Virtual Worlds – Advantages

References provided in Literature Section

• Virtual worlds increase enjoyment and positive feelings through a sense of telepresence (Nah, Eschenbrenner, & DeWester, 2011)
• For ethics learning, existing virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life) provide a place for experiential learning and compare to ethics theory (Houser et al., 2011)
• For foreign language learning, provides an immersive environment where the language is spoken natively (Ibanez et al., 2011)
• Permits creative collaborative solutions to joint problems (Gillen, Ferguson, Peachey, & Twining, 2012)
• Provides a single environment to help the students work more effectively by persistence in files, sharing, one storage place, and meeting minutes via text chat (Chang, Gutl, Kopeinik, & Williams, 2009)
• Can provide sound based on proximity to source to mimic distance effects (Dalgarno & Lee, 2010)
• Provides an environment that promotes student exploration, participation, discovery of knowledge, and development of relevant skills with greater intrinsic motivation and autonomy (Dreher, Reiner, Dreher, & Dreher, 2009; Good, Howland, & Thackray, 2008)
• Promotes student enjoyment through the ability to move around freely in a 3D space, to meet new people, and experience virtual field trips and simulated experiences (Hew & Cheung, 2010)
• Facilitates self-motivated ongoing feedback from students through their request for review of their work (Good, Howland, & Thackray, 2008)
• Can be integrated with online learning management systems (such as Sloodle) for additional support features (Livingstone, Kemp, & Edgar, 2008)