scholarly journals Using the 3D Virtual Environments for Teaching: Report from the Field

Organizacija ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 125-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Pivec
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Wide Scope ◽  
Course Structure ◽  
3D Virtual World ◽  
3D Virtual Environments

Using the 3D Virtual Environments for Teaching: Report from the FieldVirtual worlds represent a powerful media for instruction, offering a wide scope of tools for social interaction and innovation in learning that encourages student participation. Supported by the AVATAR course, teachers were able to productively create teaching and learning environments that support the needs of learners of diverse linguistic, cultural and economic backgrounds, all within a safe virtual environment. This paper outlines the AVATAR course structure, delivery, experiences, and post course reflections on teaching within a 3D virtual world.

Second Life

2013 ◽  
pp. 204-218
Author(s):  
Yvonne Masters ◽  
Sue Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment

An increasing number of educational institutions are trialling the use of virtual worlds as teaching and learning environments, particularly for distance education students. In 2009 the authors have begun a research project to explore the efficacy of one such virtual world, Second Life, as a viable adjunct to other online learning experiences. However, it is now recognised that most academics have no experience of teaching in a virtual world. An integral aspect of our research is to examine whether a novice user of Second Life could quickly learn to teach effectively with this tool. The teaching experience is outlined from two points of view: the novice and the expert. The emergent themes are discussed and conclusions are made regarding the efficacy of Second Life as a teaching and learning environment for distance education students and the level of support that might be needed to assist other novices to teach in-world.

Pre-Service Teachers Designing Virtual World Learning Environments

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 16-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Jacka ◽  
Kate Booth
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Pre Service Teacher Education ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Pre Service Teacher

Integrating Information Technology Communications in the classroom has been an important part of pre-service teacher education for over a decade. The advent of virtual worlds provides the pre-service teacher with an opportunity to study teaching and learning in a highly immersive 3D computer based environment. Virtual worlds also provide a place in which pre-service teachers can design teaching and learning environments for their future students. The virtual world teaching and learning environments that pre-service teachers design can, in turn, inform established educators about how virtual world spaces can be well designed and contribute to research in the field of education in virtual worlds. The voice of one pre-service teacher and her tutor is presented as they discuss the design of a virtual world maths teaching and learning environment.

Social Orthotics for Youth with ASD to Learn in a Collaborative 3D VLE

2010 ◽  
pp. 76-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Laffey ◽  
Janine Stichter ◽  
Matthew Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Online Systems ◽  
3D Virtual World ◽  
3D Virtual Environments

Online systems, especially 3D virtual environments, hold great potential to enrich and expand learning opportunities for those who are challenged by traditional modes of instruction and interaction. In the process of developing a 3D Virtual Learning Environment to support the development and practice of social competence for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, the iSocial project explored and advanced ideas for social orthotics in virtual environments. By social orthotics the authors mean structures in the environment that overcome barriers to facilitate social interaction and social learning. The vision of social orthotics in a 3D world is to be both assistive and adaptive for appropriate social behavior when the student, peers and guide are represented by avatars in a 3D virtual world designed to support learning and development. This chapter describes the formulation of social orthotics for avatar orientation and conversational turn-taking and describes experiences and lessons from early tests of prototype orthotics.

Social Orthotics for Youth with ASD to Learn in a Collaborative 3D VLE

2012 ◽  
pp. 674-692
Author(s):  
James M. Laffey ◽  
Janine Stichter ◽  
Matthew Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Online Systems ◽  
3D Virtual World ◽  
3D Virtual Environments

Online systems, especially 3D virtual environments, hold great potential to enrich and expand learning opportunities for those who are challenged by traditional modes of instruction and interaction. In the process of developing a 3D Virtual Learning Environment to support the development and practice of social competence for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, the iSocial project explored and advanced ideas for social orthotics in virtual environments. By social orthotics the authors mean structures in the environment that overcome barriers to facilitate social interaction and social learning. The vision of social orthotics in a 3D world is to be both assistive and adaptive for appropriate social behavior when the student, peers and guide are represented by avatars in a 3D virtual world designed to support learning and development. This chapter describes the formulation of social orthotics for avatar orientation and conversational turn-taking and describes experiences and lessons from early tests of prototype orthotics.

Students as Designers of Virtual World Learning Environments

2015 ◽  
pp. 46-65
Author(s):  
Lisa Jacka ◽  
Kate Booth
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Of Education ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Pre Service Teacher

Virtual worlds provide pre-service teachers with the opportunity to study teaching and learning in an immersive 3D computer based environment. The pre-service teacher is able to become a designer of learning environments in ways that were previously impossible in a traditional bricks and mortar classroom. The learning environment that pre-service teachers create can, in turn, inform established educators about the usefulness of virtual worlds for education. In the School of Education at Southern Cross University, Australia, pre-service teachers have been given the opportunity to design and build virtual world learning environments. This chapter presents the story of one pre-service teacher and her tutor as they discuss the design of a virtual world learning environment for maths. This particular design project resulted in virtual worlds being integrated across a number of pre-service teacher courses and extended into the K-6 classroom. An overview of these other projects is also presented.

