Framing and Studying Learning and Identity in Virtual Learning Environments: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

In a 21st century context of rapid technological advancement, virtual learning environments (VLEs) such as games have been increasingly designed, implemented, and researched for their capacity to offer immersive and interdisciplinary experiences that support student motivation and learning. As such, VLEs have acquired greater mainstream acceptance as tools for learning that is embodied, enactive (i.e. learning by doing), extended into the learners’ environment, and embedded in authentic and potentially valuable contexts. However, this domain is still in its infancy and requires research for developing theories of the learning and identity mechanisms occurring in VLEs, evidence-based measurement of these processes, and design principles for virtual learning environments and experiences that promote learners’ knowledge, identity processes, and career paths. As such, this special issue of The Journal of Experimental Education seeks to provide education scholars with insight into current theoretical and methodological approaches to conceptualize, facilitate, and empirically examine learning and identity in VLEs. It brings together empirical examples of conceptually, methodologically, and analytically well-grounded research to illustrate the learning and identity processes, characteristics, and outcomes that VLEs can facilitate. A guest commentary and an invited theoretical article provide rich takeaways for advancing research and practice in this burgeoning field.