Three-dimensional virtual worlds and distance learning: two case studies of Active Worlds as a medium for distance education

Online three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds are emerging technologies that offer unique learning opportunities for traditional and distributed education. One of the more popular 3D virtual worlds, Active Worlds, is currently being used as a medium for synchronous and asynchronous distance learning. This investigation presents two exploratory case studies of different, but exemplary educational activities using Active Worlds for formal and informal education. The focus of each case study is to investigate how Active Worlds is being used for distance learning and to determine the type of learning experiences afforded by this 3D virtual environment. Whilst more research is necessary to explore fully the potential of 3D virtual worlds for learning, this initial investigation illustrates how Active Worlds affords opportunities for experiential learning and situated learning within a collaboration learning environment. Introduction This past decade has yielded a proliferation of new and emerging technologies that have not only impacted the field of education, but have also challenged and expanded our ideas of what constitutes a learning environment. Amongst the new offerings in emerging technologies are online three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds. Three-dimensional virtual worlds are a networked desktop virtual reality in which users move and interact in simulated 3D spaces. Typically, most rely upon text-based chat tools, although a few afford audio chat. Within the 3D environment, users are represented as individual avatars which both represent users in the 3D environment, and allow them to interact with other avatars and the environment. Several of the more popular 3D virtual world applications include Active Worlds, blaxxun interactive, OnLive! Traveler, and Adobe Atmosphere. Each application provides three important features: an interactive 3D 440 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 36 No 3 2005 © British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, 2005. environment, avatars that serve as visual representations of users, and an interactive chat tool for users to communicate with one another. Although 3D virtual worlds are still evolving, they afford the communicative and constructivist opportunities of text-based, chat-type applications such as Multiple User Domains Object Oriented (MOOs). Bruckman’s (1997) investigation revealed that MOOs provide an environment that supports constructivist learning by allowing for the emergence of knowledge-building communities. These communities provide opportunities for peer role models, open classrooms and role reversal, and the presence of an appreciative audience amongst the community. Riner’s (1996) research of educational MOOs further supports many of Bruckman’s findings. According to Riner (1996), educational MOOs promote an interactive style of learning, opportunities for collaboration, and meaningful engagement across time and space, both within and across classrooms. Whilst these findings are encouraging, 3D virtual worlds, unlike MOOs, provide visual representations of 3D space somewhat similar to that found in educational virtual reality (VR). Research in educational VR reveals that 3D interactive environments provide support for constructivist-based learning activities by allowing learners to interact directly with information from a first-person perspective (Bricken & Byrnes, 1993; Dede, 1995; Winn, 1997). Winn (1993) argues that information taught in schools is often presented as “third-person symbolic experiences,” whereas innately, much of how we learn is through first-person nonsymbolic experiences. According to Winn (1993), VR can help bridge the gap between experiential learning and information representation. Research from such diverse technologies as MOOs and VR indicate that there may be great potential for the use of 3D virtual worlds for education because they offer the multi-user synchronous communicative opportunities of MOOs combined with the visual 3D representations afforded by VR. The purpose of this research is to examine how one 3D virtual world application, Active Worlds, has been used synchronously and asynchronously for both formal and informal education. The goal of this research is to gain insight into what types of learning experiences 3D virtual worlds afford spatially distance learners. The following questions were examined: 1. How is Active Worlds being used for distance learning? 2. What are the unique learning experiences afforded by this medium for spatially distant learners? Theoretical framework Much of the existing research about the educational use of such emerging technologies as text-based virtual worlds (eg, MOOs) and virtual reality is situated within a constructivist paradigm of learning (Bruckman, 1997; Bricken & Byrnes, 1993; Dede, 1995; 3D virtual worlds 441 © British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, 2005. Riner, 1996; Winn, 1997; Winn & Jackson, 1999). The current wave within the field of instructional design is the cultivation of constructivist learning environments (Hannafin, Hall, Land & Hill, 1994; Hannafin, Land & Oliver, 1999; Jonassen, 1999; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1996). Common characteristics of technology-enhanced constructivist learning environments include cognitive and collaborative tools, various types of scaffolding (conceptual, procedural, metacognitive coaching), and access to resources, models, and exemplars (Hannifin et al , 1999; Jonassen, 1999). A critical asset of constructivist learning environments is that students are provided with opportunities for interacting within and upon the environment (Johnson & Johnson, 1996). The theoretical assumption is that learners construct understandings by interacting with information, tools, and materials, as well as by collaborating with other learners. Methodology The research design for this investigation is a qualitative exploratory case study focusing on the unique learning opportunities afforded by this medium (Yin, 1994). Two case studies of different but exemplary educational activities are used to illustrate some of the potential 3D worlds afford as a medium for educational experiences. The first case study is an investigation of how Active Worlds has been used primarily asynchronously for formal education in an undergraduate business-computing course offered by the University of Colorado–Boulder College of Business. The second case study is an example of Active Worlds being used synchronously for an informal object-modelling course offered through Active Worlds University. Both case studies were chosen for this inquiry because they provide two diverse examples of how this medium may be used synchronously and asynchronously for formal and informal education. Active Worlds overview Active Worlds (AW) is a client-server application that allows developers to create unique 3D virtual worlds for users to visit and interact within. The AW browser interface is composed of four main windows which include a 3D environment; a chat tool; an integrated web browser; and a window for added navigational and communicational functions (see Figure 1). The windows are user-scalable and all but the 3D environment window may be closed. Users self-select a unique identity, which may not be used by any other user. Within the 3D environment, avatars serve as the visual representation of users currently inhabiting a particular world. Users self-select an avatar from a library provided by an individual world. Avatars also serve as the camera or point-of-view for users in the 3D environment. Within the 3D environment, users may see all of the other users’ avatars within a radius of 20 (AW) meters. Users may shift from first person in which they encounter the environment and other avatars from the perspective of their own avatar to third-person perspective in which they are able to view their avatar (back view) and others within the 3D environment. There are advantages and disadvantages to both perspectives. For example, it is helpful for users to shift to third-person perspective for activities such as building within the 3D environment. The third-person perspective is an isometric perspective which is slightly elevated and affords the user a 442 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 36 No 3 2005 © British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, 2005. wider vantage view. However, this perspective also distances users from the impact of first-person discovery. In first-person perspectives users encounter the environment and other users as they move through the world, much like the physical realm. Firstperson perspective allows users to be embodied in the environment. Both perspectives have advantages and limitations, but users are free to shift between the two at any