Virtual Worlds in educationin 10 slides…

OrO, Peter J. Dekker

February ‘08

Virtual, digital, learning ……

What is a virtual world?

• 3D

• Avatar: your digital self!

• Shared space, with many others, forming social groups

• Synchronous communication

• Co-creation

• You leave, the others stay and go on

• USP’s: presence, space, co-creation

Learning in an virtual world ??

• Net generation – always online

• Social constructivism - the student is working, not the teacher

• New ways of learning - so they say..

• Its a new horizon.. we ain't seen nothing yet

Movies, cool! But …maybe not now

• Een filmpje over virtuele werelden i.h.a. (ca. 5 min.: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7C6LAEQUGs&feature=related)

• Second Life, specifiek over de educatieve toepassingen (ca. 6 min.): http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=qOFU9oUF2HA&feature=related

• Een grapje (< 1min.): http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=OrAHBk4ZAeQ&feature=related

• Nog een informatieve introductie in Second Life, …een beetje lang (9. min.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2jY4UkPbAc

• Sims Online (ca. 7,5 min): http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=qPLzRv1CWX8

• World of warcraft (ca. 5 min.): http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=u0BJWt_sxZc&feature=related

Others have boldly gone before us! Ouch.

• Hogeschool INHOLLAND

• FONTYS Hogeschool

• Hogeschool Rotterdam

• Technische Universiteit Delft

• etc

What did they do?

• Give instruction: live (well, sort of)

• Recorded colleges

• Building (together)

• Roleplaying

• ……

We know that this helps

• Give (educational) support

• Give relevant background information

• Do goal-oriented activities

• Give/get feedback

• Design realistic & challenging situations

• Interaction is key

• Fun(Leemkuil, 2007, AGS)

We don’t know yet about this…

• Pedagogical– We want learning results How do we shape the virtual

world?– We really want learning results Which interventions do we

use at what time?– We really, really, really want learning results What do we

need to do in the virtual world to ensure that we use the competence later in the real world?

• Technical:– What is needed for this university to use this tool: hardware,

support, etc.

In short: what do we learn from virtual worlds? (yes, that’s a deep one)

Who wants to know?

• HvA (its in the policy)

– Oro?? Staff department Education & applied research

• Nation-wide: expertgroup ‘ICT in learning’

www.hva.nl