The Reality of Virtual Worlds: Theory & Research Become Practical Application

The overarching goal is to bring theory and research into the domain of practical application for virtual online educational worlds. Targeting immersive initiatives blended into college level courses, this presentation digs deeply into the successes, innovations, and common mistakes made by novices and professionals. Decades of real world experiences are shared as developers and teachers discuss issues of design, production, and educational outcomes. The underlying framework for the discussion is built on game design and its constructs of narrative and interactivity. This foundational relationship between narrative and interactivity of virtual spaces will be explained and developed into a coherent and useful platform. Understanding impact of and conflict between narrative and interactivity within virtual spaces is key to laying out workable strategies and successful outcomes. Beginning with the common beliefs about virtual worlds and connecting to the needs of students and teachers, the discussion will position the role of game design in practical terms. It then touches on outcomes, both in the ability to create worlds and what educational value is delivered. Examples from the panelists own background and from technologies such as Second Life, Open Sim, Wonderland, and WebGL will be shared. The last and longest section deals with moving past mirror worlds of classrooms and games, we will share our current efforts in a live demo. A functional immersive online 3D space that can present a boundless range of explorable content and empower teachers like videogame characters. This immersive presentation space will demonstrate much of the earlier theoretical concepts and bring home the reality of online virtual spaces.