Virtual worlds are places where humans interact, and as such they can be environments for research and learning. However, they are complex and mutable in ways that more controlled and traditional environments are not. Although computer-mediated, virtual worlds are multifaceted social systems like the offline world, and choosing to study virtual world phenomena demands as much consideration for the participants, the environment and the researcher as offline.
By exploring virtual worlds as places of research and learning, the international practitioners in this book demonstrate the power of these worlds to replicate and extend our arenas of research and learning. They focus on process and outcomes and consider questions that arise from engaging in teaching and research in these spaces, including new approaches to research ethics, internationalization, localization, and collaboration in virtual worlds.
This book was originally published as a special issue of Learning, Media & Technology.
1. Learning and researching in virtual worlds Jeremy Hunsinger and Aleks
Krotoski
2. Immersed in Learning: supporting creative practice in virtual
worlds Denise Doyle
3. Design of learning spaces in 3D virtual worlds: an
empirical investigation of 'Second Life' Shailey Minocha and Ahmad John
Reeves
4. Social virtual worlds for technology-enhanced learning on an
augmented learning platform Li Jin, Zhigang Wen and Norman Gough
5. How to
enable knowledge exchange in Second Life in design education? Aukje Thomassen
and Pete Rive
6. Elven Elder LVL59 LFP/RB. Please PM me: immersion,
collaborative tasks and problem-solving in massively multiplayer online games
Iro Voulgari and Vassilis Komis
7. Serious playground: using Second Life to
engage high school students in urban planning Kerry Mallan, Marcus Foth, Ruth
Greenaway and Greg T. Young
8. The city at play: Second Life and the virtual
urban planning studio David Thomas and Justin B. Hollander
9. The potential
for scientific collaboration in virtual ecosystems Brian Magerko
10. On being
bored and lost (in virtuality) Kristen Moore and Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder
Jeremy Hunsinger is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.
Aleks Krotoski is a Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute, and writes for The Guardian and Observer newspapers. She is based in London, UK.
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