Teaching and learning in virtual worlds: is it worth the effort?

Educators have been quick to spot the enormous potential afforded by virtual worlds for situated and authentic learning, practising tasks with potentially serious consequences in the real world and for bringing geographically dispersed faculty and students together in the same space (Gee, 2007; Johnson and Levine, 2008). Though this potential has largely been realised, it generally isn’t without cost in terms of lack of institutional buy-in, steep learning curves for all participants, and lack of a sound theoretical framework to support learning activities (Campbell, 2009; Cheal, 2007; Kluge & Riley, 2008). This symposium will explore the affordances and issues associated with teaching and learning in virtual worlds, all the time considering the question: is it worth the effort

Transforming pre-service teacher curriculum: observation through a TPACK lens

This paper will discuss an international online collaborative learning experience through the lens of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. The teacher knowledge required to effectively provide transformative learning experiences for 21st century learners in a digital world is complex, situated and changing. The discussion looks beyond the opportunity for knowledge development of content, pedagogy and technology as components of TPACK towards the interaction between those three components. Implications for practice are also discussed. In today’s technology infused classrooms it is within the realms of teacher educators, practising teaching and pre-service teachers explore and address effective practices using technology to enhance learning

An Investigation of Special Education Teachers\u27 Perceptions of the Effectiveness of a Systematic 7-Step Virtual Worlds Teacher Training Workshop for Increasing Social Skills

This study describes how a systematic 7-Step Virtual Worlds Teacher Training Workshop promoting inquiry, experiential learning, and sociocultural theory guided the enculturation of 18 special education teachers into three-dimensional virtual worlds. The main purpose was to enable these teachers to make informed decisions about the usability of virtual worlds for students with social skills challenges, such as students with autism. Mixed-methods data analysis and triangulation were based on the analysis of seven instruments. Six of the seven steps of the intervention received high ratings indicating its viability for teachers\u27 professional development opportunitie

An investigation into the use of a blended model of learning

The weaknesses of ‗traditional‘ modes of instruction in accounting education have been widely discussed. Many contend that the traditional approach limits the ability to provide opportunities for students to raise their competency level and allow them to apply knowledge and skills in professional problem solving situations. However, the recent body of literature suggests that accounting educators are indeed actively experimenting with ‗non-traditional‘ and ‗innovative‘ instructional approaches, where some authors clearly favour one approach over another. But can one instructional approach alone meet the necessary conditions for different learning objectives? Taking into account the ever changing landscape of not only business environments, but also the higher education sector, the premise guiding the collaborators in this research is that it is perhaps counter productive to promote competing dichotomous views of ‗traditional‘ and ‗non-traditional‘ instructional approaches to accounting education, and that the notion of ‗blended learning‘ might provide a useful framework to enhance the learning and teaching of accounting. This paper reports on the first cycle of a longitudinal study, which explores the possibility of using blended learning in first year accounting at one campus of a large regional university. The critical elements of blended learning which emerged in the study are discussed and, consistent with the design-based research framework, the paper also identifies key design modifications for successive cycles of the research

Teacher training in the use of a three-dimensional immersive virtual world: Building understanding through first-hand experiences

This study offers recommendations and a model for other teacher educators who are interested in training teachers in the use of three-dimensional (3D) immersive virtual worlds (IVWs) for their own teaching. Twelve special education teachers collaboratively explored the usability of Second Life (SL) for special education by completing a full inquiry cycle to develop the ability to make informed decisions about the affordances and challenges of virtual world teaching and to help identify effective components for virtual worlds teacher training. Ten educational SL islands were explored critically. Mixed-methods data analysis and triangulation were based on the analysis and synthesis of a preliminary survey, a mid-reflection after several virtual explorations, the collaborative analysis of an existing SL lesson plan, the collaborative development of a SL lesson plan, a post-reflection, and a post-survey. Several key benefits of 3D IVWs for special education students emerged from the qualitative analyses, namely social skills practice, collaborative learning towards a joint goal with a competitive element, and increased motivation to participate, especially for topics that would otherwise be perceived as boring. The qualitative data informed the development of guidelines for virtual worlds teacher training and the elements of an ideal SL island designed for special education. The change of attitude towards the usability of virtual worlds in education as a result of the workshop was not statistically significant

