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In Building Virtual Worlds (BVW), one of four core classes in the Master’s in Entertainment Technology (MET) program from CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), students are placed on small teams, with new groups and goals for each two-week round. Working together, they design and build interactive experiences. Carnegie Mellon University
As more colleges announce their instructional plans, two simulations suggest some of the likely challenges to a physical return. Others see opportunity for experimentation around teaching and learning. Inside Higher Ed
In this paper, we present a usability evaluation of a custom AR educational tool designed to improve students’ understanding of the similarities and differences between plant and animal cells. We argue that the design of the Augmented Reality Plant & Animal Cells (ARPAC) tool promotes a self-driven approach to learning by presenting textbook content as […]
Virtual reality and virtual worlds (VWs) are powerful technologies currently helping to define the digital world. These technologies are characterized by user control, immersion, and a sense of presence or “being there.” They have been examined from a variety of theoretical perspectives, technical and user variables, and psychological approaches. The purpose of this study was […]
Stanford’s Graduate School of Business conducts classes on a virtual campus, with avatars, soccer fields and a beach. Is it a second coming of Second Life? Inside Higher Ed
The surge of popular interest in virtual reality (VR), largely driven by recent advances making the hardware and software for VR development and use accessible to average consumers, is showing all the signs of a durable trend. One of those signs is active uptake in the academy, both for research (where it was pioneered) and […]
A small independent high school in the Canadian West is using the affordances of the virtual world of Second Life to explore and reconstruct the colonial past of their students: marginalized urban Indigenous youth. The affordances of the virtual world make it possible to reconstruct the past, deconstruct the present and create a possible hope-filled […]
The purpose of this study was to explore one novice clinical educator’s experiences with training essential communication and interpersonal skills using a virtual patient. Over 3 weeks, the clinical educator (CE) delivered a series of half-day clinical placements to students using an educator-controlled virtual patient, depicting an older adult male with mild dementia. Students completed […]
This study aims to compare the social presence and motivation of students taking a database II course using either the virtual world Second Life (SL) or the Enocta learning management system (LMS)/Adobe Connect. The study group consisted of 60 undergraduate sophomore students enrolled in a fully online computer programming program. Students were divided into two […]
Ryzom is a long-running (from 2004–present) science fantasy MMORPG (henceforth MMO) set in the science fantasy game world of the planet Atys, an entirely organic “rootball” teeming with alien life forms. The most oft-cited distinctive properties of Ryzom in the MMO world is the way creates not only an immersive sense of “worldness”, but a […]
