L&D 2020: Shaping change in learning

Technology

Virtual worlds

Life is increasingly lived online, but not simply to email friends, family and colleagues or buy groceries, clothes and Christmas presents. People actually live online in virtual communities where residents socialise, participate in activities and trade between each other using avatars. Launched in 2003, Second Life ^{1, 2} is an established example of an online virtual world.

Learning events in the virtual world mimic real life³ – a pre-scheduled workshop or lecture, for example. Participants can contribute to conversations in the virtual corridor before the event and even indulge in side chat between each other during the proceedings. As well as formal learning with designated tutors and experts, virtual online communities are also supporting informal learning through special interest networks.

Interactive communities are not the only virtual world learning application. Participants can also learn within a standalone serious gaming environment – either individually or in a group, online or offline. Games provide a similarly engaging and interactive learning experience to virtual communities, but differ in that games are pre-programmed^{4, 5}.

Organisations are purchasing off-the-shelf games or retaining a game’s intellectual content. In the latter case, organisations are working with experienced designers who give the game an effective flow. The commercial sector and other organisations are increasingly taking over from the military⁶ and schools⁷ as the largest serious games users.

These serious games⁸ are simulations with the look and feel of a game that are used in education, business and military operations. Gaming is recognised by industry and other sectors as an excellent platform for exploring and learning about complex issues, for example a political situation, a multifaceted marketing question or new product development.

But an individual does not need to be tied to their computer to go virtual. Imagine being a tourist. Instead of carrying a map, you wear a pair of spectacles⁹. As you stroll about, the lenses become semi-transparent monitors, feeding your eyes with information to help you learn about buildings and streets, maybe giving directions to a shoe shop or the nearest pizza parlour.

Some prefer this virtual reality over the fantasy of virtual worlds. In the spectacles example, what the user sees is an enhancement of the real world, not a completely fabricated environment. This head-up display application can be used to map objects, instructions or data onto what the user sees through their lenses – contact lenses, spectacles or a visor.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q&feature=related

2. http://secondlife.com/

3. http://www.simteach.com/

4. http://www.thinkingworlds.com/

5. http://flux.futurelab.org.uk/2007/12/08/learning-for-games-or-games-for-learning/#more-135 1/07

6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6059026.stm 10/06

7. http://www.thinkingworlds.com/

8. http://seriousgames.ning.com/

9. http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19526206.000-virtual-reality-will-enhance-realworld-experiences.html 09/07

http://www.nevillehobson.com/ Neville Hobson, technology guru and Second Lifer

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml World of Warcraft, a popular online game

http://www.avantgame.com Jane McGonigal, gaming innovator