Virtual+Worlds

Virtual Worlds in the Classroom

toc Virtual worlds are 3D, virtual spaces where students can engage in purposeful interaction and communication. Virtual worlds offer interactions involving synchronous chat, most often represented as speech bubbles above the avatars' heads and in scrolling playscript format in the chat window. Additionally, some worlds offer audio chat or sounds such as laughing, and or private messaging, sometimes referred to as whispers. Most often, students create their own avatar and much research has been done on the gendered and racial representations of avatars.

Virtual worlds encourage:
 * collaboration and the opportunity to interact with users from around the world in protected environments
 * critical thinking and problem-solving skills
 * engaging in various literacy practices
 * negotiating meanings and values
 * exploring multimedia and multimodal texts
 * student-centred or peer-based learning, students are self-motivated to learn academic content
 * negotiating virtual identities and affinity groups


 * Please note, that the registrations created for the virtual worlds were created to interact with the features in order to understand and review the content. Profiles created by the organizer of this wiki were deleted immediately following and guest accounts were used when possible.**

=**Active Worlds**=
 * Is there an interesting virtual world that should be included here? You're welcome to add it to the list or post it in the discussion area.**


 * **Recommended for Grade(s)**: 3 to college
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed****:** Architecture, Communication, Geography, Science

[|Active Worlds] differs from many other virtual worlds listed thus far on this Wiki because it allows the interactor to create their own "world" for others to explore and chat within. The site boasts over 1000 unique worlds created by users. What is of benefit to educators or professionals is that the access to the worlds can be restricted and therefore no one beyond the class or group is allowed to the content. While interactors can use the site for free, their avatars are "tourists" indicating that their level of access is limited. Citizenship costs $6.95 a month, but provides unlimited access to virtual worlds, the ability to customize your avatar and send personalized messages to other citizens. The disadvantages to Active Worlds is that the graphics are outdated and the options for avatars are limited with only two avatars offered for free. Reviews criticize that even if you pay to customize your avatar, it may be lost if you travel to other worlds where those features have not yet been installed ("[|World Review: Active Worlds]").

[|Active Worlds Educational Universe] is marketed to the educational community, with over 80 educational worlds available. Teachers can host classes, presentations, quests and explorations, lessons on architecture (whereby students can create their own structures). The image to the right shows two visual examples of educational use of Active Worlds, on the left is the University of Colorado's "Virtual Computer" and the right is the University of London's "Science City":


 * media type="custom" key="5878739" width="80" height="80"Active Worlds demonstration**

=**Croquet**= media type="youtube" key="" height="161" width="202" align="right"
 * **Recommended for Grade(s)****:** 3+
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed****:** Communication, computer skills, design, literacy and writing, student-produced media

[|Croquet] is an open source software that encourages meaningful collaboration. The project's website explains that Croquet is a "combination of computer software and network architecture that supports deep collaboration and resource sharing among large numbers of users within the context of a large-scale distributed information system.".

The video on the far right offers a demonstration of the collaborative possibilities of using Croquet on a SmartBoard.

Croquet features a multiplayer space where avatars interact with each other and the objects in the space. Users can open browser windows, create blogs, insert multimedia, annotate artifacts, or create a 3D spreadsheet in collaboration with other users, as depicted in the screen shots below. Educators can model interactions while the students observe or educators can collaborate with the students on a project, allowing instant feedback.

=Earth Eternal=
 * **Recommended for Grade(s):** The game claims to be suitable for all ages, although there is some violence.
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed:** Computer skills, Literacy, Mythological figures, Social skills

Earth Eternal (EE) is a free, massive multi-player online virtual fantasy universe. The website explains that Earth Eternal is "set in a high-fantasy universe that combines real-world history, legend, and myth with original creations, Earth Eternal incorporates a blend of original fiction, mythologies from Norse to Egyptian, and classic fairy tales into an epic, sweeping story."

There are 22 races of avatars, including various animals, Cyclops, Daemons, Yetis, Forestcreatures and others. Each avatar is customizable by sex, facial features (old or intense), colour, and body type (see image below). Like other Multiplayer Virtual Worlds, you can play as an individual or in a group quest (EE limits the group quest to 25 players).



Educational Features: EE would be suitable to tie in mythological educational content, with references to Odin and Zeus, Thor and Athena, Anubis and Curnon, Pan, Loki, Osiris, Ra and other mythological figures. There is a 140 page lore about how the world came to be as it is in Earth Eternal available on the site.

media type="youtube" key="hKX2x8pZmZc" height="457" width="780"

=OLIVE=
 * **Recommended for Grade(s)****:** 7+
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed****:** Communication, publishing resources for different audiences, critical thinking skills, social interaction

The OLIVE platform allows the interactor to create their own 3D environments. Marketed towards businesses, the health care system and the military for training purposes, OLIVE involves private worlds that are suitable to customers' requirements. Interactors control the avatars, and using headsets and microphones, can converse in real time. Educational purposes for OLIVE are mostly consisting of distant learning type classrooms, where formal lectures, and panel based discussion can occur. OLIVE combines these educational settings with flash or other digital media, Office documents and browser based content for interactors to submit to be visible to the whole group.

