the future for virtual worlds

Virtual worlds have failed to live up to the expectations of educators and trainers alike. They are difficult to use, require lots of bandwidth and are often unstable. This presentation will speculate about the future of virtual worlds on mobile devices through envisaging them transformed as multi-user augmented reality. Location-based mobile learning is a way of integrating storytelling and augmented reality with location-interaction on a mobile device. It is learning in an authentic context, outside of the classroom using all the interactive possibilities of mobile devices. The display of virtual information upon the physical world is a fundamental property of AR interfaces. Compared to virtual reality (VR), AR creates opportunities for enhancing real world objects and environments instead of replacing them. The realization of worth of mobile AR largely depends on maximizing the relevance of virtual overlays with regard to the physical world. This presentation will investigate the possibilities afforded by mobile technologies, virtual worlds and augmented reality for education using a series of educational scenarios.