Education in Virtual Worlds

Although extensive research has been carried out on virtual learning environments and the role of groups and communities in social networks, few studies exist which adequately cover the relationship between these two domains In this paper, the authors demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating these two environments by creating a novel prototype and conducting a preliminary pilot evaluation session. For the prototype system, a Facebook Group was utilised as a repository for learning content and the Open Wonderland platform was selected as a mixed reality intelligent environment for 3D virtual collaborative activities. Since tacit knowledge can be gained via collaborative group-based activities and discussions, a new Wonderland module was developed to integrate this platform with the Facebook group. Similarly, explicit knowledge can be learned directly via the prepared materials which are provided within the group repository. We hope to demonstrate that this approach can provide greater accessibility to the learning content since it can be accessed from both the 3D world and the 2D Facebook Group. In other words, this system can support both synchronous interaction as well as asynchronous data retrieval. Finally, the prototype system was evaluated by means of a two-hour task-based assessment and user-satisfaction questionnaire. We present the key findings from this pilot study (which were very encouraging), and propose further ideas for the future refinement of the concepts presented in this paper.

The 3D virtual worlds need special graphical and instructional design to simulate an effective  learning environment and make students focus on their learning objectives. Issues exist also for teachers who may find difficult to use a 3D learning environment. The current paper presents a research and experimental implementation of a gamified 3D virtual learning environment designed with the purpose to increase students’ and teachers’ motivation of using a 3D learning environment and to measure their learning outcome or participation effort in a visible and synthetic way. “3DUPB”, a 3D virtual clone of the Politehnica University of Bucharest on the OpenSim platform,  was used as a test bed for conducting a case study and evaluating preliminary results.

Virtual worlds continue to be used in Australia and New Zealand higher education institutions although the hype has settled. Whilst some higher education institutions continue to use virtual worlds as they have done for some time, other institutions are trialing different virtual worlds and some are opting out altogether. An overview of how 46 authors from 28 institutions see virtual worlds as an opportunity to sustain the future of higher education is presented. The positives and negatives of using virtual worlds are discussed.

What are educators' motivations for using virtual worlds with their students? Are they using them to support the teaching of professions and if this is the case, do they introduce virtual worlds into the curriculum to develop and/or expand students' professional learning networks? Are they using virtual worlds to transform their teaching and learning? In recognition of the exciting opportunities that virtual worlds present for higher education, the DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group was formed. It is made up of Australian university ...

This machinima was produced to function as a discussion support system, modelling the sorts of conversations sugar cane farmers need to have in order to make good farming decisions in light of climate information. The script was written by Neil Cliffe, a PhD candidate working on the discussion support system project, and recorded by professional sound engineers at the University of Southern Queensland. Top Dingo created the environment and avatars and shot the visuals, bringing it all together in this high quality machinima. This machinima challenges conventional views relating to the use of video in agricultural extension.

In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary exploratory study that is aiming at exploring the means for facilitating creative collaborative activities in educational context. We argue that 3D virtual worlds can be successfully used for facilitating such activities. The goal of this preliminary study was to evaluate several features and use the results as an input for the future studies. We conducted test collaborative sessions in 3D virtual worlds and several other sessions in a classroom that we used as points of reference for comparison. The data were collected from the direct observation, 3D virtual recordings, and individual and group text assignments. The analysis of the data allowed us to formulate a set of advantages and limitations of 3D virtual worlds for supporting creative collaborative process against the face-to-face settings.

While many virtual educational environments are already in use, few attempt to mix the virtual and the real worlds to a very high extent. The benefits of such approach could be groundbreaking, leading to new paradigms of education, however the complexity of the challenges and the scale of the effort are still very high. The "3D UPB" platform takes this approach of a fully mixed reality environment to the scale of a large university campus with tens of thousands of users. This paper presents the concept and aims of “3D UPB” , its top level architectural components, the current stage of development and essential implementation details in order to point out the benefits and also challenges of this innovative educational and social platform. Preliminary evaluation, results and future work are also presented.

