Exploring New Learning Spaces

The Teaching, Learning and Technology Center at Seton Hall University is currently exploring the potential of these virtual spaces in the high school and college classroom. Partnering with the New Media Consortium and Harvard University, instructional designers, faculty and administrators are working together to define best practice, identify strategies for the integration of virtual worlds into the learning experience, and find solutions to training and support challenges. Seton Hall has been exploring this next generation of digital learning spaces through the use of the Second Life and Active Worlds platforms.

Web based, 3-D virtual worlds afford many possibilities for both students and faculty to enhance the learning experience.

These collaborative and explorative spaces offer educators an opportunity to break free from the confines of the traditional classrooms and online learning spaces. Bringing simulated real-world experiences into the classroom, they can encourage higher order cognitive skills, define new literacies, and promote meaningful interaction.