Linking MUVE Education and Best Educational Practices

Abstract

A major impediment to the adoption of multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) is a misperception that their use is more a function of their exotic nature than their ability to deliver a quality learning experience. The linkage between best educational practices and the use of MUVEs as educational venues shows a mix of strong and weaker linkages parallels that of traditional education. MUVEs are extremely adept at providing active learning experiences, providing scenarios for students to examine their preconceptions, creating real-world settings for learning, and for developing collaborative environments and student-faculty interactions. There is evidence that, when well designed, educational environments support different learning styles, although this is poorly studied. The remaining best educational practices demonstrate either loose associations, or lack demonstrable examples for their support. These practices revolve around feedback both to students and to the instructor, and course assessment. Despite substantial research on these practices there seems ample opportunity for virtual worlds to provide not only comparable, but often-superior examples of best practices when applied properly. This inference should encourage others to experiment at both teaching in virtual worlds and researching the educational outcomes from them.