Transforming Virtual World Learning

The readership for this collection of essays includes K-12, community college, university, and adult education teachers. The book's international contributors in educational technology, psychology, and instructional design offer insight on the latest techniques for planning, designing, and using virtual worlds in education. The first section covers the planning process from the perspective of the instructor and examines aspects such as pedagogy, faculty development, and pre-service teachers' teaching practice in Second Life. The second section explores virtual world design as a participatory process among students and teachers. One chapter in this section focuses on using the community of inquiry (COI) model and Bloom's revised taxonomy to support 21st century teaching with multi-user virtual environments. A section on virtual world deployment examines three components that need to be measured for determining the impact of virtual worlds: intercultural collaborative learning, narrative continuity, and learning outcomes. Hinrichs, an Internet media consultant, serves on the faculty of the University of Washington's iSchool. Wankel teaches management at St. John's University, New York. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)