An Experiment on Anonymity and Multi-User Virtual Environments: Manipulating Identity to Increase Learning from Online Collaborative Discussion

Virtual Environments For Learning-Related Communication

In a broad and comprehensive review of research conducted in the MUVE literature related to education, Kim, Lee and Thomas (2012) identified that 15 of the 65 papers in the interdisciplinary MUVE literature at that time focused upon its use as a communication space. This popularity can be largely attributed to two ideas. First, perception of social presence, which here refers to the degree to which a learner perceives himself to exist as fully present in the MUVE in the same way he or she feels present in a face-to-face interaction, is viewed as being a critical component to successful learning delivered at a distance (Lee, 2004; Wang & Lockee, 2010). Second, there is preliminary evidence to suggest MUVEs can be an effective medium by which to promote social presence through immersive simulation of real-life spaces and capabilities (van der Land, Schouten, van den Hooff, & Feldberg, 2011; Edirisingha, Nie, Pluciennik & Young, 2009). For example, feelings of presence are in part stimulated by non-verbal cues, which are more easily replicated with an avatar in a MUVE than in a chat room (Davis, Murphy, Owens, Khazanchi, & Zigurs, 2009).