As more and more students seek out online educational opportunities, emerging technology and platforms must provide the most effective experience for learners to expand their knowledge and skill sets. The research study aimed to investigate social presence, collaboration, and design opportunities in head-mounted, virtual reality as compared to the…

Remote teaching can be both challenging and motivating. Professors and lecturers have developed innovative strategies to improve students' education and engage students in synchronous and asynchronous classes. In this Illuminations paper, we describe BodyWorks, online tools to support courses in physiology, motor control, and biomechanics. The…

Avatar use has been proposed as a method to address students' social anxiety and hesitancy to interact with other people in synchronous online environments. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of research examining the effects of avatar-based interactions on students' emotions and motivation. A quasi-experimental research was conducted to examine the…

Purpose: With the growth of digital education, students increasingly interact in a variety of ways. The potential effects of these interactions on their learning process are not fully understood and the outcomes may depend on the tool used. This study explores the communication patterns and learning effectiveness developed by students using two…

This study presents the main advances made in recent years by an innovative teaching group at the University of Almeria, who are attempting to incorporate alternative spaces for teaching--learning interaction. This group is developing a new line of study to obtain the main vectors for creating an accessible 3D virtual campus on the Second Life…

Fostering learner agency is a primary goal of Integrative Computer Assisted Language Learning, a type of CALL (Warschauer, 1996) that encompasses networked learning and multimedia, including hypermedia. Although navigation has been a focus of attention in some more established CALL scenarios such as Intelligent Computer Assisted Language learning…

Collaborative learning has long been proved to be a crucial agent for enhancing students' social skills, problem-solving abilities and individual learning performance. Understanding how students move from one phase to another in their collaboration process can inform educators of how best to facilitate such learning. However, this is still an area…

This book provides an archival forum for researchers, academics, practitioners, and industry professionals interested and/or engaged in the reform of the ways of teaching and learning through advancing current learning environments towards smart learning environments. It facilitates opportunities for discussions and constructive dialogue among…

This current study examines the need for operational definitions of the concept of interaction in distance education studies. It is proposed that a discourse analysis of linguistic features conversation noted as being representative of interaction can be used to operationalize interaction in synchronous CMC. This study goes on compare two…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 7th International Conference on Educational Technologies 2020 (ICEduTech 2020), which has been organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and co-organised by the University of São Paulo ("Universidade de São Paulo"), Brazil, from 5 to 7 February 2020.…

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of using discourse analysis to understand users' interactions in a scenario-based virtual environment. This study investigated six dyads' synchronous discourses while they worked side-by-side to plan and implement goal-related decisions in a virtual inquiry. The Collaborative Process Analysis…

Three-dimensional (3-D) multi-user virtual environments (3-D MUVEs) have been used to provide language learners with realistic scenarios in which verbal and non-verbal interactions are simulated. However, little is known of the underlying factors that shape interaction in avatar-based virtual worlds. This study examined the perceptions of 38…

Today, the Internet plays a major role in distributing learning material within third level education. Multiple online facilities provide access to educational resources. While early systems relied on webpages, which acted as repositories for learning material, nowadays sophisticated online applications manage and deliver learning resources.…

This paper reports on an exploratory case study that investigates the synchronous interaction of intermediate level EFL learners in the 3D virtual world "Second Life." The subjects took part in three seventy-minute chat sessions that involved the use of affordances provided by a purpose-built world within this environment. Analysis of the data…

Massively Multiuser On-line Learning (MMOL) Platforms, often called "virtual learning worlds", constitute a still unexplored context for communication-enhanced learning, where synchronous communication skills in an explicit social setting enhance the potential of effective collaboration. In this paper, we report on an experimental study of…