This paper presents four case studies from two regional and two metropolitan Australian universities, showcasing how 3D virtual world platforms have been used to connect, engage and motivate students in both co-located and non-co-located contexts. The case studies provide practical examples of how virtual worlds and associated applications have been operationalised in real teaching and learning contexts involving a range of different disciplines. For rural educators looking for innovative ways to enrich the student learning experience, the case studies offer first hand insights into the potential and the problems of using virtual worlds for educational purposes.

Gregory, S., Jacka, L., Hillier, M., & Grant, S. (2015). Using virtual worlds in rural and regional educational institutions. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, Vol. 25 (2), pp. 73–90.

The higher education community have embraced the use of virtual worlds for teaching and learning. There have been many publications produced over recent years on the efficacy of virtual worlds as a teaching and learning tool. However, even though there has been increased usage, there has not been comprehensive research on using a virtual world to practise teaching in a way that is simple to use and provides a variety of scenarios for use by educators in a risk free environment. VirtualPREX, the term coined for this project, provides this. The VirtualPREX project, part of an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) two year project grant, explored the validity of pre-service teachers using a virtual world to practise teaching skills prior to undertaking professional experience. Second Life was the virtual world chosen for this research as it is a tested environment and three of the participating institutions jointly owned land that could house the VirtualPREX classrooms. Additionally, a number of the project team were familiar with the Second Life environment. A classroom and playground theme had already been created, making it an ideal platform for the creation of more VirtualPREX classrooms.

Four virtual classrooms, each containing ten pre-service primary school student avatars (five female and five male) and two teachers (one female and one male), were created so that pre-service teachers could practise and enhance their teaching skills and experiment with new teaching strategies through role-plays. A further classroom was created to house primary school student bots (non-player characters) to enable asynchronous practice. These have all been created on the Second Life island of “Australis 4 Learning”. The VirtualPREX classroom environment was tested with various cohorts of students and academics from UNE, ACU and CSU, who participated in teaching role-play scenarios, over the two years of the project. In particular, on-campus and off-campus cohorts of students from UNE undertook role-play activities during 2011 and 2012, on-campus students and academic staff from ACU undertook role-play activities in 2012, and academic staff from CSU participated in a role-play demonstration in 2012. Students participating in role-plays completed questionnaires including demographic questions, questions relating to their ICT and virtual worlds experience, perceptions of their preparedness for their professional experience placement and questions about their experience of the role-play activity. The results indicated that, although there are a number of aspects of the design of the role-play activities, and the environment itself, that could be further refined, VirtualPREX is promising as a space for pre-service teachers to practise their skills and build their confidence before going out on professional experience placement.

This report draws on research conducted by project team members from UNE, CSU, Curtin, RMIT and ACU over the two years from 2011 to 2012. Data was collected from surveys, observations and discussions. The research sought to examine the virtual world space created for the VirtualPREX project for pre-service teachers to undertake practice teaching and assessable tasks. The aim was to develop the space, the role-play scenarios and bots for teaching in an authentic setting to be used worldwide upon completion. The study set out to provide the higher education community with guidelines and recommendations to encourage the use of the virtual world classrooms and assessable tasks with pre-service teachers.

The project consisted of four phases through three stages (pilot testing, refined role-plays and bot development):

• Phase 1 – Investigation and pre-formative assessment survey
• Phase 2 – Development and validating of bots, virtual classroom and machinima
• Phase 3 – Pilot implementation of VirtualPREX with pre-service teachers, and post-formative assessment survey
• Phase 4 – Analysis, reporting and final evaluation
The primary outcome of this project was the development and implementation of VirtualPREX: a 3D, interactive, virtual space designed as a classroom with structured learning experiences for formative assessment, in which pre-service teachers could practise teaching skills prior to practicum placements. Students are able to use the space both synchronously and asynchronously, by themselves or interacting with other students, academics and/or bots (non-player characters which enable pre-service teachers to practise their teaching skills without the need of peers). The bots are continuously being updated and are a work-in-progress. Students are able to interact with classroom simulations so that they can reflect, practise and apply skills learnt. VirtualPREX is accessible to academic users of Second Life worldwide for use with their pre-service teachers and can be found in Second Life at <maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Australis%204%20Learning/94/212/21>.

