A comparison of three virtual world platforms for the purposes of learning support in VirtualLife

Abstract

The paper addresses three 3D immersive collaborative virtual environments for their utility to learning support. We analyze the needs of a lecturer that intends to supplement face-to-face teaching with computer mediated collaboration. The analysis aims at informing the design of a new virtual environment that is being developed in the FP7 ICT VirtualLife project. We examine the modern learners' and tutor's needs as well as existing 3D virtual world platforms, which are free to download. We explore the usability features to include in the VirtualLife bundle intended for educational use. © Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2010.