This paper explores how Augmented Reality using mobile phones can enhance teaching and learning in education. It specifically examines its application in two cases, where it is identified that the agility of mobile devices and the ability to overlay context specific resources offers opportunities to enhance learning that would not otherwise exist.…

The aim of the Inter-Life Project was to investigate the use of virtual worlds and creative practices to support the acquisition of transition skills for young people to enhance their management of important life events. In particular, the authors have been investigating the role of the Inter-Life virtual worlds in supporting the development of…

This article describes the rationale for pedagogical, technological and organisational choices in the design of a virtual learning environment (VLE) for an upper-intermediate Spanish course with regard to the roles of participants (tutors, moderators and learners). We report on findings from a preliminary evaluation of the interaction between the…

This study explores the perceptions of professional counselors who provide avatar-based services in multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) and their descriptions of those services. Using a virtual micro-ethnographic design, the principal investigator interviewed counselors (N=5) licensed or certified to practice in their geographic location about…

Over the past decade, industry relevance and connectedness have evolved into a key requirement for students and their parents, who increasingly perceive employability upon graduation as a critical factor in the degree selection process. Simultaneously, professional bodies emphasise the need for high levels of industry engagement as a condition for…

Designing manipulative ecological experiments is a complex and time-consuming process that is problematic to teach in traditional undergraduate classes. This study investigates the effectiveness of using a computer simulation--the Virtual Rocky Shore (VRS)--to facilitate rapid, student-centred learning of experimental design. We gave a series of…

As the tectonic plates of technology shift across human networks, dedicated and determined educators understand that the integration of digital mediated texts and the new literacies competencies they engender, amount to little without pedagogical ingenuity, innovative adaptation, and creative application. This article is a response to the rapidly…

Virtual worlds are an important tool in modern education practices as well as providing socialisation, entertainment and a laboratory for collaborative work. This paper focuses on the uses of virtual worlds for education and synthesises over 100 published academic papers, reports and educational websites from around the world. A taxonomy is then…

This study explored the potential of digital games as learning environments to develop mindsets capable of dealing with complexity in the domain of sustainability. Building sustainable futures requires the ability to deal with the complex dynamics that characterize the world in which we live. As central elements in this system, we must develop the…

The "Immersed in Learning" project began in 2007 to evaluate the use of 3D virtual worlds as a teaching and learning tool in undergraduate programmes in digital media at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. A question that the research set out to explore was what were the benefits of integrating 3D immersive learning with face-to-face…

This article reports on the use of a virtual world ("Second Life") in computing education, and identifies the precursors of current virtual world systems. The article reviews the potential for virtual worlds as tools in computing education. It describes two areas where "Second Life" has been used in computing education: as a…

The authors investigate the potential of semantic web technologies to enhance "Virtual Fieldwork" resources and learning activities in the Geosciences. They consider the difficulties inherent in the concept of Virtual Fieldwork and how these might be reconciled with the desire to provide students with "authentic" tools for…

This paper reports on two research projects, one completed and a partial follow-up study in the early stages of investigation. The first study investigated a range of factors that directly affect the quality of web-supported learning opportunities. The outcome of that study is a taxonomy of critical success factors for quality web-supported…

A peer-review process for assessing the contribution of artifacts, such as games and software to research, is proposed. Games and software produced as research output by academics tend to be accredited within their institution through discussion of the artifact, rather than directly. An independent judgment by peers confirming an artifact's…

Using virtual worlds as media for learning and teaching gives rise to the potential for many unique ethical problems. Some of these arise due to the nature of the engagement with these virtual worlds, in which the students create a virtual representation, called an avatar, which may enable a sense of embodiment, and hence exposure, within the…