Second Life as an Educational Platform: a case study on 3D Virtual English Learning

摘要

Virtual worlds have been used for many domains, such as business, technologies, and games.In education field, there are also universities build virtual campuses in Second Life.Nevertheless, applicable teaching aids and pedagogies are required for learning activities in virtual world.With the special characteristics of virtual world, we developed series of themes and virtual teaching aids to construct an educational platform for teaching and learning in Second Life.On this virtual educational platform, learning activities can be implemented with specific pedagogies. The purpose of this preliminary study is to investigate the effects of the virtual educational platform. Through an experimental learning activity, Task-based approach is implemented within an English course.Findings are discussed based on students’ reflections.