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Seven Things You Should Know About… VIRTUAL WORLDS. Shannon M. Glisan ECED 616, Spring 2012. VIRTUAL WORLDS. HOW?. DOWN- SIDES?. WHAT?. Implica- tions?. WHY?. WHERE?. WHO?. WHAT is it?. Immersive, animated, 3D online environments using avatars representing participating individuals
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Seven Things You Should Know About…VIRTUAL WORLDS Shannon M. Glisan ECED 616, Spring 2012
VIRTUAL WORLDS HOW? DOWN- SIDES? WHAT? Implica- tions? WHY? WHERE? WHO?
WHAT is it? • Immersive, animated, 3D online environments using avatars representing participating individuals • Mirror that of the real world, allowing people to “do and be nearly anything they want” • No rules or explicit objectives
WHO’S doing it? Colleges and universities, for educational purposes (ie, simulated situations for training and practice)
HOW does it work? • Choose or build platform/identify environment • Register and create avatars • Learner-directed approach through trial & error/experimentation; users move, communicate and create items based on loosely defined parameters set by teacher.
WHY is it significant? • Potential to foster “constructivist learning”/ encourages learners to figure things out on their own without explicit learning objectives • Opportunities for meaningful interactions among students and other users • Develop skills (ie effective communication), that can be used in the real world
DOWNSIDES? • Effort required to design virtual world not justified • Not a good “fit” for all learners • Possible distraction from other course work • Requirement for robust hardware and fast internet connections
WHERE is it going? • Virtual worlds used for education still at an early stage • Growing number of educators and orgs. creating and experimenting • Lines between formal and informal learning becoming more blurred • Educator communities forming to share best practices for effective integration
IMPLICATIONS for teaching an learning? “Virtual worlds facilitate ‘unintentional’ learning, where students discover and create knowledge not for its own sake but in order to accomplish something they want to do, resulting in stronger comprehension and deeper knowledge”
Seven Things You Should Know About… VIRTUAL WORLDS Shannon M. Glisan