Conducting Empirical Research in 3D Virtual Worlds: Experiences from two projects in Second Life

Minocha, Shaíley; Tran, M.Q.; Reeves, Ahmad

doi:10.4101/jvwr.v3i1.811

Cited by 38 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Where names have been used either in the body of the paper or in any figure these are all pseudonyms. In addition, pseudonyms have been used for all of the avatars in the present study (Minocha et al, 2010).…”

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…De Freitas and Oliver (2006), building on the conceptual knowledge and understanding of online immersive games and learning, have reported an inductive methodology augmented by the 'four dimensional framework' for evaluation (De Freitas et al, 2010). Childs (2010) has reported on a conceptual evaluation framework for mediated immersive environments and also defines the novel affordances that the virtual world provides including 'co-presence', 'immersion' and 'embodiment' (in the form of an 'avatar' or virtual persona) which are additional, new social and cultural affordances that were not available in earlier online 'virtual learning environments' such as Sakai or Moodle (Childs, 2010;Minocha & Roberts, 2008;Minocha, Tran, & Reeves, 2010). These novel features and multi-modal communication affordances and their impact on learning have still to be fully researched in authentic settings (Dede, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Inter-Life: a novel, three-dimensional, virtual learning environment for life transition skills learning

Devlin

Lally

Sclater

et al. 2013

Interactive Learning Environments

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Devlin, A., Lally, V., Sclater, M., and Parussel, K. (2013) This paper presents the findings from one of the first empirical research studies which has investigated the impact of Inter-Life; a novel three-dimensional immersive virtual learning environment, on learning and development of social and educational life transition skills in a group of looked after and accommodated children. Drawing on social constructivism in which meaningful learning is related to context and situated in practice, we report on a series of Inter-Life workshops that enabled young people to work together and through the processes of participation in authentic learning activities contributed to the development of life transition skills such as self-confidence, empathy, negotiation and mediation skills, teamwork and active problem-solving skills. The novel affordances of the Inter-Life virtual world which contributed to the development of the learning community included the ability to personalise learner engagement and activities from the outset along with 'co-presence' and 'immersion' and the flexibility provided by the innovative, technology-enhanced Inter-Life platform. This study presents some empirical evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of new models of learning that are mediated by innovative malleable technologies that can be shaped by the learner in a participatory manner.Keywords: Inter-Life; transition skills learning; 3-dimensional virtual learning environment; social constructivism IntroductionThe present study details a novel approach to life transition skills learning using Inter-Life, which is a novel technology enhanced, three-dimensional, immersive virtual learning environment. The Inter-Life research project is an interdisciplinary project funded by the EPSRC/ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme technology-enhanced learning (TEL) phase (http://www.tlrp.org/tel/) in the UK (Lally et al., 2009). Inter-Life is an immersive three-dimensional virtual world based on the Linden Lab Second Life TM platform but has been extensively modified and includes novel integrated automated data collection tools and private spaces for critical reflection . Since the potential of virtual worlds for learning is now being investigated (Bronack, Riedl, & Tashner, 2006;Dalgarno & Lee, 2010;Dede, 2009)

show abstract

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inter-Life: a novel, three-dimensional, virtual learning environment for life transition skills learning

Devlin

Lally

Sclater

et al. 2013

Interactive Learning Environments

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…MUVE and virtual world are both used to label Second Life in one article by Honey et al (2012), while Ghanbarzadeh et al (2014) consider virtual worlds to be a subset of MUVEs. Others have labelled Second Life an immersive virtual world (McArdle and Bertolotto 2012), a social virtual world (Jarmon and Sanchez 2008), and a virtual environment (Singh and Lee 2009), yet virtual environment is also used by Minocha et al (2010) to label Facebook. Reasons for exploring the use of virtual worlds in education are often associated with the technical features of the technology and the opportunities they afford.…”

Section: Background: Competing Terms and The Complexity Withinmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is a virtual world? Definition and classification

Girvan

2018

Education Tech Research Dev

149

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 2008, articles by Bell and Schroeder provided an initial platform from which to develop a coherent definition of the term 'virtual worlds'. Yet over the past ten years, there has been little development of the term. Instead there is confusion in the literature, with the introduction of new terms which are at times used to classify the type of virtual world and at others are used synonymously with the term. At the same time there has been a resurgence of interest in the potential of virtual reality which further muddies the conceptual waters. While the lack of a clear and common understanding of a term is not uncommon, there are implications for researchers and practitioners. To address these issues, this paper presents a new framework for the definition of virtual worlds, arguing what it is for a world to be virtual, the user experience that is a necessary part of this and the technical features which afford this. For the first time the relationships between commonly confused terms and technologies are identified to provide a much needed conceptual clarity for researchers and educators.

show abstract

“…However establishing observation in the virtual world, for other instances see [25], becomes more fraught the closer to the machine you get. For example in Figure 4 a graph depicts some logged web server events for web page components with under a second 'life span' when the hosted website was navigated.…”

Section: Classical Scientific Revolution and Technological Advancementioning

confidence: 99%

Machine Code and Metaphysics: A Perspective on Software Engineering

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:A major, but too-little-considered problem for Software Engineering (SE) is a lack of consensus concerning Computer Science (CS) and how this relates to developing unpredictable computing technology. We consider some implications for SE of computer systems differing scientific basis, exemplified with the International Standard Organisations Open Systems Interconnection (ISO-OSI) layered architectural model. An architectural view allows comparison of computing technology components facilitating a view of computing as a continuum. For example, at one layer of computer architecture, components written in Turing-complete machine language can be seen as deterministic and consistent with a theoretical paradigm of CS. At another layer, components (applications) closer to the human sphere have been seen as non-deterministic and inconsistent with theoretical CS. We compare unpredictable development of computing technology against the cyclic legacy of technological advance and scientific discovery, and suggest that SE indicates an enabling cycle, discernible in previous scientific revolution(s), is stalled or possibly hidden. The CS consequence of divorcing technological advance from scientific consensus is particularly concerning. For example human/computing events could be seen as unpredictable virtual phenomena that somehow extend the ontology of CS. Our approach challenges practical and philosophical boundaries by investigating if applying scientific method (SM) resolves any SE/Science dichotomy. OPEN ACCESSPhilosophies 2016, 1 29

show abstract

Conducting Empirical Research in 3D Virtual Worlds: Experiences from two projects in Second Life

Cited by 38 publications

References 12 publications

Inter-Life: a novel, three-dimensional, virtual learning environment for life transition skills learning

Inter-Life: a novel, three-dimensional, virtual learning environment for life transition skills learning

What is a virtual world? Definition and classification

Machine Code and Metaphysics: A Perspective on Software Engineering

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About