FAS Explores Virtual Worlds for Learning
According to legend, more than 2,000 years ago the great Chinese philosopher Confucius was the first person to found a private school in China. Were Confucius to walk into a classroom today, he would soon identify the room for its purpose, as – save a few gadgets and electrical lighting – today’s classroom shares more similarities with that of Confucius than it has differences. Technology has made rapid and meaningful advances in many fields, but we still teach our children in essentially the same manner we did over 2,000 years ago. It is time for education to catch up, and emerging virtual world technologies may provide a powerful accelerant.
During its experience using electronic media and the Internet as learning tools, the Federation of American Scientists became increasingly interested in “virtual worlds” and this technology’s potential to ease the problems of collaborative development and distribution. FAS, in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, is working to build a consortium to jump-start a market in education that will leverage the creativity and energy powering social networking sites and the 3D Internet. This multi-organizational, interdisciplinary initiative will create an online environment that will further the goal of using virtual worlds effectively for research, education and training. This project relies on cooperation between a diverse group of partners and the use of common software across the spectrum of potential online platforms.
A virtual world is a computer-based environment in which users appear to one another in the form of avatars (3-D representations of human beings, or other entities) and communicate in various ways, including text chat, instant message, and with natural speech. Initially begun as online game and chat environments only, virtual worlds are increasingly perceived as ideal online venues for education and training for a wide variety of purposes, from military and medical training to middle school education.
To explore the educational use of these environments, we began to generate a comprehensive survey of all existing virtual worlds and related tools, both to further the knowledge that will result from this study, but also to help FAS and its partners assess which of the many available choices is most suitable to learning and training. To support this initiative, and to encourage the public to become active partners as well, FAS created a wiki site intended to serve as a compendium of virtual worlds and related sites. This site identifies and profiles virtual worlds, includes virtual world tools and news links, and provides an opportunity for people interested in the Internet and its educational potential to comment and participate.
Visitors to the FAS virtual worlds initiative site are encouraged to not only review the information they find, but also to add to and to edit content when it’s deemed necessary. The site also includes a link to a white paper written by FAS president Henry Kelly, which offers a description of this virtual worlds initiative and a discussion of the criteria being used to evaluate virtual worlds.
FAS is also engaged in using existing platforms to develop a three-dimensional, interactive online learning environment, beginning with a popular virtual world, Second Life. Second Life is a 3D online virtual world with more than a million users. This work is truly just the beginning of an exciting and critically important, revolution in education — one which will have long ranging effects across the spectrum of training and education.
To learn more please visit the FAS virtual worlds initiative.
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