The seamless integration of Web3D technologies with university curricula to engage the changing student cohort

The increasing tendency of many university students to study at least some courses at a distance limits their opportunities for the interactions fundamental to learning. Online learning can assist but relies heavily on text, which is limiting for some students. The popularity of computer games, especially among the younger students, and the emergence of networked games and game-like virtual worlds offers opportunities for enhanced interaction in educational applications. For virtual worlds to be widely adopted in higher education it is desirable to have approaches to design and development that are responsive to needs and limited in their resource requirements. Ideally it should be possible for academics without technical expertise to adapt virtual worlds to support their teaching needs. This project identified Web3D, a technology that is based on the X3D standards and which presents 3D virtual worlds within common web browsers, as an approach worth exploring for educational application. The broad goals of the project were to produce exemplars of Web3D for educational use, together with development tools and associated resources to support non-technical academic adopters, and to promote an Australian community of practice to support broader adoption of Web3D in education. During the first year of the project exemplar applications were developed and tested. The Web3D technology was found to be still in a relatively early stage of development in which the application of standards did not ensure reliable operation in different environments. Moreover, ab initio development of virtual worlds and associated tools proved to be more demanding of resources than anticipated and was judged unlikely in the near future to result in systems that non-technical academics could use with confidence. In the second year the emphasis moved to assisting academics to plan and implement teaching in existing virtual worlds that provided relatively easy to use tools for customizing an environment. A project officer worked with participating academics to support the teaching of significant elements of courses within Second LifeTM. This approach was more successful in producing examples of good practice that could be shared with and emulated by other academics. Trials were also conducted with ExitRealityTM, a new Australian technology that presents virtual worlds in a web browser. Critical factors in the success of the project included providing secure access to networked computers with the necessary capability; negotiating the complexity of working across education, design of virtual worlds, and technical requirements; and supporting participants with professional development in the technology and appropriate pedagogy for the new environments. Major challenges encountered included working with experimental technologies that are evolving rapidly and deploying new networked applications on secure university networks. The project has prepared the way for future expansion in the use of virtual worlds for teaching at USQ and has contributed to the emergence of a national network of tertiary educators interested in the educational applications of virtual worlds

Internet career fairs in Australian higher education

[Abstract]: Internet Career Fairs have become a feature of the Australian graduate employment recruitment market. Internet Career Fairs offer considerable benefits in terms of resources and marketing by employers. They also offer an additional form of access to employment information that is used by students to explore their graduate employment opportunities. With the advent of Web.2 technology and sophisticated platforms such as Second Life, there is far greater potential to expand the interactivity and appeal of internet Career Fairs. In context of a description of the broader use of internet technology used for the delivery of career development services in Australia and its universities, this briefly paper describes the first 3-dimensional internet Career Fair established on the Second Life platform by an Australian university Career Service

How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds?

Over the past decade, teaching and learning in virtual worlds has been at the forefront of many higher education institutions around the world. The DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) consisting of Australian and New Zealand higher education academics was formed in 2009. These educators are investigating the role that virtual worlds play in the future of education and actively changing the direction of their own teaching practice and curricula. 47 academics reporting on 28 Australian higher education institutions present an overview of how they have changed directions through the effective use of virtual worlds for diverse teaching and learning activities such as business scenarios and virtual excursions, role-play simulations, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insights into the ways in which institutions are continuing to change directions in their teaching to meet changing demands for innovative teaching, learning and research in virtual worlds. This paper highlights the ways in which the authors are using virtual worlds to create opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would be difficult or not possible to achieve through more traditional approaches

Using the new information and communication technologies for the continuing professional development of teachers through open and distance learning

We live in a time of rapid and profound change during which both needs and opportunities for professional development keep growing as teachers strive to become lifelong learners. In this chapter, the authors explore how continuing education through open and distance learning (ODL) has evolved for the teaching profession with the use of information and communication technology (ICT). The new ICTs are then discussed and how their uses can be theoretically based, and the use of 3D virtual worlds such as Second LifeTM is examined. A framework for professional development is introduced and two cases of development using the new ICTs and ODL are presented. Problems and challenges are discussed

Virtual worlds in Australian and New Zealand higher education: remembering the past, understanding the present and imagining the future

