3D virtual classroom simulations for supporting school teachers' continuing professional development

3D Virtual Worlds provide realistic three-dimensional environments accessible through the web that can offer engaging, interactive, and immersive experiences. This can create new opportunities for teaching and learning. Yet, the possible use of 3D Virtual Worlds in formal education is a major challenge for school teachers, even for those who are experienced and keen on using digital technologies. In this chapter, the authors present a 3D Virtual Classroom Simulation appropriately designed and implemented using SLOODLE for supporting a module for teachers' continuing professional development based on the Synectics "making the strange familiar" instructional strategy, aiming towards acquiring appropriate competences for teaching within 3D Virtual Worlds and for developing innovative educational practices. © 2012, IGI Global

3D virtual classroom simulations for supporting school teachers' continuing professional development

3D Virtual Worlds provide realistic three-dimensional environments accessible through the web that can offer engaging, interactive, and immersive experiences. This can create new opportunities for teaching and learning. Yet, the possible use of 3D Virtual Worlds in formal education is a major challenge for school teachers, even for those who are experienced and keen on using digital technologies. In this chapter, the authors present a 3D Virtual Classroom Simulation appropriately designed and implemented using SLOODLE for supporting a module for teachers' continuing professional development based on the Synectics "making the strange familiar" instructional strategy, aiming towards acquiring appropriate competences for teaching within 3D Virtual Worlds and for developing innovative educational practices

Emergence of gamified commerce: Turning Virtual to Real

An earlier version of this paper appears in Ciaramitaro, B. (2011). Virtual Worlds and e-Commerce. Hershey, NY: Business Science Reference, pp 61-89.This paper, published in large part in Ciaramitaro’s (2011) Virtual Worlds and E-Commerce, reflects how gaming and virtual worlds have impacted on ecommerce in recent years. A dynamic commercial environment with massive growth in user numbers and an overspill into real worlds through gamification, virtual worlds have contributed new language, new ways of engaging customers in branded virtual experiences and new business models. Co-creation and co-production remain central themes within this environment. Convergence between online and offline proceeds apace, facilitated by ever more accessible technological interfaces such as mobile and tablets but also now micro-projection technologies that enable new ways of sharing and engaging. The paper reviews the convergence context and concludes with a discussion of how relationships between customers and businesses have changed, economies have emerged and boundaries between virtual and real have become blurred to form gamified commercial experiences