The project culminated in the production of the following outcomes and deliverables:

• Documentation of principles and guidelines for developing and implementing formative assessment in a 3D virtual world based on application of social constructivist pedagogy for learning activities.
• A broader evaluation of the usefulness of Second Life in meeting the project aims for pre-service education students across the five institutions.
• The creation of prototype primary school student bots and an automated classroom where pre-service teachers can practise teaching skills by themselves, with other students and/or their academic teacher.
• A space to create and use machinima for self, peer, formative and summative assessment.
• Guidelines for using machinima as a resource for assessment tasks and discussion of standards.
• Assessable tasks for individuals or groups for use by higher educational institutions worldwide.
• Guidelines for encouraging effective teaching strategies through role-play.
• An agreed protocol for sharing future use and development of VirtualPREX.
These outcomes and deliverables can be found at “Australis 4 Learning”, a space in Second Life, and on the VirtualPREX website, <virtualprex.com>. The space in Second Life has all classrooms set up to be used. The website has a multitude of resources containing instructions on how to undertake role-plays on “Australis 4 Learning” and links to YouTube machinima for assessment and how to undertake these tasks. Many “how to” instructions are also available on the website. In this report are many more links to resources available to enable use of VirtualPREX, either as role-plays, machinima viewing, assessable tasks and general information.

For users of the VirtualPREX resources, it is recommended that educators become familiar with the virtual world of Second Life prior to embarking on the role-play activities. This way, they will be able to overcome any technical difficulties they encounter. It is recommended that users visit http://virtualprex.com/slhowto.html to assist in their learning to become educators of VirtualPREX and ensure that all users have the best possible experience available. It is also recommended that educators make comprehensive use of the YouTube machinima and instructions on how to use the machinima for assessable tasks. That way, educators who are not familiar with using Second Life are still able to use the resources with their pre-service teachers. The sizeable time that could be required to invest in VirtualPREX has been overcome if the educator uses the resources available. It takes considerable time and effort to create a space such as VirtualPREX. Because of the VirtualPREX project, the potential now exists for educators to utilise these resources in the preparation of their pre-service teachers for their professional experience.

Given the active and authentic nature of Massively-Multiplayer Online Games, researchers have begun to question the use of this virtual setting as a teaching / learning tool (Barab et al., 2010; Squire, 2006). Specific findings in virtual environments show that several personal factors mediate an individual’s experiences within that environment (Przybylski, Rigby, & Ryan, 2010). Although physical-world research has focused on the personal factor of personality and its influence on learning (Caprara et al., 2011; Furnham, Chamorro-Premuzic, & McDougall, 2003; Gallagher, 1996; Olesen, Thomsen, Schnieber & Tønnesvang, 2010), very little research on personality within virtual settings has been conducted. Thus, it is important to explore more about personality changes between individuals and their avatars in virtual settings. Findings from the current study show statistically different personality score for individuals and their avatars across all domains of the Five-Factor Model.  However, for three of the domains, Neuroticism, Openness, and Conscientiousness, consistent patterns of difference existed. Overall implications for these findings are discussed.

This paper presents a comparative analysis of five years of teaching-interns' reflections on the same ESL lesson that uses two modalities: a traditionally simulated environment and a 3D virtual world.  Our analysis shows that both modalities have inherent limitations, though these can be overcome to different degrees.  The analysis of interns' reflections also allows us to identify the necessary conditions for reality of function (Jones, 1982) in both lesson modalities.  In the end, we find that the criterion of reality of function is the overriding factor in choosing the modality.

