USES OF THE VIRTUAL WORLD FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES

Abstract

Virtual worlds (VWs) provide sensory immersive experience, exploratory hands-on learning, collaborative social interaction, experiential learn-led activities and active roleplay that go beyond the traditional classroom setting. Therefore these immersive environments and applications are very important tools in modern education practices. This paper focuses on the uses of virtual worlds and gamification strategies in the field of education. VWs provide excellent opportunities for an effective distance and online education through the support of groups or communities bringing together subject domain experts, teachers and students from different countries or locations. Consequently, the development of new collaborative e-learning approaches is facilitated. The article presents educational models and gamification strategies developed and tested during the activities carried out in two successful international projects. Some piloting results, lessons learnt, generalizations and conclusions for improvement the v-Learning effectiveness are described and analyzed in the last section.