Virtual Worlds in Distance Education: A Content Analysis Study

The three-dimensional (3D) virtual world is one of the current innovations that has been discussed extensively as the potential medium for online distance education (e.g., Ballenson, Yee, Merget, & Schroeder, 2006; Minocha & Roberts, 2008; Oliver & Carr, 2009). Despite the heated discussion on the possible applications of 3D virtual worlds for distance education, empirical studies were hard to locate, and little has been written about how these studies were conducted and what was found in general. The purpose of this content analysis was to investigate studies on integrating 3D virtual worlds into distance education and how these studies were conducted.

Distance education has been growing rapidly in United States since late 1990s (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009). Today most colleges and universities offer some form of distance education. Most modern distance courses use Internet-based technologies as the primary mode of instruction (Jones, 2005; Wood, Solomon, & Allan, 2008), in which at least 80% of the course content is delivered online (Simonson et al., 2009). Online distance education offers various advantages including anywhere, anytime access to the learning content and unconstrained access to archived learning materials.

Other than its widely accepted advantages, online education is not without its pitfalls. The most notable one is the limited amount of interaction (Wood et al., 2008). Researchers have been exploring different current technologies to compensate shortcomings of distance education. The 3D virtual world is a new interesting contender of technologies for supporting online distance education (Simonson et al., 2009).

A 3D virtual world is a networked desktop, multimedia, immersive environment in which users move and interact in simulated 3D space (Dickey, 2005; Minocha & Roberts, 2008). Typically, 3D virtual worlds provide users with text-based chat or audio chat. Within the 3D environment, users can use their virtual self-representations, known as “avatars,” to interact with objects and other avatars in the environment.

Researchers suggested that the perception of presence lies at the center of all mediated experiences (Lee, 2004). In distance education, social presence generally indicates the degree to which a distance learner can sense the availability, connectedness, and authenticity of interactions (Feldon & Kafai, 2008; Shin, 2003). Social presence has been a research focus in distance education (Edirisingha, Nie, Pluciennik, & Young, 2009) because feelings of being connected to one another are very important for distance learners who are separated geographically (Brown & Duguid, 2002).

Three-dimensional virtual worlds have caught more and more researchers’ attention for being a possible medium of distance education. Researchers have conceptually rationalized the applicability of using 3D virtual worlds for distance education (e.g., Ballenson, et al., 2006; Minocha & Roberts, 2008; Oliver & Carr, 2009). However, the empirical research on using 3D virtual worlds for distance education is limited. No single study has been conducted to review these empirical studies to obtain an overview on how 3D virtual worlds were used for distance education and how these studies were conducted. The purpose of this study was to bridge this research gap.

The researchers used the EBSCOhost Education Databases as the search engine to locate the target articles from Academic Search Complete, Education Research Complete, ERIC, PsycARTICLES, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and PsycINFO databases. The researchers used the following logic operator and terms [distance education OR distance learning] and [virtual world OR virtual environment].

The first round of article search yielded 55 relevant articles. A brief review of these articles narrowed the selected articles down to five empirical research articles. Among these five articles, two articles were based on the same research project. In other words, there were only four empirical studies that explored using virtual worlds for distance education. The studies were Dickey's (2003, 2005) initial exploration on teaching in 3D virtual worlds, Edirisingha et al.’s (2009) design and examination of learning activities to facilitate social presence and foster socialization among distance learners, Bronack, Riedl, and Tashner's (2006) investigation on social constructivist framework for distance education, and O'Connor's (2010) exploration of how immersive virtual worlds might further educational purposes in distance education.

While social presence and collaborative learning were the central issues discussed by researchers for selecting a medium for delivering distance courses, they were mostly literature supports in the investigated studies. Among the five articles, three articles discussed both collaborative learning and social presence and one discussed collaborative learning in their review of literature. However, the focus of these studies was mainly on the possibilities of using selected virtual worlds for delivering distance courses.

Results of the investigated studies were positive about implementing 3D virtual worlds for distance education. However, these studies were only primary explorations with a limited number of participants, cover of educational areas, and findings. One of the studies was merely a pilot study with only four participants. Three virtual worlds were explored including Active Worlds, Second Life, and AET Zone.

The distance courses that were taught in 3D virtual worlds were mostly computer-related courses, such as Second Life components, 3D object-modeling, hypermedia, business computing skills taught in a synchronous fashion, and pedagogy. In addition, they were normally sections of courses instead of semester-long courses. Moreover, the investigated studies were mainly limited to college level courses.

The investigated studies tended to put more weight on qualitative data collection and analysis approaches. Among the four studies, two employed multiple methods to collect data and the other two studies used only qualitative research methods, in which students’ feedback was collected. Although multiple methods were used, they emphasized qualitative data. The data resources from the two multiplemethod studies included participatory observation, notes, class logs, screen captured images, interviews, observation, and chat log.

In sum, based on the investigated studies, 3D virtual worlds might be an appropriate medium for distance education; however, more studies are required with specific attention to the inclusion of wider ranges of courses and participants, the addressing of social presence and collaborative learning, and the employment of more quantitative data methods. In addition, the limitation of the empirical studies implies the necessity of more empirical studies to test the applicability of using 3D virtual worlds as a medium for distance education.