Just a few years ago, virtual worlds were credited with the power to transform the universe. Used since the late 1990s in military and medical applications, virtual worlds first gained mainstream media attention when Linden Lab released Second Life in 2003. While other worlds, including open source environments, have launched since then (examples…

Games have always been a part of the human experience. Even the earliest of civilizations created games for enjoyment and entertainment. However, the educational value of those games is a relatively recent consideration. Over the previous fifty years, scholars have questioned the potential positive lessons learned from games such as Monopoly[R],…

There is a "reality" to being online which we know to be false. We are simultaneously "there" but "not there" as we talk, work and play with others in online spaces. We move between physical and virtual spaces in ways that realise the predictions made for computers in the mid-20th Century and enact scenarios from science fiction. We are left…

This article responds to "Laboratory experiments as a tool in the empirical economic analysis of high-expectation start-ups" by Martin Curley and Piero Formica, published in the December 2008 issue of "Industry and Higher Education". Curley and Formica introduce a new concept for high-expectation start-ups, involving the use of "laboratory…

Virtual worlds have been linked with e-learning applications to create virtual learning environments (VLEs) for the past decade. However, while they can support many educational activities that extend both traditional on-campus teaching and distance learning, they are used primarily for learning content generated and managed by instructors. With…

Videogames challenge our notions of identity, creativity, and moral value, and provide a powerful new avenue for teaching and learning. This book is a rich and provocative guide to the role of interactive media in cultural learning. It searches for specific ways to interpret videogames in the context of human experience and in the field of…

In the 20th century, student work was dominated by paper-print assignments, particularly essays. This was a reflection of the dominant media technology of that century--books, magazines, newspapers, radio, and television. But those days are gone. In the 21st century, the dominant media technology of today's students is the Internet. In addition to…