Learning and Teaching in Virtual Worlds: Boundaries, Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

As evidenced by this book, the use of virtual worlds for teaching and learning is attracting increasing attention. Many universities have a virtual presence in environments such as Second Life^TM (SL), but there is little guidance to educators on how to best make use of the affordances of virtual worlds. In this chapter, we use our own practical experiences of developing learning experiences in SL as a base from which to examine the boundaries, challenges and opportunities that may be confronted in moving into teaching and learning in the virtual world. We use the “Diffusion of Innovation” model and its extensions to educational contexts both to analyse our experience and to consider the challenges facing later adopters of the technology. Our analysis suggests that students and staff and staff from different institutional settings have different profiles in terms of their attitude to risk, and their focus on learning products or process. Part of the learning experience involves helping students become aware of these characteristics, and allowing them to experiment with situations of greater risk. Finally, we identify a number of areas where improvements in the technology are needed in order to make it more welcoming to more risk averse users and to enable more flexible use of resources.