Authentic Virtual World Education

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. The Affordances of Virtual Worlds as Authentic, Culturally Diverse Learning Environments

   • Denise Wood, Sue Gregory

   Pages 1-7

3. Pedagogy and Learning for Sustainability in a Virtual World Scaffold

   • Marcia Thorne, Colin Macgregor

   Pages 9-23

4. Intercultural Competence and Virtual Worlds

   • Debbie Corder, Alice U-Mackey

   Pages 25-43

5. Virtual Worlds as Restorative Environments

   • Janice K. Jones, Helen Farley, Angela Murphy

   Pages 45-59

6. Self-guided Exploration of Virtual Learning Spaces

   • Torsten Reiners, Lincoln C. Wood, Marko Teräs, Hanna Teräs, Sue Gregory, Vanessa Chang et al.

   Pages 61-78

7. Action-Based Learning Assessment in Virtual Training Environments

   • Ali Fardinpour, Torsten Reiners, Lincoln C. Wood

   Pages 79-94

8. Engagement in Second Life: Language Anxiety and Motivation

   • Scott Grant, Hui Huang, Sarah Pasfield-Neofitou

   Pages 95-115

9. Cognitive Engagement in Virtual Worlds Language Learning

   • Michael Henderson, Lyn Henderson, Scott Grant, Hui Huang

   Pages 117-134

10. Anticipating Engagement: Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of Virtual Worlds

    • Lisa Jacka, Matthew Hill

    Pages 135-151

11. Utilising Second Life Machinima-Facilitated Narratives to Support Cognitive and Imaginative Engagement Across an Undergraduate Curriculum

    • Des Butler

    Pages 153-173

12. Decision-Making Supported by Virtual-World Systems Vis-à-Vis Enterprise Systems’ Uncertainty and Equivocality

    • Amit Rudra, Bjørn Jæger, Kristine Ludvigsen

    Pages 175-197

13. Conclusion

    • Sue Gregory, Denise Wood

    Pages 199-203

The book presents the possibilities and realities of virtual worlds in education through the application of 3D virtual worlds to support authentic learning, creativity, learner engagement and cultural diversity in higher education. It includes a unique variety of cross disciplinary approaches to research, teaching and learning in a virtual world, including analysis of data from the experiences of students in education, law, Chinese language, sustainability, computer architecture, business, health and the Arts. The book provides unique learning experiences that have celebrated the rich media of virtual world environments through the utilisation of affordances such as simulation, bots, synchronous interaction, machinima and games. The perspectives come from Australia and New Zealand higher education academics but transferable to any higher educational institution in the sector, worldwide, and is significant to various disciplines in the higher education field.

• Virtual worlds
• Second Life
• Online learning
• Distance education
• Higher education
• Cultural diversity
• Intercultural awareness
• Multi-user virtual environments
• Legal education
• Cognitive engagement
• Thinking skills
• Second language acquisition
• Internationalisation
• Stimulated recall methodology
• learning and instruction

• School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, Australia

  Sue Gregory

• Central Queensland University, Rockhampton North, Australia

  Denise Wood

Sue Gregory is an Associate Professor, Chair of Research and a member of the ICT education team in the School of Education at the University of New England, Australia, where she is responsible for leading and driving research within the school and training pre-service and postgraduate education students on how to incorporate technology into their teaching. She is a long-term adult educator and, since 2008, has been teaching in Second Life, in which she has created and manages several inworld spaces including classrooms and a playground for students. Sue’s research focus is on adult learning, authenticity, engagement, immersion, impact, and the efficacy of virtual worlds for education; in particular, she has been examining student perceptions of their learning in a virtual world. Sue is chair of the Australian and New Zealand Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) and recently led an Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT)-funded project entitled “VirtualPREX: Innovative Assessment using a 3D Virtual World with Pre-Service Teachers”.

Denise Wood is a Professor, Engaged Research Chair and Director of the Centre for Regional Advancement of Learning, Equity, and Participation (LEAP) at Central Queensland University, Australia. She had led over AU$6 million in national funded research projects focusing on learning and teaching, and the innovative use of information and communication technologies, including virtual worlds, to enhance learning outcomes and the social and educational participation of people from underrepresented groups in Australia and South Africa. One of these projects, which is of particular interest to this publication, was an Australian Leaning and Teaching funded national project, “Facilitating flexible, enquiry-based experiential learning through an accessible, three-dimensional virtual learning environment (3DVLE)”, the outputs of which included guidelines for academics teaching in virtual worlds about the affordances and features virtual worlds for learning and teaching in higher education, case studies across a range of disciplinary fields and the development of an accessible virtual world viewer.

Policies and ethics