Roles

Roles
Lindy McKeown Orwin describes 5 roles for virtual worlds in her blog post (results of her PhD research).




 * Location - A place to learn (distance learning), an event location or a perfomance location
 * Context - Lifelike and virtually real (Real Virtuality)
 * Content - The world and interacting with it is the content
 * Community - Relationships with teachers, colleagues, experts, practitioners, enthusiasts, professionals
 * Material - Make stuff using the world like machinima with the world as the set and the avatars as the actors; building as art.
 * Combination uses.

Reference to this diagram in book form: McKeown, L. (2008) in Jakobsdottir, S., McKeown, L. & Hoven, D. (2009). Using the New Information and Communications Technologies for the Continuing Professional Development of Teachers through Open and Distance Learning. In Umar, A. & Danaher, P. A. (Eds). Perspectives on Teacher Education Through Open and Distance Learning. Vancouver, Ca.: The Commonwealth of Learning. p.111

Key attributes of virtual worlds that are useful for educators:

 * Warp time - slow time down; speed time up; go back in time; project forward in time.
 * Manipulate scale - zoom in or out; create giant or miniature versions.
 * Transport - interact with spatially distributed places; connect spatially distributed people; move between them rapidly (teleport)
 * Simulate - realistic places and contexts, processes, data collection and interactions
 * Control and connect ([|Augmented virtuality]) - objects and data from the physical world can be interfaced to the virtual world

Verbs
explore, manipulate, create, experience, immerse, make, view.

See also Activities.