Abstract:
The growth in the range of disciplines that Virtual Worlds support for
educational purposes is evidenced by recent applications in the fields of cultural
heritage, humanitarian aid, space exploration, virtual laboratories in the physical
sciences, archaeology, computer science and coastal geography. This growth is
due in part to the flexibility of OpenSim, the open source virtual world platform
which by adopting Second Life protocols and norms has created a de facto
standard for open virtual worlds that is supported by a growing number of third
party open source viewers. Yet while this diversity of use-cases is impressive and
Virtual Worlds for open learning are highly popular with lecturers and learners
alike immersive education remains an essentially niche activity. This paper
identifies functional challenges in terms of Management, Network Infrastructure,
the Immersive 3D Web and Programmability that must be addressed to enable the
wider adoption of Open Virtual Worlds as a routine learning technology platform.
We refer to specific use-cases based on OpenSim and abstract generic
requirements which should be met to enable the growth in use of Open Virtual
Worlds as a mainstream educational facility. A case study of a deployment to
support a formal education curriculum and associated informal learning is used to
illustrate key points.
