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Using Multi-User Virtual Environments in Tertiary Teaching: Lessons Learned through the UQ Religion Bazaar Project

Teaching Arts and Science with the New Social Media

ISBN: 978-0-85724-781-0, eISBN: 978-0-85724-782-7

Publication date: 22 March 2011

Abstract

Second Life, as a three-dimensional social medium, provides an unparalleled opportunity for people to interact with each other and their surroundings in unfamiliar and innovative ways. After a brief introduction to the discipline of Studies in Religion at the University of Queensland (UQ), this chapter will examine some of the key characteristics of MUVEs in general and of Second Life in particular, with a view to assessing its suitability as an environment for learning based on andragogical and constructivist methodologies. Further, it will explore the original conception and development of the UQ Religion Bazaar project within Second Life.

The UQ Religion Bazaar project was originally conceived in 2007 and developed through 2008. It consists of a Second Life island situated in the New Media Consortium educational precinct and boasts a number of religious builds including a church, a mosque, a synagogue, an ancient Greek temple, a Freemasons' lodge, a Zen Buddhist temple and a Hindu temple to Ganesha. The island was used in two large first-year classes and for supervising distance postgraduate research students.

Citation

Farley, H. (2011), "Using Multi-User Virtual Environments in Tertiary Teaching: Lessons Learned through the UQ Religion Bazaar Project", Wankel, C. (Ed.) Teaching Arts and Science with the New Social Media (Cutting-Edge Technologies in Higher Education, Vol. 3), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 211-237. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-9968(2011)0000003014

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited