Education and Research
Education and Research in Virtual Environments
A growing number of educators and researchers have tapped into the educational potential of virtual environments. Educators have found virtual environments useful for teaching and research, although getting past technical requirements and issues can sometimes be challenging. Many of the properties of virtual environments seem to be conducive for good learning: they tend to be interactive, engaging, safe places for students to learn by doing and experimentation, and they provide scaffolding and immediate feedback.
Second Life and Education
Over 74 universities and colleges already have a presence (virtual campuses) within the virtual environment Second Life. Second Life has been used for distance learning, museum-style exhibits, corporate training, broadcasting information, or simply as an interactive supplement to traditional classroom environments.
Virtual classes and virtual classrooms are becoming more commonplace, as an increasing number of schools will hold online classes within Second Life. As simulations and designed experiences, virtual worlds seem to be useful for experiential, exploratory learning and for teaching various content areas like business (e.g. virtual real estate, intellectual property), economics, art design and architecture, science, among other topics.
Resources for Using Virtual Environments for Education
Second Life Education
- A nice PDF handout of the basics of using Second Life in the classroom, found at 101 Uses for Second Life in the College Classroom (created for the 2005 Games, Learning, and Society Conference)
- A list of SimTeach’s Top 20 Educational Locations in Second Life, including virtual campuses, science simulations, tutorials, and other places of interest to educators.
- A useful collection of SL scripts for teaching and research, including a chat logger, notecard giver, physics simulations, presentations, sound tools, etc.
Research in Virtual Environments
- MMOGCHART provides good statistical data, figures, and charts on virtual environments of all sorts.
- Nick Yee, who runs the Daedalus Project, an ongoing study of MMORPG players.
- Research papers on games and simulations by the Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Lab - Constance Steinkuehler, David Williamson Shaffer, Kurt Squire, Elizabeth Hayes, Richard Halverson, James Paul Gee and others.
Multimedia
- A nice YouTube video of Science Learning Opportunities within Second Life, including examples of real-time visualizations, Nature Magazine’s interaction with cholesterol molecules, hands-on genomics simulations, ARC Research Center’s 3-D anatomy exhibits, and New Media Consortium’s clinical simulation modules.