An article in Scientific American by Karen Frenkel relates how a virtual world created in OLIVE called Simulated Environment for Counseling, Training, Evaluation and Rehabilitation (SECTER) is used to help troubled teens using role-play.
 * Resources:**

= = =Quest Atlantis=


 * **Recommended for Grade(s)****:** 4 to 11
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed:** Communication, computer skills, equity and social justice, language and literature, literacy and writing, science, social sciences, transformational play

Every educator should look at Quest Atlantis, created by the Center for Research on Learning and Technology. Quest Atlantis is a multimedia, worldwide, academic, 3D environment. Described as "an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-16, in educational tasks. QA combines strategies used in the commercial gaming environment with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation. It allows users to travel to virtual places to perform educational activities (known as Quests), talk with other users and mentors, and build virtual personae. The project is intended to engage children ages 9–16 in a form of transformational play comprising both online and off-line learning activities, with a storyline inspiring a disposition towards social action."

In the video below, Sasha Barab describes Quest Atlantis and the objectives behind the project.

media type="youtube" key="1GBDAaXEvDo" height="303" width="392" In completing Quests, students are required to participate in simulated and real world activities that are socially and academically meaningful, such as environmental studies, researching other cultures, interviewing community members, and developing action plans. Through these activities, we hope that children will not only learn to use technology but will develop standards-based academic and communication skills as well.

Here is another video which provides a basic walk-through of Quest Atlantis: media type="youtube" key="VH5Vh96Lftw" height="303" width="392"

Resources

 * An interesting article, which explains the project and how virtual worlds are being used in the classroom.
 * Quest Atlantis offers a lot of support to educators including a Teacher Tool Kit [[file:How_To_Use_the_Teacher_Toolkit.pdf]] and a Manual [[file:teachermanual_v5_2008.pdf]].

Lesson Plans
The website offers a variety of lesson plans. Here are the ones most relevant to the English language classroom:
 * [[file:Plague Unit - Mary Shelley.pdf]] This lesson plan explores the world of Mary Shelley's Dr. Frankenstein. "Dr. Frank" is faced with the ethical decisions to continue his search for the plague, which means he must conduct experiments on the being he created.
 * [[file:Diversity_Mission_Overview.pdf]] This lesson plan encourages students to think about diversity in Quest Atlantis.

= = =Secret Builders=
 * [[image:secretbuilders_-_with_shake.jpg width="434" height="303" align="right"]]**Recommended for Grade(s)****:** 3-9
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed****:** Art and art history, computers, famous inventors/authors/artists, geography, history, math, science, social awareness

In Secret Builders, students create their own avatar and explore the different areas of the world. Each world contains games and other activities. Students interact with others and even famous people (in the image to the right, my avatar is standing next to Shakespeare, Cleopatra and Mozart).


 * Educational Features**

There are numerous educational features that can be used to substantiate curriculum materials. Art activities allow students to explore famous art works and play art related games and quests introduce classic literature, the arts and humanities.

SecretBuilders School is an in-game school, where players learn subjects including Art, Language, Geography, History, Math, Science and Computers. SecretBuilders explains, "The format for each class is varied – some are in the form of reading and comprehension, many are educational quizzes, some are more interactive - including trying to re-create great works of art using in-game brushes and pencils! "

SecretBuilders School also allows students to earn real money for actual non-profits, as well as earning themselves money for use in-game. Outstanding efforts can be further rewarded by teachers who have enrolled themselves, and have included their student’s user-names in their class group.

Students communicate via real-time chat with others in the world or can send an instant message to their buddies. When I visited this world, someone was standing on the stage quoting Romeo and Juliet, it was quite interesting! Many of the games and activities encourage literacy skills, such as Alas, Poor Yorick which is an animated hang-man game. There are also opportunities for creative writing where students can submit their stories for other to read and comment upon.
 * Literacy**

=**Small Worlds**=


 * **Recommended for Grade(s)****:** 8+
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed****:** Civic participation, communication, Computer, Social

Small Worlds is a 3D virtual world that runs inside your browser, meaning no installation is required. In this world you can create and manage your own house, adopt pets, play games and interact with others. Small Worlds allows you to chat with sounds, play music, videos (from YouTube), share photographs in a slide presentation, add Twitter feeds, etc. Like many other virtual worlds, Small Worlds offers missions, which provides monetary achievements for accomplishments that can be spent to upgrade clothing, home accessories, etc.

A great feature of SmallWorlds is that the facial features of the avatars are highly customizable, although unfortunately the bodies are not. As shown in the screen caption below, the avatar's facial features can be changed by selecting two features and using the slider to morph between the two shapes. This means that students can create avatars that look like them, or famous people. There are also unique facial features, which you may not see in many other worlds such as "crows feet", cleft chin, and others.
 * Educational Features:**

On March 26th, 2010, Benjamin Ajak, Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng -- three of the "Lost Boys of Sudan." gave a talk in Small Worlds. "The Salam Project" is a collaborative world between Global Kids and the National Youth Leadership Council. The Salam Project is a world where you can learn about Sudan, peace developments, and service learning.

