How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds?
- Authors: Gregory, Brent , Gregory, Sue , Wood, Denise , Masters, Yvonne , Hillier, Mathew , Stokes-Thompson, Frederick , Bogdanovych, Anton , Butler, Des , Hay, Lyn , Jegathesan, Jay Jay , Flintoff, Kim , Schutt, Stefan , Linegar, Dale , Alderton, Robyn , Cram, Andrew , Stupans, Ieva , Orwin, Lindy McKeown , Meredith, Grant , McCormick, Debbie , Collins, Francesca , Grenfell, Jenny , Zagami, Jason , Ellis, Allan , Jacka, Lisa , Campbell, John , Larson, Ian , Fluck, Andrew , Thomas, Angela , Farley, Helen , Muldoon, Nona , Abbas, Ali , Sinnappan, Suku , Neville, Katrina , Burnett, Ian , Aitken, Ashley , Simoff, Simeon , Scutter, Sheila , Wang, Xiangyu , Souter, Kay , Ellis, David , Salomon, Mandy , Wadley, Greg , Jacobson, Michael , Newstead, Anne , Hayes, Gary , Grant, Scott , Yusupova, Alyona
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Australian society for Computers in learning in Tertiary Education, : Changing Demands, Changing Directions: 28th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
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- Reviewed:
- Description: 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.
Epilogue : Virtual worlds for online learning : Cases and Applications
- Authors: Lee, Mark , Gregory, Sue , Tynan, Belinda , Dalgarno, Barney
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Virtual worlds for online learning : Cases and Applications (Education in a competitve and globalizing world series) p. 179-185
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This eleven-chapter book is concerned with practical applications of three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds in online education. It is thought to be particularly timely due to the current 'state of play' of virtual world adoption and use across the tertiary education sector globally (see, for example, Dalgarno, Gregory, Carlson, Lee, & Tynan, 2012; de Freitas, 2008; Kelton, 2007; Kirriemuir, 2010a, 2010b, 2012). For several years, there was a great deal of hype surrounding the use of virtual worlds in academia for learning, teaching, research, and student support. However, as this initial hype has subsided and the technology is now displaying signs of approaching maturity (Lowendahl, 2013, 2014), we are seeing a body of sound, evidence-based strategies and practices that has accrued over time as a consequence of ongoing scholarship.
Conclusion : Learning in virtual worlds : research and applications
- Authors: Lee, Mark , Gregory, Sue , Tynan, Belinda , Dalgarno, Barney
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Learning in virtual worlds : research and applications (Issues in distance education series) p. 295-306
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Although virtual worlds, and 3D virtual environments more broadly, have been used in educational contexts for more than 20 years, there remains a great deal that we still do not know about how best to design and use them to maximize learning effectiveness and outcomes. The contributors to this volume have explored a range of research topics related to the use of virtual worlds in education. Topics spanned human–computer interaction issues related to navigation, communication, identity formation, and authentic learning; leading-edge technologies that have the potential to take learning in virtual worlds forward in new directions, with a specific focus on conversational agents and computer-controlled avatars; and considerations and frameworks for designing and implementing learning in virtual worlds. The contributions made by these chapters within the broad areas of human–computer interaction, advanced technologies, and learning design and implementation are discussed in turn in the following parts before concluding with a summary of the main contributions of the book as a whole and the opportunities that exist for future research.
Rhetoric and reality : Critical perspectives on education in a 3D virtual world
- Authors: Gregory, Sue , Gregory, Brent , Wood, Denise , Butler, Des , Pasfield-Neofitou, Sarah Ellen , Hearns, Merle , Se Freitas, Sarah , Farley, Helen , Warren, Ian , Jacka, Lisa , Stokes-Thompson, Frederick , Cox, Robert , Crowther, Patricia , Atkins, Clare , McDonald, Marcus , Reiners, Torsten , Wood, Lincoln , Sim, Jenny , Grant, Scott , Campbell, Chris , Hillier, Mathew , Meredith, Grant , Steel, Caroline , Jegathesan, Jay Jay , Zagami, Jason , Sukunesan, Suku , Gaukrodger, Belma , Schutt, Stefan , Le Rossignol, Karen , Hill, Matthew , Rive, Pete , Xiangyu, Wang
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Proceedings of ASCILITE 2014 - Annual Conference of the Australian Society for Computers in Tertiary Education p. 279-289
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The emergence of any new educational technology is often accompanied by inflated expectations about its potential for transforming pedagogical practice and improving student learning outcomes. A critique of the rhetoric accompanying the evolution of 3D virtual world education reveals a similar pattern, with the initial hype based more on rhetoric than research demonstrating the extent to which rhetoric matches reality. Addressed are the perceived gaps in the literature through a critique of the rhetoric evident throughout the evolution of the application of virtual worlds in education and the reality based on the reported experiences of experts in the field of educational technology, who are all members of the Australian and New Zealand Virtual Worlds Working Group. The experiences reported highlight a range of effective virtual world collaborative and communicative teaching experiences conducted in members' institutions. Perspectives vary from those whose reality is the actuation of the initial rhetoric in the early years of virtual world education, to those whose reality is fraught with challenges that belie the rhetoric. Although there are concerns over institutional resistance, restrictions, and outdated processes on the one-hand, and excitement over the rapid emergence of innovation on the other, the prevailing reality seems to be that virtual world education is both persistent and sustainable. Explored are critical perspectives on the rhetoric and reality on the educational uptake and use of virtual worlds in higher education, providing an overview of the current and future directions for learning in virtual worlds.