Creating Contexts for Collaborative Learning in a 3D Virtual World for Distance Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 596-622
Author(s):  
Anders I. Mørch ◽  
Valentina Caruso ◽  
Melissa D. Hartley ◽  
Barbara L. Ludlow
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Course Structure ◽  
Emotional Context ◽  
3D Virtual World

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the contexts that teachers can create to promote collaborative learning in 3D virtual learning environments. The authors report on the findings of a case study using the 3D virtual world Second Life in a preservice teacher distance education program. Two types of contexts are identified: social interaction (social context) and instructor's scaffolding (pedagogical context). The anonymity represented by avatars in the 3D environment allowed learners to engage in social interaction and practice collaboration skills. Scaffolding involved several stages: scaffold the students' learning of the new technology, plan the course structure, implement the procedures during the lesson, and facilitate transitions between activities. The study also identifies the potential for a third context (emotional context), as the participants—both the instructor and the students—report a need to express emotions in many situations, but the environment does not seamlessly support this mode of communication.

Students as Designers of Virtual World Learning Environments

2018 ◽  
pp. 1697-1712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Jacka ◽  
Kate Booth
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Of Education ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Pre Service Teacher

Virtual worlds provide pre-service teachers with the opportunity to study teaching and learning in an immersive 3D computer based environment. The pre-service teacher is able to become a designer of learning environments in ways that were previously impossible in a traditional bricks and mortar classroom. The learning environment that pre-service teachers create can, in turn, inform established educators about the usefulness of virtual worlds for education. In the School of Education at Southern Cross University, Australia, pre-service teachers have been given the opportunity to design and build virtual world learning environments. This chapter presents the story of one pre-service teacher and her tutor as they discuss the design of a virtual world learning environment for maths. This particular design project resulted in virtual worlds being integrated across a number of pre-service teacher courses and extended into the K-6 classroom. An overview of these other projects is also presented.

scholarly journals Creating Contexts for Collaborative Learning in a 3D Virtual World for Distance Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 137-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders I. Mørch ◽  
Valentina Caruso ◽  
Melissa D. Hartley ◽  
Barbara L. Ludlow
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Course Structure ◽  
Emotional Context ◽  
3D Virtual World

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the contexts that teachers can create to promote collaborative learning in 3D virtual learning environments. The authors report on the findings of a case study using the 3D virtual world Second Life in a preservice teacher distance education program. Two types of contexts are identified: social interaction (social context) and instructor's scaffolding (pedagogical context). The anonymity represented by avatars in the 3D environment allowed learners to engage in social interaction and practice collaboration skills. Scaffolding involved several stages: scaffold the students' learning of the new technology, plan the course structure, implement the procedures during the lesson, and facilitate transitions between activities. The study also identifies the potential for a third context (emotional context), as the participants—both the instructor and the students—report a need to express emotions in many situations, but the environment does not seamlessly support this mode of communication.

scholarly journals Language Learning in Virtual Worlds: The Role of Foreign Language and Technical Anxiety

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott John Grant ◽  
Hui Huang ◽  
Sarah E. Pasfield-Neofitou
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Real World ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
The Real ◽  
Learner Performance ◽  
3D Virtual World

This project examines whether or not learners feel less foreign language anxiety (FLA) in an online multiuser 3D virtual world simulation than in the real world classroom. Previous research has shown FLA to have negative effects on learner performance and learning outcomes. Research into learning in virtual worlds has indicated that performance anxiety may be lessened in these environments, however, the use of such virtual environments also places demands on the learner to develop a range of technical skills to facilitate interaction. The project examines whether or not learners feel less FLA in an online multiuser 3D virtual world simulation than in the real world classroom and also attempts to establish what impacts these demands have on learner performance and FLA. This work-in-progress paper, on the basis of preliminary analysis, has found 1) there are multiple sources of FLA in both classroom and virtual environments; 2) students found the virtual environment less stressful in terms of language use and 3) there was not a significant inherent level of technical related anxiety.

Facilitating 3D Virtual World Learning Environments Creation by Non-Technical End Users through Template-Based Virtual World Instantiation

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang Liu ◽  
Ying Zhong ◽  
Sertac Ozercan ◽  
Qing Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
End Users ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
3D Design ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Functional Learning ◽  
Preliminary Experimental Data

This paper presents a template-based solution to overcome technical barriers non-technical computer end users face when developing functional learning environments in three-dimensional virtual worlds (3DVW). iVirtualWorld, a prototype of a platform-independent 3DVW creation tool that implements the proposed solution, facilitates 3DVW learning environment creation through semantics-based abstract 3DVW representation and template-based 3DVW instantiation. iVirtualWorld provides a wizard to guide the 3DVW creation process, and hide low-level programming and 3D design details through higher-level abstracts supported by pre-defined templates. Preliminary evaluation of the effectiveness of iVirtualWorld showed positive results. The contribution of this study is threefold: 1) It provides a paradigm for investigating and developing 3DVW building tools from end users’ perspective; 2) It develops a prototype of a 3DVW building tool, which gives educators a framework to easily create educational virtual worlds using domain-specific concepts; 3) It conducts empirical research and collected preliminary experimental data for evaluation.

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