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The Virtual Classroom in Second Life and Beyond

By IGI Global on May 25, 2011
Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVE) may form the foundation for many gaming platforms, but they can also be used to inspire and to educate. "Teaching merely through books and lectures is quickly becoming overpowered by learning through the many forms of multimedia and Web-based content that students are exposed to every day," assert the editors in one of IGI Global's recent releases,Multi-User Virtual Environments for the Classroom: Practical Approaches to Teaching in Virtual Worlds. "Obtaining information and multitasking through these many types of media is not simply a skill, but it is a way of life for many students and teachers," write Dr. Giovanni Vincenti, Gruppo Vincenti, Italy, and Dr. James Braman, Towson University, USA.

The U.S. military also uses multi-user virtual environments for training purposes, reported Cheryl Pellerin for the American Forces Press Service earlier this month in a series of six articles covering the U.S. Department of Defense's "use of virtual worlds for training, research, and a growing number of other activities to save money, time, and lives."

Pellerin reported that the U.S. Air Force "is exploring several virtual worlds for its work in education and has several prototype virtual learning communities in Second Life." These would include "MyBase -- a virtual Air Force base for recruiting, training, education, and operations," writes Pellerin, "and different versions of Huffman Prairie called Huffman Prairie Chi, Huffman Prairie Omega, and others."



Using Second Life, the Department of Defense has created areas throughout the different branches, replicating the Naval Undersea Warfare Center currently found in Rhode Island and also building an area called OneSource, a "virtual community that lets geographically dispersed soldiers, family members, and friends stay in touch," Pellerin reports.
The Department of Defense is also using multi-user simulations to help train soldiers before they are in combat situations, as the two embedded videos demonstrate.


You can learn more about the U.S. Department of Defense's virtual worlds on their website.
"The plasticity of these [virtual] environments allows us many venues to create simulations that truly immerse students in a particular subject and can also serve as another platform for online education," write Dr. Vincenti and Dr. Braman in Multi-User Virtual Environments for the Classroom. "Through the use of innovative technology, we can reach a new generation of learners in profound ways." For example, the editors explain, virtual environments can help persons face their fears of spiders, heights, or phobias, and can also be used to help persons suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. "With the current situation of global unrest, we probably know someone who has fought in a war or been exposed to extremely stressful situations," they write. "Virtual environments have also been utilized in helping with the desensitization to traumatic events to which the patient was exposed, thus effectively working as rehabilitation therapy towards regaining a normal handle on life."

Nevertheless, the core of Multi-User Virtual Environments for the Classroom focuses on just that: the classroom, whatever form it may take. "Multi-User Virtual Environments, like the name implies, are environments designed to be able to host and let interact many users at once through some technological artifact," write Dr. Vincenti and Dr. Braman. "While there are many potential uses across many domains, our focus and interest relates to how educators can best use these types of spaces."

"With this book, we also wanted to open the idea to all types of education, including high schools and other forms of learning," write Dr. Vincenti and Dr. Braman. "This book, Multi-User Virtual Environments for the Classroom: Practical Approaches to Teaching in Virtual Worlds, meets that goal by providing an open forum for the many contributors to present their lesson plans, experimental results, knowledge, and experiences in one volume."

To learn more about Multi-User Virtual Environments for the Classroom: Practical Approaches to Teaching in Virtual Worlds, please visit www.igi-global.com/bookstore/titledetails.aspx?titleid=47435.

This book would make an excellent addition to any university library. To recommend a copy of this title to your university librarian, please visit www.igi-global.com/forms/refertolibrarian.aspx?titleid=47435.
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