324/9780203157213-11 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 63-72

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Second Life

Download Full-text

Non-Verbal Communication Language in Virtual Worlds

Handbook of Research on Teaching With Virtual Environments and AI - Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-7638-0.ch017 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 394-415

Author(s):

Ivonne Citarella

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Virtual Environment ◽

Virtual Worlds ◽

Second Life ◽

Verbal Communication ◽

Virtual Space ◽

Communication Process ◽

Conscious Choice

Over the years, the virtual space has been changing, and the skills acquired by users have been improved, and the avatars, as well as the settings, have graphically become more and more sophisticated. In virtual reality, the avatar without an appropriate animation would move in jerks in a disharmonious way similar to a robot, but endowing it with a particular postural animation, you make a conscious choice of what information you want to transfer with its appearance and its posture. In recent years, research has focused on the study of communication and its importance. The purpose of this contribution is to analyze the animations present in Second Life trying to trace a socio-psychological picture of the non-verbal communication process in a virtual environment.

Download Full-text

Overview: Virtual Reality in Medicine

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research ◽

10.4101/jvwr.v7i1.6364 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Claudio Pensieri ◽

Maddalena Pennacchini

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Second Life ◽

Surgical Simulation ◽

3D Visualization ◽

Economic Value ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Communication Interface ◽

Head Mounted Display ◽

Wide Range ◽

Interactive 3D

Background: Virtual Reality (VR) was defined as a collection of technological devices: “a computer capable of interactive 3D visualization, a head-mounted display and data gloves equipped with one or more position trackers”. Today, lots of scientists define VR as a simulation of the real world based on computer graphics, a three dimensional world in which communities of real people interact, create content, items and services, producing real economic value through e-Commerce.Objective: To report the results of a systematic review of articles and reviews published about the theme: “Virtual Reality in Medicine”.Methods: We used the search query string: “Virtual Reality”, “Metaverse”, “Second Life”, “Virtual World”, “Virtual Life” in order to find out how many articles were written about these themes. For the “Meta-review” we used only “Virtual Reality” AND “Review”. We searched the following databases: Psycinfo, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Isiknowledge till September 2011 and Pubmed till February 2012. We included any source published in either print format or on the Internet, available in all languages, and containing texts that define or attempt to define VR in explicit terms.Results: We retrieved 3,443 articles on Pubmed in 2012 and 8,237 on Isiknowledge in 2011. This large number of articles covered a wide range of themes, but showed no clear consensus about VR. We identified 4 general uses of VR in Medicine, and searched for the existing reviews about them. We found 364 reviews in 2011, although only 197 were pertinent to our aims: 1. Communication Interface (11 Reviews); 2. Medical Education (49 reviews); 3. Surgical Simulation (49 Reviews) and 4. Psychotherapy (88 Reviews).Conclusion: We found a large number of articles, but no clear consensus about the meaning of the term VR in Medicine. We found numerous articles published on these topics and many of them have been reviewed. We decided to group these reviews in 4 areas in order to provide a systematic overview of the subject matter, and to enable those interested to learn more about these particular topics.

Download Full-text