When asked to weigh in on what might be the next best thing in educational technology, the author scanned the horizon for the next gizmo or software advance that would eventually grow legs, rise up, and utterly transform the library profession. But what he saw was more about evolution than revolution. Sure, Windows Vista will become Windows 7, USB…

ARTEMIS (Art Educational Multiplayer Interactive Space) is an online multi-user virtual environment that is designed around the objects, artefacts, philosophies, personalities and critical discourses of the histories and theories of art and design. Conceived as a means of reinvigorating art history and theory education in the digital age, ARTEMIS…

In 2007, Mary Herring, AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology) President-Elect, assembled a task force to focus on issues and opportunities presented by virtual environments in the context of global leadership in professional development, research, scholarship, and practice, and the opportunity for social interaction and…

Virtual worlds provide unique opportunities for instructors to promote, study, and evaluate student learning and comprehension. In this article, Victor Vergara, Thomas Caudell, Timothy Goldsmith, Panaiotis, and Dale Alverson explore the advantages of using virtual reality environments to create simulations for medical students. Virtual simulations…

Second Life (SL), an immersive virtual environment, is increasingly being adopted in education for both formal and informal teaching and learning uses. This paper addresses the process of developing a demonstrator presence in SL, the potential of the system for formal teaching and some practical ideas on how to successfully integrate such emerging…

Despite the speed at which Second Life has been adopted by universities and schools to teach courses, little educational research and theory addresses this multiplayer online "world." This case study explored undergraduate university instructors' teaching methods and tools within a virtual environment. It also considered whether instructors are…

This commentary describes an action research project conducted by selected staff at the Northern Valley Regional High School District in New Jersey. The project focused on the idea of developing a synchronous classroom to provide world language learning opportunities to students. Relevant research is provided as are ideas regarding logistics and…

The purpose of this case study was to determine if learning occurred within a 3D virtual learning environment by determining if elements of collaboration and Nonaka and Takeuchi's (1995) knowledge spiral were present. A key portion of this research was the creation of a Virtual Learning Environment. This 3D VLE utilized the Torque Game Engine…

For students, field trips can be the best of both worlds: a welcome and exciting break from day-to-day classroom activities and a memorable, real-world experience that will solidify the curriculum in their minds. Unfortunately, the most desirable trips--those to far-away, enticing destinations--have long been inaccessible to all but a select few,…

This fifth and final paper in the Fordham Institute's series examining digital learning policy is "Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning". The purpose of this report is to outline the steps required to move the governance of K-12 online learning from the local district level to the less restrictive state level and to create a…

This paper describes a development project aimed at reducing the large number of dropouts in online degree project courses. The idea was that the introduction of group tutorials in virtual seminars, combined with extensive support materials, would reduce dropout rates. Among the students who participated, the dropout rate was reduced by 50%…

The purpose of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is to help learning organizations continually improve the quality, scale, and breadth of online programs according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines.…

The incredible growth rates and increased enrollments in virtual physical education (VPE), otherwise known as K-12 online physical education, continue to rise. VPE has the potential to service K-12 student learning in independent and self-paced curriculum. However, VPE brings a healthy skepticism among the profession. To this point, it is…

This article presents findings from a case study related to the risks associated with the choice of traditional, tenure track faculty to teach online. Education offered at a distance via the World Wide Web is on the rise; so too is the demand for university faculty members who will teach those courses. While traditional academic and professional…

We provided a virtual learning tool to undergraduate psychology students (n = 72) and investigated how different variables influence the learning outcome in terms of performance in an exam and satisfaction with the e-learning tool. These variables were: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude towards computers, attitude towards the…