Assessment in 3D Virtual Worlds: QTI in Wonderland

Abstract

The number of users and platforms of 3D virtual worlds has grown in the last years. This growth is due to the hardware performance and software development that increase the features of these worlds. 3D virtual worlds are a powerful media for instruction and education. They can be used both to create an environment where students can learn or where they can be assessed. The features of a 3D virtual world make it possible not only to assess knowledge, but also skills and competences. Nowadays, this new type of assessment is desired, because with the new generation of students the traditional educational methods are not sufficiently effective. In this paper, a solution that enables automatic assessment in a 3D virtual world is presented. The implemented assessment engine supports embedded assessment by combining Open Wonderland, a virtual world platform, with the newAPIS engine that manages test and questions-items that are formatted following the IMS Question & Test Interoperability (QTI) specification.