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Journal of Computing in Higher Education

, Volume 25, Issue 2, pp 49–67 | Cite as

Risks and uncertainties in virtual worlds: an educators’ perspective

  • Fariborz Farahmand
  • Aman Yadav
  • Eugene H. Spafford
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Virtual worlds present tremendous advantages to cyberlearning. For example, in virtual worlds users can socialize with others, build objects and share them, customize parts of the world and hold lectures, do experiments, or share data. However, virtual worlds pose a wide range of security, privacy, and safety concerns. This may lead educators to become (or not) apprehensive of the virtual worlds in using and adapting them as learning technologies. This study examined how educators perceive risks and uncertainties in virtual worlds. We also investigated how educators’ level of use of virtual worlds influences their risk perception level. Our results indicate a divergence between risk perception and reality in the virtual worlds. We use the seminal risk perception model developed by Fischhoff and his colleagues, and our revision to this model to explain these results. Finally, we discuss implications of our research for education management, and make recommendations to educators and policy makers who consider using virtual worlds as a learning technology.

Keywords

Computer uses in education Risk management Security and privacy protection Virtual reality 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

Portions of this work were supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1230507, and CERIAS at Purdue University. The authors wish to thank Dr. Johannes Strobel for his contribution to survey development and distribution, and Dr. Melissa Dark for her comments.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Fariborz Farahmand
    • 1
  • Aman Yadav
    • 2
  • Eugene H. Spafford
    • 1
  1. 1.Purdue UniversityWest LafayetteUSA
  2. 2.Purdue UniversityWest LafayetteUSA

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