Virtual Worlds in Higher Education: The Challenges, Expectations and Delivery (2014)
View/ Open
Type of Content
ChaptersPublisher
Springer New YorkISBN
9781461473657Collections
Abstract
Virtual worlds (VWs) are providing welcome opportunities for the development of innovative curricula for tertiary educators. These environments potentially allow them to give their students authentic learning experiences that resemble real life tasks and scenarios. In addition, virtual worlds are extremely useful when training students to perform tasks that are too expensive or dangerous to perform in real life (Adams, Klowden, & Hannaford, 2001). Well-designed simulations implemented in these environments can provide risk-averse and cost-effective simulations of authentic contexts that can facilitate optimal learning, especially when enhanced with the capability for tactile precision and haptic feedback. This chapter, while acknowledging the enormous potential of virtual worlds for higher education, will investigate the range of challenges also associated with implementing these environments into curricula. These include the use of appropriate pedagogical models and the large learning curve for novice users. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of how these challenges can be mitigated, taking into account the latest technical developments in virtual worlds and associated hardware.
Citation
Farley H (2014). Virtual Worlds in Higher Education: The Challenges, Expectations and Delivery. In Curriculum Models for the 21st Century.: 325-349. Springer New York.This citation is automatically generated and may be unreliable. Use as a guide only.
Keywords
virtual worlds; immersion; presence in virtual environments; multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs)ANZSRC Fields of Research
39 - Education::3903 - Education systems::390303 - Higher education46 - Information and computing sciences::4607 - Graphics, augmented reality and games::460708 - Virtual and mixed reality
46 - Information and computing sciences::4608 - Human-centred computing::460806 - Human-computer interaction
Rights
All rights reserved unless otherwise statedRelated items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
A quest for the holy grail: Tactile precision, natural movement and haptic feedback in 3D virtual spaces
Steel C; Farley, Helen (2009)Three-dimensional immersive spaces such as those provided by virtual worlds, give unparalleled opportunities for learners to practically engage with simulated authentic settings that may be too expensive or too dangerous ... -
Recent developments in virtual worlds and their potential impact on their use in higher education
Farley, Helen (2011)Educators have been quick to spot the affordances of virtual worlds (VWs) for authentic learning, distance education and for creating community among students. Though the affordances for many disciplines are obvious, there ... -
Touch-Move-Release: Studies of Surface and Motion Gestures for Mobile Augmented Reality
Dong Z; Zhang J; Bai X; Lindeman R; He W; Clark, Adrian; Piumsomboon, Thammathip (2022)Recent advancements in both hardware and software for mobile devices have allowed developers to create better mobile Augmented Reality (AR) experiences, which has led to an increase in the number of mobile AR applications ...