Pedagogical Practices for Virtual Worlds

As a result from activities carried out within Module 2 of the MUVEnation programme about exploring active learning approaches, we have created a collection of practices for teaching and learning in Virtual Worlds, organised in 21 chapters, classified in the following categories of instructional methods: Presentation, Demonstration, Discussion, Drill-and-practice, Tutorial, Cooperative Learning, Gaming, Simulation and Discovery. The educational professionals who participated in the course worked in teams, but in some cases individually to map and describe the existing range of teaching practices in Second Life, and to draw a reflection about the elements for their success. Practices described include: lecture, multimedia presentation, demonstration, dialogic teaching and specifically debates and consensus building, but also other forms of discussion like seminars, symposia, syndicates, panel discussion, workshops and organized forums; brain storming, treasure hunts and virtual quests, learning by projects, self paced learning and self study, Labs (class/ fields), role play, virtual theatre and theatrical improvisation matches, peer tutoring and learning, Role playing, and simulation games…