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Coming down to Earth: Helping Teachers Use 3D Virtual Worlds in Across-Spaces Learning Situations
ARTICLE

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Journal of Educational Technology & Society Volume 18, Number 1 ISSN 1176-3647 e-ISSN 1176-3647

Abstract

Different approaches have explored how to provide seamless learning across multiple ICT-enabled physical and virtual spaces, including three-dimensional virtual worlds (3DVW). However, these approaches present limitations that may reduce their acceptance in authentic educational practice: The difficulties of authoring and sharing teacher-created designs across different 3DVW platforms, or the lack of integration of 3DVWs with existing technologies in the classroom ecosystem (e.g., widespread web-based learning platforms such as Moodle, or mobile augmented reality applications). Focusing on a specific kind of 3DVW (virtual globes, such as Google Earth, used like 3DVWs), we propose a system that enables teachers to deploy across-spaces learning situations, which can be authored with a plethora of existing learning design tools, that involve different common web-based learning platforms, mobile AR applications and multiple kinds of virtual globes. A prototype of the architecture has been developed to evaluate this novel approach. The mixed-methods evaluation performed comprised both a feature analysis and a study where a teacher deployed an authentic across-spaces learning situation including Google Earth used as a 3DVW. Such evaluation shows that the system enables teachers deploy learning situations over different technological ecosystems composed by physical and web spaces, as well as by 3DVWs.

Citation

Muñoz-Cristóbal, J.A., Prieto, L.P., Asensio-Pérez, J.I., Martínez-Monés, A., Jorrín-Abellán, I.M. & Dimitriadis, Y. Coming down to Earth: Helping Teachers Use 3D Virtual Worlds in Across-Spaces Learning Situations. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 18(1), 13-26. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from .

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Keywords