Virtual Worlds

Time-to-adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years

In the last year, interest in virtual worlds has grown considerably, fueled in no small part by the tremendous press coverage of examples like Second Life. Campuses and businesses have established locations in these worlds, much as they were creating websites a dozen years ago. In the same way that the number and sophistication of websites grew very quickly as more people began to browse, virtual locations will become more common and more mature as the trend continues. Virtual worlds offer flexible spaces for learning and exploration—educational use of these spaces is already underway and growing.

Overview

Virtual worlds are richly immersive and highly scalable 3D environments. People enter these worlds via an avatar which is their representation in that space, moving their avatar through the space as if they were physically walking—or in some cases, flying. The most popular virtual worlds are multi-user spaces, meaning that many people can be in the same virtual space and interact with one another in real time. While many popular games take place in virtual worlds, virtual worlds are not themselves games. Pure virtual worlds like Second Life, Active Worlds, or There can be applied to any context, as opposed to game worlds, which generally have a fixed, goal-oriented purpose.

Because of the more rapid acceptance and use of virtual worlds in academia as opposed to gaming in general, this phenomenon remains in the mid-term horizon—moving ever closer, while other aspects of educational gaming, like massively multiplayer online games, remain a bit farther out. Virtual worlds offer an opportunity for people to interact in a way that conveys a sense of presence lacking in other media. These spaces can be huge, in terms of the number of people that use them, and they are growing in popularity because they combine many of the elements that make Web 2.0 really exciting: social networking; the ability to share rich media seamlessly; the ability to connect with friends; a feeling of presence; and a connection to the community.

The use of virtual worlds in education has grown considerably over the past year. Courses now meet in Second Life and other locations. These spaces are used for training emergency response personnel, developing civic participation and leadership skills, visualizing real time weather data, modeling complex mathematical functions, and experimenting with architectural models, among other uses. A consortium of librarians has built an extensive and growing set of information resources in Second Life. Courses from English to Chemistry hold meetings in virtual worlds, making use of their flexibility and powerful building tools to stage dramas and create realistic 3D molecular models. Also on the horizon are open-source versions of virtual worlds like Croquet, Uni-Verse, Multiverse, and others.

Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Expression

Virtual worlds can be used to create very effective learning spaces. Since they are generalized rather than contextual, they are applicable to almost all disciplines. Settings can be created to pertain to any subject or area of study; locations and artifacts can be as realistic and detailed,or as generic and undefined as desired. 3D construction tools allow easy visualization of physical objects and materials, even those normally occurring at cosmic or nano scales.

The social aspects of virtual worlds are also useful for educational purposes. These worlds lend themselves to role playing and scenario building, allowing learners to temporarily assume the responsibilities of an astronomer, chemist, or engineer without incurring real-world consequences. Researchers and ethnographers have ventured into worlds like Second Life to interview and study the inhabitants.

New art forms are emerging in these spaces that take advantage of the unique possibilities for expression available in them. Machinima—filmmaking using virtual world settings and avatar actors—is just one example; new forms of sculpture, painting, and architecture are also evolving.

As more educators begin to explore the opportunities offered by virtual worlds, established courses are paving the way for new offerings. Schools like Trinity University and the University of Texas at Austin have used virtual worlds in teaching for two or three years now; others, like the University of Wisconsin—Madison, Bradley University, and Seton Hall University have begun this year to offer courses using virtual worlds in different capacities and disciplines. Training events, workshops, and discussion groups (which meet, appropriately enough, in Second Life) are available to help faculty develop effective uses of virtual worlds.

A sampling of applications of virtual worlds across disciplines includes the following:

• Expand understanding of cultural and societal experiences. Many virtual worlds offer an opportunity for students to create as well as observe their surroundings. A literature course at the University of Texas at Austin forwards its goal for students to engage in discovery learning and gain deeper understanding of world literature by extending a study of world architectural styles into Second Life. Students create their own buildings that reflect styles they have studied, enabling them to carry their experience of world literature into a virtual world.
• Experiment with new art forms. Virtual worlds lend themselves to creative work, blending flat texture design with more sculptural three-dimensional forms. The Otis College of Art and Design has built a gallery, sculpture garden, and meeting space in Second Life, where students and faculty can exhibit work that stretches their creativity in painting, sculpture, fashion design, cinematography, interactive displays, and other media.
• Stage theatrical productions. All of the activities that are part of real-world theatrical productions have counterparts in virtual worlds: costume design, set design, scriptwriting, choreography, acting, and directing all contribute to a virtual play as to a real one. Productions from murder mysteries to westerns have been staged in Second Life.
• Learn through simulations and role-playing. Simulated problem-solving activities can be planned in custom settings like a hospital room, a power plant, or even an entire town. Students can become doctors, patients, journalists, or anyone else as they work to accomplish goals within the simulated environment. A few proof-of-concept simulations have opened the door to a host of these activities, and many are now in development.

Examples of Virtual Worlds in Education

The following links provide examples of educational applications of virtual worlds.

• The Adding Machine
  This online journal chronicles the progress of an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional production of Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine, scheduled for performance in March 2007.
• Field Research Methods in Second Life
  Bradley University offers a course in field research methods in the online virtual world of Second Life.
• M.U.P.P.E.T.S.
  The Rochester Institute of Technology has developed a custom collaborative virtual environment where students can program and interact with virtual objects as well as create two- and three-dimensional data visualization schemes.
• Oakland Jazz and Blues Club Virtual Reality Project
  At the University of California, Berkeley the Journalism and Architecture schools are collaborating on a project that will recreate the 1940-1950’s environment of the 7th Street music scene.
• Play2Train
  This bioterroism simulation was built in Second Life and is designed to teach preparedness through role-playing.
• Second Life at Seton Hall University
  The Teaching, Learning and Technology Center at Seton Hall University is exploring the potential of virtual spaces in the high school and college classroom. Instructional designers, faculty and administrators are working to define best practice, identify strategies for the integration of virtual worlds into the learning experience, and find solutions to training and support challenges.
• Simulations in Neverwinter Nights
  A communications class at the University of Minnesota used a simulation built by modifying the game Neverwinter Nights to practice investigative journalism.
• The VITAL Lab at Ohio University
  The Ohio University Virtual Immersive Technologies for Arts and Learning (VITAL) Lab is a research and development lab dedicated to creating immersive virtual environments to enhance teaching, learning, and training activities. Over the past year, the lab has produced projects for middle and high schools, for university students, and for the general public.

For Further Reading

The following articles and resources are recommended for those who wish to learn more about virtual worlds.

• Real Learning in a Virtual world (Gregory M.Lamb,TheChristianScienceMonitor, October 5, 2006) This article describes some of the ways Second Life is used in college courses.
• Right-click to Learn (Kate Cohen, The Phoenix, August 17, 2006) Educators plan activities in Second Life.
• Terra Nova (Retrieved December 27, 2006) This multi- authored blog discusses virtual worlds and their implications.
• Top 10 Opportunities in Virtual Worlds (Tristan Louis, The TNL.net Weblog, August 18, 2006) One in a series of articles about virtual worlds, this post discusses opportunities for vendors, users, and secondary markets.
• When do Online/Computer Simulations add the Most Value? (Gene Koo, video vidi visum: virtual, December 5, 2006) This blog post considers three cases where simulations are an advantageous tool for teaching and learning.
• del.icio.us: Virtual Worlds (Horizon Project Advisory Board and Friends, 2006) Follow this link to resources tagged for this topic including the ones listed here. To add to this list, simply tag resources with “hz07” and “virtual_worlds” when you save them to del.icio.us.