Teachers as coaches: A teachers' perceptions and actions in a game-based virtual learning environment

Identification of how a teacher can facilitate learning within virtual environments is critical if use is to become a valued student learning experience. Through an ethnographic case study, a teacher’s perception of her role and her actions in classrooms and the virtual world along with attributes used to facilitate inquiry were described. Comparisons were also made to determine if transfer of pedagogical techniques from traditional to virtual environments were possible. Understanding how game-based complex virtual worlds work and where knowledge that the student is to acquire exists, as well teacher’s value of virtual environments, were key for facilitation and teacher buy-in

Faculty Perceptions about Virtual World Technology: Affordances and Barriers to Adoption

Providing instruction using different instructional delivery methods allows the learner to absorb content in a way that fits the individual learner. Today’s students have grown up immersed in digital technology. However, many higher education faculty are still not speaking the same digital language as their students. The issue may be that the pedagogical and epistemological beliefs of faculty who are “digital immigrants” affect the teaching methods used in the higher education classroom today. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore design college faculty perceptions of the adoption of virtual world technology into the classroom. Diffusion and adoption theories, adoption models, and patterns of adoption provided a conceptual framework for this study. This mixed methods study collected data through a survey and post-survey interviews administered to faculty of 21 design colleges. The quantitative survey instrument included questions about the usage of technology, including virtual world technology, in the higher education classroom. A total of 309 faculty completed the survey. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, means, and standard deviations were used in the analysis. A correlation analysis was performed to determine if there was a relationship between selected variables and the survey responses. Post-survey semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 faculty participants who volunteered for the interviews after participating in the survey. In this study, I used the constant comparative open coding hybrid method for the interview analysis. The specific research question posed in this study was: What are the perceptions of design college faculty regarding the use of virtual world technology in their courses? Guiding questions included: (a) What are faculty perceptions about virtual world technology that potentially affect its adoption into the classroom? (b) What are faculty perceptions of the affordances of using virtual world technology in the classroom? (c) What are faculty perceptions of the challenges of using virtual world technology in the classroom? In general, the results of this study indicate that while higher education faculty perceive that virtual world technology has the potential to be a useful teaching tool in the classroom, the faculty also perceive that they do not have the essential software and hardware support from their colleges to adopt this type of technology as a teaching tool in their courses

Affordances of Mobile Virtual Reality and their Role in Learning and Teaching

In this paper, we report the technological affordances of a virtual reality smartphone-driven educational app – Google Expeditions. Based on a large exploratory study, we discuss how these empirically-derived affordances support pedagogical approaches of experiential learning, bridging virtual fieldwork with physical field trips, and inquiry-based learning

Role of Virtual Reality in Geography and Science Fieldwork Education

Fieldwork has a long tradition in geography, and in certain sciences, notably geology, biology and environmental sciences. Fieldwork involves leaving the classroom and engaging in learning and teaching through first-hand experience of phenomena in outdoor settings. Exploration in natural habitats introduces students to the complexity and unpredictability of the real world, stimulates their curiosity, and increases their interest in scientific inquiry. However, over the last decade, there has been a decline in field-study opportunities in schools. This policy paper describes the first extensive user-centered research programme into the role of technology-enabled virtual field trips as a means for improving the effectiveness of the outdoor fieldwork experience. It draws on a year-long research project that investigated how Google Expeditions, a smartphone-driven mobile virtual reality application, bridges virtual fieldwork with physical field trips and facilitates inquiry-based fieldwork and experiential learning. It examines the role of Google Expeditions in primary and secondary school science and geography, outlining the opportunities and challenges of integrating mobile virtual reality in schools and the practical implications of our research for fieldwork education in further and higher education