From the student’s perspective, virtual world simulations contribute to online learning as well as to career readiness by:
- being intrinsically immersive and engaging (read: a more interesting way to learn that additionally supports better retention of the course material);
- facilitating interactive in-depth simulated case studies (read: a more realistic approach to studying cases that additionally provides more career-relevant knowledge and experience);
- supporting both remedial and enrichment learning (read: the available virtual world tools — like viewer HUD displays, note card givers, “media-on-a-prim” links to materials, and more — enable each student to supplement their journey through the course materials with remedial or advanced or both remedial and advanced applications);
- enabling “learning by doing” (read: a proven way to foster the deep learning needed for mastery over the course content);
- enabling student-created content (read: a way for students to “learn by doing”); and
- enabling student simulations (read: a way for students to practice teaching or stage a simulated gallery showing or other).
From the instructor’s perspective, virtual world simulations contribute to teaching effectiveness by:
- facilitating learning activities and/or case studies that are too dangerous or impractical to stage in real life;
- supporting both remedial and enrichment instruction;
- contributing to student understanding and retention;
- being cost effective; and
- [once mastered…] being easy to use and almost infinitely customizable to accommodate unlimited teaching scenarios.
Ready to try virtual world learning? If yes, see the list of courses that currently feature an optional virtual world learning component (in the Courses section of this site).
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