The Use of Virtual Worlds for Developing Intercultural Competences

2020 ◽  
pp. 754-768
Author(s):  
Lisiane Machado ◽  
Amarolinda Zanela Klein ◽  
Angilberto Freitas ◽  
Eliane Schlemmer ◽  
Cristiane Drebes Pedron
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Educational Method ◽  
Exchange Program ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Conversational Learning

In this research, the authors present a framework for developing Intercultural Competence (IC) and use Tridimensional Digital Virtual Worlds (3DVW) as environments for developing Intercultural Competence. They developed an artifact, via Design Research, constituted by an educational method using the 3DVW Second Life® as the place for a virtual exchange program between 92 Brazilian and Portuguese master students. The results of the authors' study indicate that the 3DVW can be used for the development of IC because it allows rich experiential and relational/conversational learning opportunities, especially due to the affordances of immersion/sense of presence, social interaction, content production and knowledge sharing.

The Use of Virtual Worlds for Developing Intercultural Competences

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisiane Machado ◽  
Amarolinda Zanela Klein ◽  
Angilberto Freitas ◽  
Eliane Schlemmer ◽  
Cristiane Drebes Pedron
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Educational Method ◽  
Exchange Program ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Conversational Learning

In this research, the authors present a framework for developing Intercultural Competence (IC) and use Tridimensional Digital Virtual Worlds (3DVW) as environments for developing Intercultural Competence. They developed an artifact, via Design Research, constituted by an educational method using the 3DVW Second Life® as the place for a virtual exchange program between 92 Brazilian and Portuguese master students. The results of the authors' study indicate that the 3DVW can be used for the development of IC because it allows rich experiential and relational/conversational learning opportunities, especially due to the affordances of immersion/sense of presence, social interaction, content production and knowledge sharing.

Virtual Worlds for Developing Intercultural Competence

2020 ◽  
pp. 170-185
Author(s):  
Lisiane Machado ◽  
Angilberto Freitas ◽  
Eliane Schlemmer ◽  
Cristiane Drebes Pedron
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Educational Method ◽  
Exchange Program ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Tolerance For Ambiguity ◽  
Conversational Learning

The authors present a framework for developing intercultural competence (IC) and use tridimensional digital virtual worlds (3DVW) as environments for developing IC. They developed an artifact, via design research, constituted by an educational method using the 3DVW Second Life® as the place for a virtual exchange program between 92 Brazilian and Portuguese master students. The results of the study indicate that the 3DVW can be used for the development of IC because it allows rich experiential and relational/conversational learning opportunities, especially due to the affordances of immersion/sense of presence, social interaction, content production, and knowledge sharing. The students involved in the virtual exchange inside Second Life® had to practice a set of attitudes and skills such as communication skills; culture-specific knowledge; understanding others' worldviews; skills to analyze, evaluate, and relate; skills to listen, observe, and interpret; respect, openness; tolerance for ambiguity, among other, that are all attributes of IC.

Second Life and Access for the Disabled and Homebound

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-151
Author(s):  
John W. Traphagan ◽  
Katherine Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Internet Technology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Care Managers ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
E Learning

Internet technology has opened up new vistas for the creation of communities in virtual environment. Research is beginning to emerge that focuses on the use of virtual communities in areas such as e-learning and the potential for use of virtual worlds for both therapy and community building for individuals who are disabled, homebound, and isolated. Second Life, which is a product individuals can join free of charge, has the potential to function as a tool to help care managers and others to work with disabled and homebound individuals in the process of creating social interaction. This article explores Second Life and offers some suggestions for future research in this area.

scholarly journals Virtual Worlds and Social Work Education: Potentials for “Second Life”

10.18060/236 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Vernon ◽  
Lisa Lewis ◽  
Darlene Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Laboratory Instruction ◽  
Technical Mastery ◽  
Work Education

Virtual worlds such as “Second Life” hold promise for social work education. They may be especially useful for distance/distributed education. Social relationships, groups, organizations and entire communities can be modeled and explored for role playing and laboratory instruction. This article provides an overview of “Second Life,” an example of a well developed virtual world. The CSWE Educational Policies and Accreditation Standards are used to examine possible applications. Benefits such as experiential learning opportunities and problems such as technical mastery are discussed. Virtual worlds can support and may even supplant current approaches for distance education.

scholarly journals 3D Assistive Technologies and Advantageous Themes for Collaboration and Blended Learning of Users with Disabilities

2011 ◽  
pp. 25-69
Author(s):  
Georgios A. Dafoulas ◽  
Noha Saleeb
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
3D Virtual Worlds ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Design Requirements ◽  
3D Virtual Learning Environments

The significance of newly emergent 3D virtual worlds to different genres of users is currently a controversial subject in deliberation. Users range from education pursuers, business contenders, and social seekers to technology enhancers and many more who comprise both users with normal abilities in physical life and those with different disabilities. This study aims to derive and critically analyze, using grounded theory, advantageous and disadvantageous themes, and their sub concepts of providing e-learning through 3D Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), like Second Life, to disabled users. Hence providing evidence that 3DVLEs not only support traditional physical learning, but also offer e-learning opportunities unavailable through 2D VLEs (like Moodle, Blackboard), and offer learning opportunities unavailable through traditional physical education. Furthermore, to achieve full potential from the above-mentioned derived concepts, architectural and accessibility design requirements of 3D educational facilities proposed by different categories of disabled students to accommodate for their needs, are demonstrated.

