Pre-Service Teachers Designing Virtual World Learning Environments

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.

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Students as Designers of Virtual World Learning Environments

Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Education ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7305-0.ch079 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 1697-1712 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

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.

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Second Life

Outlooks and Opportunities in Blended and Distance Learning - Advances in Mobile and Distance Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-4205-8.ch015 ◽

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.

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Practice What You Preach

Virtual Immersive and 3D Learning Spaces ◽

10.4018/978-1-61692-825-4.ch003 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 45-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Laura Benvenuti ◽

Gerrit C. van der Veer

Keyword(s):

Learning Environment ◽

Virtual Worlds ◽

Virtual World ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

New Technologies ◽

Innovative Technologies ◽

Teaching And Learning Environment

This chapter is not on the technology of Virtual Worlds. The authors discuss the application of a Virtual World as a teaching and learning environment for a course on Virtual Worlds. In their view, innovation and education should go hand in hand. Too often, new technologies are discussed without being applied. The authors argue that innovative technologies do belong in those classroom where their application is relevant to the topic. In thischapter, the authors discuss an example of how this issue can be tackled. They show that application of innovative tools is useful to all parties: students, lecturers and researchers, even if it raises new problems from which we all can learn.

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

Organizacija ◽

10.2478/v10051-012-0013-5 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 125-130 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

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.

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

International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments ◽

10.4018/jvple.2013010103 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 32-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

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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The Current State and Future Potential of Virtual Worlds

Virtual Communities ◽

10.4018/978-1-60960-100-3.ch804 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 2535-2543

Author(s):

John M. Artz

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Virtual Worlds ◽

Second Life ◽

Virtual World ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Social Implications ◽

Application Technology ◽

Current State ◽

Future Potential

Virtual worlds, while not a new phenomenon, have come to the foreground of information technology in the past few years largely due to the growth of Second Life, a three dimensional, global virtual world that has captured the imagination of millions. This article provides some background on this virtual world phenomenon providing both a history and a classification of virtual world technology. It then focuses on Second Life discussing the application, technology, and social implications. Included in the discussion are some current initiatives such as the open source client and server projects and the implications of those initiatives. Finally, we provide some speculation on the future potential of virtual world technology as an extrapolation of the current trajectory.

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Using the Interaction-Combinations Integration Model to Explore Real-Life Learning in User-Created Virtual Worlds

Multi-User Virtual Environments for the Classroom ◽

10.4018/978-1-60960-545-2.ch004 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 47-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

David M. Antonacci ◽

Nellie Modaress ◽

Edward Lee Lamoureux ◽

David Thomas ◽

Timothy Allen

Keyword(s):

Virtual Worlds ◽

Virtual World ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Emerging Technologies ◽

Real Life ◽

Learning Activities ◽

Learning Activity ◽

Case Study Method ◽

Integration Model

User-created virtual worlds are emerging technologies with rapidly growing acceptance in education. Of the various reported educational uses of these virtual worlds, the focus of this chapter is on virtual worlds for constructivist learning activities, because this use has application to many real-life courses and has the potential to transform teaching and learning. To assist educators with recognizing and understanding virtual world learning activities, Antonacci & Modaress (2005, 2008) developed the Interaction-Combinations Integration model. However, this model has not been studied in actual virtual-world learning practice. Using a case study method, this chapter examines the usefulness of this model to organize and describe actual virtual world learning activities, provides additional learning activity examples, and describes what was needed to implement and conduct these learning activities.

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Virtual Worlds, Standards and Interoperability

International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research ◽

10.4018/jitsr.2010070104 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 45-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Daniel Livingstone ◽

Paul Hollins

Keyword(s):

Virtual Worlds ◽

Virtual World ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Training And Education ◽

Business Meetings ◽

Learning Contexts ◽

Simulation And Training ◽

And Training ◽

The Way

It is well documented that virtual worlds today are applied in both educational and commercial teaching and learning contexts. Where virtual worlds were once the reserve of entertainment, they have now taken on a variety of roles as platforms for business meetings, simulation, and training and education. In this context, the integration and interoperability with both online and offline resources and technologies is important. In this paper, the authors review progress toward increased integration and interoperability from the first virtual world games to today’s virtual world platforms. This paper highlights opportunities that will arise from further improvements in the ability to create virtual world platforms, content and activities that are truly interoperable, as well as more significant challenges along the way.

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Teaching and Learning Abstract Concepts by Means of Social Virtual Worlds

International Journal of Virtual and Augmented Reality ◽

10.4018/ijvar.2017010103 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 29-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David Griol ◽

Zoraida Callejas

Keyword(s):

Virtual Worlds ◽

Second Life ◽

Virtual World ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Learning Resources ◽

Abstract Concepts ◽

Educational Activities ◽

Virtual Spaces ◽

3D Objects ◽

The World

Social Virtual Worlds are increasingly being used in education, as their flexibility can be exploited in order to create heterogeneous groups from all over the world who can collaborate synchronously in different virtual spaces. In this paper, the authors describe the potential of virtual worlds as an educative tool to teach and learn abstract concepts by means of programmable 3D objects. They describe the main experiences carried out recently in the application of these technologies in transnational educational activities that combine the Moodle learning resources and programmable 3D objects in the Second Life virtual world.

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