Teaching in a Virtual World Reflection

Traditional instructional design and design for teaching in a virtual world are both similar in that the both require a lot of planning. Lesson plans, objectives, and evaluations are used in both traditional instruction and virtual world instruction. Traditional instruction normally takes place in a classroom, but in virtual worlds classroom space is built or rented. Virtual instructional design takes learning to a whole new level. Learners can construct things and the creators can design whatever they like. Interaction, stimulation, and collaboration enable learning in the virtual environment. Virtual worlds promote more in depth knowledge of the subject matter and facilitate a better learning experience. Social persistence is the idea of keeping people around socially. It is very important because it can be determine how people interact. Data collection is important because it can be used to gauge reactions. It is also used to see who visits virtual worlds and to track use of space. Data collection is also used to determine what promotes use of various features in the virtual worlds. This information is useful because it can help the designers determine ways to implement things in the worlds that will be interesting to those dare venture.