So what's this whole Virtual Learning World thing?

Virtual Worlds, MMORPGs, and other types of online gaming platforms are rapidly growing in popularity, and set for another jolt in terms of userbases when Everquest II and World of Warcraft are released...maybe on November 15th, 2004. These worlds are massive virtual environments, where people spend hours at a time socializing, competing, and most of all, learning. Learning how to builds houses, learning how to craft items, learning how to work as a team, learning how to operate vehicles, learning strategy, learning how to make quick decisions, learning how to analyze situations...the list goes on and on. These worlds are a source of entertainment for most inhabitants, but in the midst of all this entertainment the inhabitants are forced to learn how to do various things, like learning the interface at first, and then choosing their path in the environments. But this forced learning is also fun learning, due to the creativity and contexts the game designers choose to put in place.

So why can't elearning follow a similar format? Instead of placing our students in environments like WebCT, Blackboard, or ANGEL, why not put them in a rich virtual, game-like environment, where they can connect with their peers and instructors not only on an academic level, but also a social level? Students (at least many of the students I talk to here at PSU) despise the LMS/CMS environments they are forced to use in many of their classes. The primary reason students go there is to download or upload files, and conduct course-related emails. We should be providing a space that students *want* to login to, where they can go about class-related work, but also just relax, socialize, and talk with their peers. CMS and LMS systems have nearly removed the incidental learning that takes place in person, and now that class sessions are becoming more sporadic, students are missing out on this incidental learning. By taking the best of virtual worlds, LMS/CMS systems, and social software like friendstar, adding in a couple elearning innovations, and wrapping it up with some slick game design concepts....

Establishing Virtual Learning Worlds (current white paper, hopefully to be published soon)