This dissertation examines the possibilities and anxieties that attend a notion haunting Western thought since at least Kant--that reality itself is a revisable construct, a kind of collective game with social and physical rules that simultaneously delimit and solicit radical interactivity. Investigating experiments in the gamification of reality…

This mixed methods research study explores the university student learning experience of IP subnetting. Using a constructivist perspective, VR software was designed, written, and utilized in a learning process to gather both quantitative and qualitative data about the experience of learning IP subnetting. Participants underwent pre-test and…

For decades, constructivist educational theorists such as Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, Papert, and Bruner have advocated that for deep learning to occur, learners should have some type of experience related to the subject matter to be learned. A new generation of consumer technology -- referred to by titles such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented…

The population of English language learners (ELLs) is on the rise in the United States, but they are lagging behind English speaking students in several subject areas--including biology. Scholarly literature lacks information on how biology teachers use scaffolding strategies to support ELL students with inquiry skills during online simulations.…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to investigate whether online interactive simulations would provide a positive improvement in learners' ability to apply critical thinking skills in a dangerous work environment. The course in which an improvement in critical thinking skills was the target outcome was a course which…

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that may or may not contribute to the adoption of the innovation of virtual worlds by librarians. Using Everett Rogers' Diffusion Theory as a framework, the study sought to identify librarians with avatars (computer simulated representations of themselves) in the virtual world of Second Life,…

The inclusion of three-dimensional (3D) virtual tools has created a need to communicate the engagement of 3D tools and specify learning gains that educators and the institutions, which are funding 3D tools, can expect. A review of literature demonstrates that specific models and theories for 3D Virtual Reality (VR) learning do not exist "per…

This descriptive case study explores the implementation of a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) in a Jewish supplemental school setting. The research was conducted to present the recollections and reflections of three constituent populations of a new technology exploring constructivist education in the context of supplemental and online…

In a North Texas school district, students taking online courses in a variety of subject areas were not successfully completing courses at the district's expected levels. The district pays for courses and student support while remaining financially responsible to the community and programmatically to students' online success. Students'…

This study sought to determine if an online course designed and delivered in Second Life can meet the needs of higher education students with dyslexia. The course design incorporated strategies from Gagne' and Briggs' principles of instruction, Gagnon and Collay's constructivist learning design, Powell's key learning needs of…

Despite the speed at which Second Life has been adopted by universities and schools to teach courses, little educational research and theory addresses this multiplayer online "world." This case study explored undergraduate university instructors' teaching methods and tools within a virtual environment. It also considered whether instructors are…

Any student seeking a high school diploma from the public school system in one U.S. state must pass the state's high school graduation test. In 2009, only 88% of students at one high school in the state met the basic proficiency requirements on the science portion of the test. Because improved science education has been identified as an explicit…

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine teaching and learning in virtual worlds such as "Second Life" (SL). This research is designed to address the following questions: What are the pedagogical practices in virtual worlds? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these practices? How do these practices change at different course levels?…

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…