Learning in a Virtual World

Virtual  world? How can it be used for learning purposes? Perhaps this is the first question that almost everybody asks him/herself reading the heading of this blog post. But hang on so far in my blogs I have written about using different new technologies in educational settings. Now it is a turn to discover a new world, virtual world, full of incredible opportunities, a world where people can not only play and have fun but also learn and teach. So hold your breath we are discovering a new way of learning-learning in a virtual world. 

Donald J. Welch (president and CEO of Merit Network) divides the virtual worlds into four sectors and along one line he put "general purpose" vs. "specific function" and along the other one "public use" vs"private use". For instance Second Life is public use and general access.

In terms of using virtual world in higher education he says that now there are some gaps but he is optimistic saying that in near future there will be worlds that are specifically designed for higher education. 
No doubt that virtual world attracts students. They are excited seeing various interesting interfaces and content. They want to interact in different environment (though virtual worlds reflect the reality) and experience new things.

Interestingly, according to Cynthia M. Calongne (Professor of Computer Science at Colorado Technical University) virtual worlds can be very effective and interactive tools for learning and teaching. Of course virtual world class differs from a traditional one, due to the three dimensional (3D) graphical setting, the use of avatars and virtual things specific for its virtual space. She says that “successful virtual class experiences require a blend of technology, tools, content, student ownership, identity, engagement, course structure, risk management, mentoring, feedback, and a good orientation to using the tool".

     Yes, maybe it's great that students can do lessons, interact and do projects on different places (beach, island, cafe or in the air) due to the virtual worlds but can we provide our students with safe learning environment? Or it's not a secret that people and especially teens mostly became addicted and it's hard to get them out of that virtual space. So we should be cautious about using different virtual worlds for learning purposes otherwise we'll gain opposite/negative results. However, virtual space can serve as an additional tool to motivate, to attract and even to encourage our students to learn because as I've mentioned in my previous posts learning and fun are two in-separate things if we want our student to be more motivated and interested. 

  

Here are a few tutorials about using virtual worlds for learning purposes if you are interested :) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-oeCkBbwWo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNjV8Fvre4U