Virtual Worlds and Games and Gaming
Envisioning the Educational Possibilities of User-Created Virtual Worlds
| Title: | Envisioning the Educational Possibilities of User-Created Virtual Worlds (ID: CSD5429) | | Author(s): | David M. Antonacci (The University of Kansas Medical Center) and Nellie Modaress (The University of Kansas Medical Center) | | Source: | AACE-Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education | | Origin: | Contributed by Organizations or Campuses (04/01/2008) | | Type: | Articles, Papers, and Reports | | Abstract: | Educational games and simulations can engage students in higher-level cognitive thinking, such as interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating, acting, and problem solving. Recent technical advances in multiplayer, user-created virtual worlds have significantly expanded the capabilities of user interaction and development within these simulated worlds. This ability to develop and interact with your own simulated world offers many new and exciting educational possibilities. This article explores the technical capabilities and educational potential of these new worlds. Additionally, it presents and illustrates a model, which uses interaction combinations, to identify course content and topics having educational applications in virtual worlds. | | View this resource: | |
Powerful But Not a Panacea: Virtual Worlds as a Tool for Situational Learning
| Title: | Powerful But Not a Panacea: Virtual Worlds as a Tool for Situational Learning (ID: ELIWEB082) | | Author(s): | Aaron Delwiche (Trinity University) | | Origin: | ELI Web Seminars, Web Seminars Contributed by EDUCAUSE (02/19/2008) | | Type: | Presentations/Speeches | | Abstract: | Once relegated to the fringes of the games industry, virtual worlds such as Second Life are now viewed as a promising instructional platform. College instructors use this emerging technology to teach courses on topics ranging from architecture and anthropology to history, literature and computer programming, and a growing number of Fortune 500 companies conduct employee training in virtual worlds. In 2007 alone, educational institutions were responsible for the creation of more than 1,200 islands in Second Life. While many educators are excited about the potential of virtual worlds, others are deeply wary. Some fear that virtual worlds are a faddish technology that actually degrades student learning. In this presentation, Professor Aaron Delwiche of Trinity University suggests that there are grounds for both enthusiasm and skepticism. Virtual worlds are certainly not an educational panacea, and they present many challenges for students, instructors, and administrators. When coupled with thoughtful strategies grounded in situated learning theory, however, these emerging technologies can be very powerful educational tools. | | View this resource: | |
Some Foundations for Second Life Pedagogy
Sex, commerce and stalking. In recent discussions on our campus on the use of Second Life as a learning environment, these were some of the first things people noted as concerns. Sex was a problem just because it was there to contend with - whereas it is not much of a factor in our current LMS! It was also thought that some of the economic arguments about Second Life being an "authentic" environment (because of the real economy) were questionable; i.e. what is so "authentic" about commerce, and is that the kind of "authenticity" we want to emphasize in our courses. And stalking is a bad thing, of course... I did not share these concerns about Second Life. In ways I find both reassuring and depressing, sex, commerce and stalking are all part of life on campus anyway, and in these regards Second Life does not differ much from life on our offline, physical campus (except that real sex is better and real stalking is worse than Second Life sex/stalking).
2007 Horizon Report
| Title: | 2007 Horizon Report (ID: CSD4781) | | Origin: | Contributed by EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, Horizon Report (2007) | | Type: | Articles, Papers, and Reports | | Abstract: | The 2007 Horizon Report looks at six selected areas--"User-Created Content," "Social Networking," "Mobile Phones," "Virtual Worlds," "New Scholarship and Emerging Forms of Publication," and "Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming"--the project draws on an ongoing discussion among knowledgeable individuals in business, industry, and education, as well as published resources, current research and practice, and the expertise of the NMC community itself. The Horizon Project's Advisory Board probes current trends and challenges in higher education, explores possible topics for the "Report," and ultimately directs the selection of the final technologies. - A Spanish Language Edition is now available. | | View this resource: | |
Issues with immersive gaming
Created by Stuart Yeates (University of Oxford) on September 14, 2006
A long, long, time ago, in a country far, far, away, I played a game (or was a member of the community, if you will) called LambdaMOO. LambdaMOO was a blend of techno-utopian escapism, procrastination and hacker wizardry. Building on role-playing traditions, you connected to a text-only virtual world where none of the constraints of your mundane life applied. Fifteen years later and a new wave of commercial virtual worlds sweeping the Internet in the form of Second life and it's ilk. Unlike traditional "games" these virtual worlds are not competitions, man-vs-monster or puzzle solving centred, they're community centred. Second life is currently struggling with security issues, but there are much bigger potentially issues lying just under the surface. LambdaMOO lost much of it's appeal for many participants after the incident documented in Julian Dibbell's aptly titled "A Rape in Cyberspace," which evaporated the techno-utopian dreams and left the community traumatised. I certainly hope that Second life has a plan in place to deal with such situations.
|
