TY  - CHAP
AB  - This chapter reports on the innovative and developing use of a virtual world environment to support the training and professional development of pre-service teachers of information and communications technology (ICT), information technology (IT) and computing. The findings show that the online experience promotes confidence and competence in virtual world activity. It also stimulates thinking about the potential of alternative methods for teaching and learning in schools. The case study participants were 16 trainee teachers aged between 21 and 55 years old, with varying backgrounds including those with careers in the computing industry, those straight from university and those having spent considerable time in schools as unqualified teachers. In Second Life they experienced a number of environments and discussed the potential of virtual worlds. The tutors believe that Second Life can offer a valuable environment to promote engagement by pre-service teachers in innovative and imaginative methods of teaching and for them to better understand the affordances of virtual worlds.
VL  - 4
SN  - 978-1-78052-053-7, 978-1-78052-052-0/2044-9968
DO  - 10.1108/S2044-9968(2011)0000004006
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-9968(2011)0000004006
AU  - Woollard John
ED  - Randy Hinrichs
ED  - Charles Wankel
PY  - 2011
Y1  - 2011/01/01
TI  - Initial Teacher Training in a Virtual World
T2  - Transforming Virtual World Learning
T3  - Cutting-Edge Technologies in Higher Education
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 29
EP  - 46
Y2  - 2024/04/18
ER  -