3D Virtual Worlds in Higher Education

2011 ◽  
pp. 212-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Rapanotti ◽  
Shailey Minocha ◽  
Leonor Barroca ◽  
Maged N. Kamel Boulos ◽  
David R. Morse
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Knowledge Construction ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
3D Virtual Worlds ◽  
3D Virtual World

3D virtual worlds are becoming widespread due to cheaper powerful computers, high-speed broadband connections and efforts towards their tighter integration with current 2D Web environments. Besides traditional gaming and entertainment applications, some serious propositions are starting to emerge for their use, particularly in education, where they are perceived as enablers of active learning, learning by doing, and knowledge construction through social interaction. However, there is still little understanding of how 3D virtual worlds can be designed and deployed effectively in the education domain, and many challenges remain. This chapter makes a contribution towards such an understanding by reporting on three notable case studies at the authors’ own institutions, which have pioneered the use of Second Life, a 3D virtual world, in higher education.

MMOmuseums: A Proposal for the Creation of Experiential Memory Archives

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Saklofske
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Virtual Spaces ◽  
Virtual Archaeology ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Ghost Towns ◽  
Player Experiences ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

The visibility and longevity of popular and well-known massively multiplayer online (MMO) communities (World of Warcraft, Second Life) eclipse a greater number of virtual worlds that have been abandoned. While hundreds of inactive and closed-down massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) have been documented, most online virtual worlds are not included in archival and preservation initiatives due to issues relating to intellectual property and proprietary technologies, and most MMORPG ghost towns are not even accessible online. Their evaporated geographies live on only in the memories and stories posted by players to archived message forums. What if these worlds could be booted up once again, not to play in, but to explore as virtual archaeology sites, sites redesigned to host stories and memories from the players that once inhabited and originally populated these architectures with action, conflict, cooperation, and event? Such virtual archive spaces would feature player experiences and emergent narratives, represented as embedded narratives in a simulated recreation of the computer-generated geographies that they took place in, so that visitors to such sites experience a sense of presence as they receive a combination of both experience and story that preserves these spaces as lived worlds. Using the now-defunct City of Heroes MMO as an example, this paper discusses ways of directly involving diasporic communities of players in the memorialization of virtual spaces that they once inhabited.

scholarly journals 3D Assistive Technologies and Advantageous Themes for Collaboration and Blended Learning of Users with Disabilities

2013 ◽  
pp. 421-453
Author(s):  
Georgios A. Dafoulas ◽  
Noha Saleeb
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
3D Virtual Worlds ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Design Requirements ◽  
3D Virtual Learning Environments

The significance of newly emergent 3D virtual worlds to different genres of users is currently a controversial subject in deliberation. Users range from education pursuers, business contenders, and social seekers to technology enhancers and many more who comprise both users with normal abilities in physical life and those with different disabilities. This study aims to derive and critically analyze, using grounded theory, advantageous and disadvantageous themes, and their sub concepts of providing e-learning through 3D Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), like Second Life, to disabled users. Hence providing evidence that 3DVLEs not only support traditional physical learning, but also offer e-learning opportunities unavailable through 2D VLEs (like Moodle, Blackboard), and offer learning opportunities unavailable through traditional physical education. Furthermore, to achieve full potential from the above-mentioned derived concepts, architectural and accessibility design requirements of 3D educational facilities proposed by different categories of disabled students to accommodate for their needs, are demonstrated.

3D Virtual Worlds as Creative Pedagogy for Art Education

2013 ◽  
pp. 174-205
Author(s):  
Lilly Lu
Keyword(s):  
Art Education ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Potential Application ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Curriculum And Pedagogy ◽  
Art Form ◽  
3D Virtual Worlds ◽  
Creative Pedagogy

As 3D Virtual Worlds (VWs) have become an ongoing trend in education, their potential application in art education needs to be demystified. The author reviews the literature on 3D VWs for education and art education that highlights their unique characteristics and related issues and reveals the learning opportunities for engaging students. Next, the author presents her virtual world curriculum and pedagogy as well as students’ work examples and their responses to the new art and learning media from her Art Café@Second Life research project. At the end, she makes recommendations for future research that examines the 3D VW as a creative learning/teaching environment, art form/medium, and exhibition/creation ground, and an emerging curricular topic for inquiry.

scholarly journals A Design Research Approach to Developing User Innovation Workshops in Second Life

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Remko Helms ◽  
Elia Giovacchini ◽  
Robin Teigland ◽  
Thomas Kohler
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Design Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Design Science Research ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
User Innovation ◽  
Specific Project

The Design Science Research approach is increasingly being applied in the field of Information Systems (IS) research. The philosophy behind design science research is that new scientific knowledge can be generated by means of constructing an artifact, and the core of this approach is a problem solving process used to develop the artifact. As virtual worlds are a relatively new IS medium, limited attention has been paid to investigating the use of design research in virtual worlds. Nevertheless, it is considered a relevant approach as much research in the field of virtual worlds involves the design of virtual spaces to support some kind of business activity. As such, the research purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of the design research approach in virtual worlds. In this paper, we describe and take a practical perspective of a specific case study in which design research was developed and used for a specific project. The specific project in focus is the development of a user innovation workshop inside Second Life for a start-up company interested in gaining insights and ideas for the development of its product.

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