Teaching and Learning in a Virtual World: A Pedagogical Experimentation Using Second Life

摘要

Immersive virtual worlds like Second Life offer many instructional affordances for enhancing learner's experiences, especially in online classes. This paper will describe the implementation experiences of using the virtual environment in addition to the traditional learning management system to enrich the online learning experiences of students in an online graduate class. The benefits of using virtual environment is evaluated both from faculty and student perspectives. Based on the findings recommendations are made for best practices in using this innovative tool.