3D virtual reality, including the current generation of multi-user virtual worlds, has had a long history of use in education and training, and it experienced a surge of renewed interest with the advent of Second Life in 2003. What followed shortly after were several years marked by considerable hype around the use of virtual worlds for teaching, learning and research in higher education. For the moment, uptake of the technology seems to have plateaued, with academics either maintaining the status quo and continuing to use virtual worlds as they have previously done or choosing to opt out altogether. This paper presents a brief review of the use of virtual worlds in the Australian and New Zealand higher education sector in the past and reports on its use in the sector at the present time, based on input from members of the Australian and New Zealand Virtual Worlds Working Group. It then adopts a forward-looking perspective amid the current climate of uncertainty, musing on future directions and offering suggestions for potential new applications in light of recent technological developments and innovations in the area

The student behind the avatar: using Second Life (virtual world) for legal advocacy skills development and assessment for external students: a critical evaluation

In 2009 the virtual world Second Life (SL) provided a setting for the flexible delivery, in a sustainable cost effective courtroom, of an advocacy exercise to external students enrolled in a Criminal Law course (Law programs) at the University of Southern Queensland. In doing so SL added an enhanced overlay to the already widely recognized pedagogies regarding advocacy skill development through situated role play, which would not have otherwise been available to external students using alternative communication technology. 'The student behind the avatar: Using Second Life (virtual worlds) for legal advocacy skills development and assessment for external students – a critical evaluation' explains the advocacy exercise skills development program in the Criminal Law course (USQ) as against professional accreditation requirements (Au) and pedagogical value. It discusses the positive and negative aspects of the delivery of the program to external students in a SL courtroom and presents the results of a survey of participating students regarding their advocacy experience in SL

Elluminate Article: Taking Action Learning Online in the 3D Virtual World of Second Life

The publisher of IRRODL, The Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research (CIDER), is pleased to provide links to a series of online seminars that took place over Spring 2007, using Elluminate. These interactive CIDER Sessions disseminate research emanating from North America's and Canada's vibrant DE research community, and we feel these archived recordings are highly relevant to many in the international distance education research community. To access these sessions, you must first download FREE software from Elluminate (see http://www.elluminate.com/support/

Changing worlds: virtual worlds for higher degree research, supervision and networking

The DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) consists of Australian and New Zealand higher education academics investigating the role that virtual worlds (VWs) play in the future of education. A sub group of the VWWG that includes Higher Degree Research (HDR) students and supervisors have been meeting regularly in the VW of second life. Many of these HDR students are the only student within their institution researching VWs. In many ways they lack the peer support that is so important to facilitate an expedient and successful completion of PhD candidates’ dissertations. Through the regular VW meetings the HDR VW group have overcome the isolation of working alone and have developed a strong collegial network that extends beyond their individual institutions. These students and supervisors represent a cross section of researchers who are using VWs as a vital resource for their investigations, collegial networking and student-supervisor communication. Meeting with like-minded HDR students has facilitated a range of opinions and debate in relation to supervisor roles, methodologies, VW skills and research techniques

Australian higher education institutions transforming the future of teaching and learning through 3D virtual worlds

What are educators' motivations for using virtual worlds with their students? Are they using them to support the teaching of professions and if this is the case, do they introduce virtual worlds into the curriculum to develop and/or expand students' professional learning networks? Are they using virtual worlds to transform their teaching and learning? In recognition of the exciting opportunities that virtual worlds present for higher education, the DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group was formed. It is made up of Australian university academics who are investigating the role that virtual worlds will play in the future of education and actively implementing the technology within their own teaching practice and curricula. This paper presents a typology for teaching and learning in 3D virtual worlds and applies the typology to a series of case studies based on the ways in which academics and their institutions are exploiting the power of virtual worlds for diverse purposes ranging from business scenarios and virtual excursions to role-play, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insight into the ways in which institutions are transforming their teaching for an unknown future through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds. The paper demonstrates how virtual worlds enable low cost alternatives to existing pedagogies as well as creating opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would otherwise not be feasible or maybe not even be possible. Through the use of virtual worlds, teaching and learning can be transformed to cater for an unknown future