There continues to be strong interest among established, experienced academic users of 3D virtual environments for their sustained educational use. Consistent with global trends, they plan to further develop and optimise existing applications, reuse skills and experiences gained to develop new applications, and to share and reuse existing virtual resources. This is against a background of varied support from institutions, colleagues, students, funding bodies and also changing understanding and awareness of virtual environments and virtual reality by the general community as a result of consumer developments such as the popularity of multi-user online role playing amongst both children and adults, and the acquisition of technologies by companies with deeply entrenched technologies. At the same time, the ongoing development and availability of new multiuser virtual environment platforms, associated peripherals and virtual reality technologies promise new and exciting opportunities for educators to collaborate with researchers on a global scale, while also exploring the affordances of these technologies for enhancing the learning outcomes for an increasingly diverse and distributed student population.

Koşulların eğitimin devam etmesine izin vermediği durumlarda yeni fırsatlar sunan uzaktan eğitim sistemleriyle içerikler öğrenenlere genellikle belge, sunu ve resim formatlarında sunulmaktadır. Uzaktan eğitimde içeriklerin kalitesi öğrenenlerin memnuniyet ve motivasyon düzeyleri ile uzaktan eğitimin kalitesini etkilemektedir. Uzaktan eğitim sürecinin iyi bir şekilde yapılandırılması kullanılan araçtan ziyade iyi bir öğretim tasarım süreciyle mümkün olmakta-dır.  Çoğu zaman kullanılan içerik paylaşımı yapılan iki-boyutlu sistemlerde öğrenenler sosyal izolasyon yaşamakta ve pratiğe dönük derslerle ilgili uygulama yapma sorunuyla karşılaşmak-tadır. Özellikle sosyal izolasyonun önemli olduğu ve pandemi ilan edilen Covid-19 sürecinde öğrenenlerin sosyalleşme isteği artmaktadır. Sınıf ortamlarında arkadaşlarıyla etkileşim kura-bilen öğrenenlerin uzaktan eğitimde de temsili avatarlarla otantik dünyanın benzeri alanlarda biraraya gelmesini sağlayan üç-boyutlu çok-kullanıcılı sanal ortamlar sosyal etkileşimi sanal or-tamlara taşımaktadır. Temsili karakterleriyle üç-boyutlu bir sosyal bir ağa dahil olan öğrenenler pratiğe dönük beceriler gerektiren derslerini bu ortamlarda gerçekleştirebilmektedir. Bununla birlikte bu ortamlarda otantik koşulların oluşturulmasıyla öğrenenlerin sosyal buradalık algısı, ilgi ve motivasyonu da artacaktır. Bu kapsamda bu bölümde ilk olarak uzaktan eğitim ve kul-lanılan sistemlerle ilgili genel bir bilgi verilecektir. Daha sonra üç-boyutlu çok-kullanıcılı sanal ortamlarla ilgili kavramlara yer verilecektir.  Son olarak bu ortamların uzaktan eğitim sürecinde kullanımıyla ilgili alanyazındaki çalışmalara değinilecektir.

This study aimed to analyse the usefulness of educational computer games in teachers’ professional development. The study used the game Atlantis Remixed, which is intended to be a technologically rich and individualized learning environment. The study used formative research to demonstrate what works and what does not work for the use of educational computer games in teachers’ professional development, and improvements to be made for this purpose in learning environments in Turkey, where schools are equipped with technologically rich learning and teaching environments as part of the FATIH (the Movement to Increase Opportunities and Technology) project. The study included ten participants. Of these, five were teachers who participated in the implementation, and five were instructional technology experts. The study found both positive and negative results with respect to the use of Atlantis Remixed for teachers’ professional development and articulates the participants’ opinions and suggestions.

What are educators&#x27; motivations for using virtual worlds with their students? Are they using them to support the teaching of professions and if this is the case, do they introduce virtual worlds into the curriculum to develop and/or expand students&#x27; professional learning networks? Are they using virtual worlds to transform their teaching and learning? In recognition of the exciting opportunities that virtual worlds present for higher education, the DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group was formed. It is made up of Australian university ...