An ethnographic approach to design
The human-computer interaction handbook
Collaborative virtual environments for supporting learning communities: an experience of use
GROUP '03 Proceedings of the 2003 international ACM SIGGROUP conference on Supporting group work
C5 '04 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Creating, Connecting and Collaborating through Computing
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Virtual reality for collaborative e-learning
Computers & Education
The impact of learner attributes and learner choice in an agent-based environment
Computers & Education
Second Life as a support element for learning electronic related subjects: A real case
Computers & Education
Place presence, social presence, co-presence, and satisfaction in virtual worlds
Computers & Education
Getting Real About Virtual Worlds: A Review
International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking
| Hi-index | 0.00 |
This paper studies how a virtual world is utilised as a learning environment in an online course in higher education. The aim is to explore how this setting currently facilitates online education, and to identify those issues of interactivity that are essential in this context. The study builds on an ethnographic approach and data were collected through observations, recordings and interviews. The most important finding from this study is that the virtual world provides enhanced interactivity because it allows for synchronous communication and places the student in a spatial dimension. In order to make full use of this enhanced interactivity, the users' technical skills must be improved and the technical problems associated with computer-generated environments must be resolved. As more and more students get acquainted with virtual world environments, new rules for social interaction emerge; when students have become used to interacting through avatars, we will be able to see the true potential of interaction in these settings.