Pologue : Virtual worlds for online learning : Cases and Applications
- Authors: Lee, Mark , Gregory, Sue , Tynan, Belinda , Dalgarno, Barney
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Virtual worlds for online learning : Cases and Applications (Education in a competitve and globalizing world series) p. vii-xiii
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This eleven-chapter book is concerned with practical applications of three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds in online education. It is thought to be particularly timely due to the current 'state of play' of virtual world adoption and use across the tertiary education sector globally (see, for example, Dalgarno, Gregory, Carlson, Lee, & Tynan, 2012; de Freitas, 2008; Kelton, 2007; Kirriemuir, 2010a, 2010b, 2012). For several years, there was a great deal of hype surrounding the use of virtual worlds in academia for learning, teaching, research, and student support. However, as this initial hype has subsided and the technology is now displaying signs of approaching maturity (Lowendahl, 2013, 2014), we are seeing a body of sound, evidence-based strategies and practices that has accrued over time as a consequence of ongoing scholarship.
Virtual worlds for online learning : Cases and Applications
- Authors: Lee, Mark , Gregory, Sue , Tynan, Belinda , Dalgarno, Barney
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Book
- Relation: Education in a competitve and globalizing world
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This eleven-chapter book is concerned with practical applications of three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds in online education. It is thought to be particularly timely due to the current 'state of play' of virtual world adoption and use across the tertiary education sector globally (see, for example, Dalgarno, Gregory, Carlson, Lee, & Tynan, 2012; de Freitas, 2008; Kelton, 2007; Kirriemuir, 2010a, 2010b, 2012). For several years, there was a great deal of hype surrounding the use of virtual worlds in academia for learning, teaching, research, and student support. However, as this initial hype has subsided and the technology is now displaying signs of approaching maturity (Lowendahl, 2013, 2014), we are seeing a body of sound, evidence-based strategies and practices that has accrued over time as a consequence of ongoing scholarship.
Introduction : Learning in virtual worlds : research and applications
- Authors: Lee, Mark , Gregory, Sue , Tynan, Belinda , Dalgarno, Barney
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Learning in virtual worlds : research and applications (Issues in distance education series) p. xix-xxvii
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Three-dimensional (3D) immersive virtual worlds have been touted as being capable of facilitating highly interactive, engaging, multimodal learning experiences; as a result, they have enjoyed considerable interest and uptake in education over the past several years. Educators and institutions worldwide have invested heavily in virtual worlds, with some making use of commercially hosted platforms like Second Life and ActiveWorlds, and others extending and adapting open-source products such as OpenSimulator (OpenSim), Open Wonderland, and Open Cobalt to create worlds hosted on internal servers and networks. Still others have built their own bespoke platforms and systems using a variety of programming languages and game engines to accommodate specific needs and goals.
Learning in virtual worlds : research and applications
- Authors: Lee, Mark , Gregory, Sue , Tynan, Belinda , Dalgarno, Barney
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Book
- Relation: Issues in distance education
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This book attempts to advance scholarly inquiry and develop and share best practices in the use of virtual worlds for learning in formal, non-formal, and informal education settings. It supplies readers new to the field with an introduction to the current knowledge base in the domain of virtual worlds for learning while covering emerging trends and developments that will identify areas in need of further investigation, including opportunities for future theoretical and empirical research. The book provides a forum for research-informed, evidence-based perspectives on the educational uses of virtual worlds. It is intended to serve as a one-stop resource that is relevant and useful to a wide audience including teachers, students, and researchers, as well as administrators and policy-makers.
Sustaining the future through virtual worlds
- Authors: Gregory, Sue , Gregory, Brent , Hillier, Mathew , Miller, Charlynn , Meredith, Grant
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Future Challenges, Sustainable Futures p. 361-368
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- Reviewed:
- Description: Virtual worlds (VWs) continue to be used extensively in Australia and New Zealand higher education institutions although the tendency towards making unrealistic claims of efficacy and popularity appears to be over. Some educators at higher education institutions continue to use VWs in the same way as they have done in the past; others are exploring a range of different VWs or using them in new ways; whilst some are opting out altogether. This paper presents an overview of how 46 educators from some 26 institutions see VWs as an opportunity to sustain higher education. The positives and negatives of using VWs are discussed.