The concerns about SmallWorlds for educational purposes is that the site offers several worlds styled like bars or clubs. At the CueClub where the interactor can play arcade games and pool tournaments, there is a bar area with bottles and glasses of beer, wine, champagne, and martini glasses. Although if these items (available for purchase) are scrolled over, the names of the items explain that the beer is actually root beer, the others are "bubbly", and "fizzy drinks". Therefore, I would suggest for educators to interact with the world to see if they are comfortable and maybe discuss these concerns with the class to see the students' comfort level as well. My initial thought is that there are many other Virtual Worlds more suitable to pedagogical praxis than SmallWorlds. Perhaps SmallWorlds offers a way to block certain areas of the world, or if not, educators can encourage students to explore certain spaces which are designated appropriate for education purposes such as the spaces created by Global Kids.

=**Teen Second Life**=


 * **Recommended for Grade(s)**: 9+
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed:** Business management, communication, computer skills, learn a musical instrument, social awareness and civic participation

Teen Second Life (TSL) is an off-shoot of Second Life, a virtual world environment for adults. With more restrictions and controls, TSL offers the same interaction of the adult version, but in a safer environment for teenagers. There are, of course, inappropriate words and images that make their way onto the world, but from various reviews these are quickly taken down by staff. TSL encourages its memebers to help self-police the site to keep it safe. Adults who join Teen Second Life are required to have a background check completed and are isolated to their own private island, but an interesting feature is that educators can sign up and teach teens from the island. Statistics from the Teen Second Life Wiki state that TSL has about 1.5% of the registrations for the Second Life grid.

Besides practicing communication skills, teens can learn how to effectively run a business, host debates, play a musical instrument, participate in a classroom discussion, share their writing and ask for critique and feedback from peers.
 * Educational Features**

Global Kids has a project with Teen Second Life featuring a variety of educational opportunities on their Global Kids Island. Teens develop critical thinking skills, participate in online activities, commitment to civic participation, and leadership skills all marketed towards global consciousness. Some of Global Kids' projects in TSL include a student-generated maze to educate their peers about child sex trafficking around the world, a student-generated game teaching about incarceration of African-American men and medical testing done in the 1940s.

media type="youtube" key="amIUjga8Ous" height="405" width="500"**
 * Please see this interview in Second Life with Global Kids creator Barry Joseph:
 * Resources** [|This Article] about using TSL to learn about Zambia, its geography, industries, people, and social issues. For example, the article explains using TSL to teach about copper mining and the dangers it poses to miners.

=**The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks**=
 * **Recommended for Grade(s)****:** 2 - 8
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed****:** Communication, Computers, Environment, Famous people and inventions, Geography, History, Landmarks

Originally based on a children's book series, [|The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks] claims to be the worlds most massive virtual world for kids. There are a variety of human avatar options, with potential upgrades through the completion of the worlds. Students can also buy their own islands, and create homes on their islands. This virtual world features 100 educational real world and imaginary locations from the past, present and future. It is a space where students can learn about Geography, History, landmarks, famous people, inventions and the environment.

Avatars are limited to human form, but there are enough opportunities to customize the avatar according to skin colour, hair styles, and for those who are interested additional clothing may be purchased. media type="custom" key="5786321" width="180" height="160" align="right" There is also a blog which features information about contests, parties, fan art, and special events (for Easter weekend the world was excessively decoarated with rabbits, Easter eggs and flowers).

As with most virtual worlds, The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks offers a variety of security features to keep students safe, but one additional feature is a quiz students must take before they get their passport to travel to distant lands. This quiz involves exploring the starting landscape to find the movie theatre, watching a movie about the virtual world and then navigating through other parts of the town to find the learning academy. The quiz involves speaking to the security guard and answering his questions about the virtual world as well as online safety, such as never providing your real name or information. I failed my quiz on the first try, so I don't have my passport yet to explore the different locations, but the website showcases real world countries and areas like Africa, Amazon Forest, Australia, Brazil, China, Great Barrier Reef, Madagascar, Romania, Singapore and USA.

=**Webbli World**=


 * **Recommended for Grade(s)**: 1-7
 * **Knowledges/Skills Developed**: Art, Communication, Computer, Critical Thinking, Environment, Literacy, Social

A visually appealing 3D world, WebbliWorld offers a variety of games, activities, movies, social interaction, chat functions and other learning opportunities. WebbliWorld is designed for the younger student, approximately 5-12 years old. Avatars are block shapes, with both human and non-human colours.

Educational opportunities: The description from the parents page explains, "Our friendly characters introduce important topics such as the environment, climate change and recycling in an accessible and memorable way. Here, kids will learn without even knowing it! We are working in partnership with WWF to make sure that all our environmental messages are accurate and educational."

This video shows Wanda, a WebbliWorld character interviewing an iceburg who gives a first hand experience of how global warming is affecting the glaciers. media type="custom" key="5793281"

=**Discussion Area**=

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