This study presents the main advances made in recent years by an innovative teaching group at the University of Almeria, who are attempting to incorporate alternative spaces for teaching--learning interaction. This group is developing a new line of study to obtain the main vectors for creating an accessible 3D virtual campus on the Second Life…

This paper presents a tool, LABEL, oriented to the teaching of parallel robotics. The application, organized as a set of tools developed using Easy Java Simulations, enables the study of the kinematics of parallel robotics. A set of classical parallel structures was implemented such that LABEL can solve the inverse and direct kinematic problem of…

Three Dimensional or 3D virtual reality has become increasingly popular in many areas, especially in building a digital campus. This paper introduces a virtual campus, which is based on a 3D model of The Tourism and Culture College of Yunnan University (TCYU). Production of the virtual campus was aided by Human Factor and Ergonomics (HF&E), an…

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationships between design, learning, and translanguaging in a 3D collaborative virtual learning environment for adolescent learners of Chinese and English. We designed an open-ended space congruent with ecological and dialogical perspectives on second language acquisition. In such a space,…

The theory and lessons of knowledge exchange, in both a physical and virtual environment, suggest a framework for understanding the specific requirements for a digital design class in "Second Life". Through teaching and observing students who were asked to complete a machinima project, our research provided examples of the strengths and…

This paper presents a review of literature that introduces major concepts and issues in using avatars and pedagogical agents in first- and second-person virtual environments (VEs) for learning online. In these VEs, avatars and pedagogical agents represent self and other learners/participants or serve as personal learning "guides". The…

In this paper we will focus on a specific category of Collaborative Virtual Environments that aims to support Collaborative Learning. We call these environments Collaborative Educational Virtual Environments. Our aim is to analyze the evaluation process through the study of relevant bibliography and by doing so reveal the existing research gap…

In the winter of 2000, a class of K-8 preservice teachers were introduced to "TesselMania! Deluxe," a software product that visually and manually engages students in the study of transformations but, more specifically, tessellations. Prior to discussing the topic of transformations, students were only slightly familiar with two types of…

Across the globe, progressive universities are embracing any number of MUVEs (multi-user virtual environments), 3D environments, and "immersive" virtual reality tools. And within the next few months, several universities are expected to test so-called "telepresence" videoconferencing systems from Cisco Systems and other leading…