This paper examines the effective deployment of conversational agents in virtual worlds from the perspective of researchers/practitioners in cognitive psychology, computing science, learning technologies and engineering. From a cognitive perspective, the major challenge lies in the coordination and management of the various channels of information…

This qualitative research study used a phenomenological approach to examine educators' experiences in the virtual world of Second Life[TM]. The rationale for this study's focus on educators using a virtual world stems from an interest in the factors that influence educational practices in virtual worlds. The researcher conducted focus groups…

Audio or video podcasts can be a useful tool to supplement practical exercises such as business simulations. In this paper, we discuss a case study in which different types of podcast were utilised to support the delivery of a course in international business. The students work in groups and run a fictional company using business simulation…

For a growing group of educators, the online role-playing game World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment's massively popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), is a place to go to relax, network, and discover potential learning strategies-- and slay a few monsters if they get in the way. The online role-playing game World of…

This paper reports a study aimed at revealing special-educational-needs pupils' learning potential by means of an ICT-based assessment including a dynamic visual tool that might help pupils when solving mathematics problems. The study focused on subtraction problems up to 100, which require "borrowing". These problems, in which the value…

In this paper, two emerging learning and teaching methods have been studied: collaboration in concert with algorithm visualization. When visualizations have been employed in collaborative learning, collaboration introduces new challenges for the visualization tools. In addition, new theories are needed to guide the development and research of the…

Purpose: Voice therapy with a semi-occluded vocal tract has a long history. The use of lip trills, tongue trills, bilabial fricatives, humming, and phonation into tubes or straws has been hailed by clinicians, singing teachers, and voice coaches as efficacious for training and rehabilitation. Little has been done, however, to provide the…

The present study examined the stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect in a simulated flight environment. Experiments 1 and 2 tested the effect with pure and mixed mappings in flight tasks by using attitude displays with inside-out and outside-in formats, whereas Experiments 3 and 4 used a simplified display and tasks. The SRC effect was…

This paper provides qualitative student-centered research from an online Research Methodology course taught partly within the immersive, 3-D environment of Second Life with fifty-eight graduate psychology students for the purpose of suggesting a constructivist-based instruction model for immersive environments. A qualitative method approach was…

Invited as a paper from E-Learn 2009 This study compared two programmes developed as a learning tool for students to practise basic laboratory procedures. One was a Flash simulation programme, the other a Second Life virtual reality programme. A cohort of 93 bioscience students participated in the between trial. A control group was used to…

Evaluation experiments have been essential in exploring home delivery of lectures for which users can experience campus lifestyle and distant learning through 3D virtual space. This paper discusses the necessity of virtual space for distant learners by examining the effects of virtual space. The authors have pursued the possibility of…

The kids in today's classrooms spend lots of time playing video games, surfing the net, listening to iPods, and text messaging on cell phones. Known as Digital Kids and the Net Generation, they have grown up surrounded by digital media of all types (Tapscott 1999). Because they are already knowledgeable, why not use digital technologies to capture…

Immersive Education is a multimillion-dollar project devoted to build virtual-reality software exclusively for education within commercial and nonprofit fantasy spaces like Second Life. The project combines interactive three-dimensional graphics, Web cameras, Internet-based telephony, and other digital media. Some critics have complained that…

Learning real three-dimensional (3D) anatomy for the first time can be challenging. Two-dimensional drawings and plastic models tend to over-simplify the complexity of anatomy. The approach described uses stereoscopy to create 3D images of the process of cadaver dissection and to demonstrate the underlying anatomy related to the speech mechanisms.…

Grading on the curve is a common practice in higher education. While there are many critics of the practice it still finds wide spread acceptance particularly in science classes. Advocates believe that in large classes student ability is likely to be normally distributed. If test scores are also normally distributed instructors and students tend…