Background: Videogames and virtual worlds have frequently been studied as learning environments in isolation; that is, scholars have focused on understanding the features of games or virtual worlds as separate from or different than "real world" environments for learning. Although more recently, scholars have explored the teaching and…

With the advent of open source virtual environments, the associated cost reductions, and the more flexible options, avatar-based virtual reality environments are within reach of educators. By using and repurposing readily available virtual environments, instructors can bring engaging, community-building, and immersive learning opportunities to…

Research has shown that computer games and other virtual environments can support significant learning gains because they allow young people to explore complex concepts in simulated form. However, in complex problem-solving domains, complex thinking is learned not only by taking action, but also with the aid of mentors who provide guidance in the…

Communicative learning progress in industry and education must gain focus and commitment otherwise innovation efforts by new technologies and recent researches will produce scarce results. Frequently, it appears gaps in quality and efficiency due to lack of ideas assimilation, matter that can be noticed. Investigators may discourse about platforms…

3D Virtual Worlds are being used for education and training purposes in a cross-disciplinary way. However, its widespread adoption, particularly in formal learning contexts, is far from being a reality due a broad range of technological challenges. In this reflection paper, our main goal is to argue why and how identity federation should be…

In this study we analyze how 57 Spanish university students of Education developed a learning process in a virtual world by conducting activities that involved the skill of self-management. The learning experience comprised a serious game designed in a 3D simulation environment. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were used in the…

While pedagogical and technological affordances of three-dimensional (3D) multiuser virtual worlds in various educational disciplines are largely well-known, a study about their effect on high school students' engagement in introductory programming courses is still lacking. This case study presents students' opinions about their participation in a…

There is a growing body of evidence that feeling present in virtual environments contributes to effective learning. Presence is a psychological state of the user; hence, it is generally agreed that individual differences in user characteristics can lead to different experiences of presence. Despite the fact that user characteristics can play a…

As mobile computing technologies have been more powerful and inclusive in people's daily life, the issue of mobile assisted language learning (MALL) has also been widely explored in CALL research. Many researches on MALL consider the emerging mobile technologies have considerable potentials for the effective language learning. This review study…

Eighteen scholarly papers and fifteen abstracts comprise the content of the seventeenth annual Brick and Click Libraries Conference, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future face of librarianship.…

This study proposes a teaching and research initiative, named SAMAL (Smart AMbience for Affective Learning) that will provide a unique ambient mediated environment for integrating cognitive and affective approaches to enhance learning. Also, this study illustrates a design of SAMAL classroom with affectively evocative scenarios for learning de…

In this paper we examine the transferability of the Jigsaw and Fishbowl collaborative learning techniques to the Second Life platform. Our aim is to assess the applicability of Second Life for collaborative learning by developing virtual tools and metaphors and exploiting the representational richness of this novel medium. In order to enhance the…

Background: Numerous surveys, articles, ephemera and online information sources indicate that "Second Life" has been the predominant virtual world, for educational purposes, in UK universities for the latter half of the 2000s. However, the infrastructure required to operate "Second Life" presents a number of technical concerns…

This paper puts forward a series of theoretical underpinnings and design considerations for embodying emotional and aesthetic aspects of virtual (reality) and learning environment (VLEs) in support of ubiquitous teaching, studying and learning. The authors assert that a VLE should be considered as an interactive and sensation-producing affordances…

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…