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Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) have become increasingly popular in educational settings and the role of 3D content is becoming more and more important. Still, there are many challenges in this area, such as lack of empirical studies that provide design for educational activities in 3D CVEs and lack of norms of how to support and assess learning in with such technology. The purpose of this paper is to address these challenges by discussing the use of a 3D CVE in a university course for three years and suggesting practical guidelines based on the data from observations.

The main research question of the discussion in this paper is: How to facilitate learning by means of educational visualizations in 3D CVEs? The authors discuss data from several explorative case studies conducted within the Cooperation Technology course at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. In these case studies, the authors focused on a particular type of collaborative work with 3D content – educational visualizations. Groups of students were asked to build creative visualizations of a certain topic (e.g. a research project or a curriculum topic) and present the construction to the public. The data were collected from the direct observation of students' activities online, virtual artefacts, such as chat log and 3D constructions, and users' feedback in a form of group essays or blogs.

Following the analysis of these data, the authors introduce an original methodology for facilitating collaborative work with 3D content in an educational context and provide a characterization framework – Typology of 3D Content and Visualization Means, which can be used together with the methodology for analysing constructions in 3D CVEs. Constructionism and social constructivism were used as a theoretical grounding.

Although the research method applied has certain limitations related to the settings of the conducted studies, such as observing the same course each year and impossibility of having a control group, this research still provides important insights, as it identifies overall tendencies in conducting educational activities in 3D CVEs.

The suggested methodology was developed for teachers, instructors, and technicians. It can be used as a guideline for organizing educational activities using collaborative work with 3D content.

Results of the authors' research indicate that the methodology suggested in the paper benefits structuring and planning of educational visualizations in 3D CVEs. It can be considered as a contribution to the field, as it helps to fill the gap in practical guidelines for the advanced use of 3D CVEs in educational settings.

Purpose – The technologies teams use in organizations have dramatically changed in the 11 years since the 2000 Volume, Research on Managing Groups and Teams: Technology. This is an update focusing on new research and perspectives.

Approach – I recall where we left off in 2000 and then present a plea for changing our research approach to one that focuses on actionable research more aligned on how teams design their work than the effects we see when they do. I review a variety of literatures relevant to teams and technology and then suggest what the next 10 years may bring.

Findings – The scholarship on teams, technology, and teams and technology has blossomed, though not evenly. We are only beginning to see actionable research related to teams and technology.

Practical implications – The pace of organizationally relevant technology change has outstripped our ability to provide high-quality research in a timely manner if we maintain our current practices of studying individual or even interactions of effects as they exist in organizations. Our research will be more helpful if we shift our focus to how team members design their work.

Originality – I make two direct and dramatic requests of my colleagues. First, that they become more precise in their presentation of or at least specify the technological settings used in their research. Second, that they shift to actionable research that explicitly considers team, technology, and the processes through which team members design their work.

“Organizational identification” refers to a perception of “oneness” with an organization. The purpose of this paper is to provide a model of organizational identification for virtual team workers and examine the role of cultural dimensions in a virtual setting. Specifically, it poses individualism‐collectivism and uncertainty avoidance as potential situational contingencies that may affect the determinants of an organizational identification relationship in a virtual work setting.

The proposed research framework delineates how cultural dimensions relate to virtual work‐associated individual (interpersonal trust, need for affiliation) and environmental (spatial and cultural dispersion, ICT‐enabled communication) factors and organizational identification. Several testable propositions emerge.

This study provides a foundation for empirical studies that examine the linkages among organizational identification, virtual work, and environment‐related factors and cultural variables.

This study has particular implications for managing virtual teams, as well as specific suggestions for a typology of virtual team members. The typology supports a consideration of expected levels of organizational identification, depending on virtual team member types.

Scholars have devoted very little attention to exploring what factors drive or impede organizational identification in cross‐cultural virtual teams. This paper attempts to fill that void by linking the immediate determinants and the contingency role of cultural variables or organizational identification in the context of virtual work.

Avatars, which are used as a technology and marketing tactic, can embody consumer-facing employees and mimic their real-life roles on companies' websites, thereby playing a key role in enhancing the relationships between consumers and brands in the online environment. Academics and practitioners have increasingly acknowledged the significance of the consumer-brand relationship in both traditional and online contexts. However, the impersonal nature of the online environment is considered to be a hindrance to the development of these relationships. Despite the importance of this technology, little attention has been paid to the investigation of the avatar concept from a marketing perspective. This paper explores the nature of the avatar concept, including its main characteristics, dimensions, and conditions as well as the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of avatar users.

Adopting the qualitative design, a taxonomy was developed from interviews. In total, 42 interviews were conducted with current university students. 30 participants participated in the exploratory interviews. A total of 12 interviews were conducted during the in-depth stage based on findings in the preceding research.

Based on the qualitative data analysis, a taxonomy was developed. The idea of the taxonomy is summarized in that different dimensions of the avatar are considered the main base (first phase) of the taxonomy. There are consequential three parts: the attitudinal consequences related to the website; the attitudinal consequences related to the brand; the behaviours towards the brand. These behaviours represent the final phase of the taxonomy.

By developing a taxonomy of using avatars on brands' websites, the authors advance the understanding consumer-brands relationships. Using avatars' verbal interactions helps in shaping consumers' cognitive, affective, attitudinal and behavioural responses and add vital empirical evidence to the increasing body of research and practices involving avatar usage in the interactive marketing area.

Virtual assignments, in which the virtual assignees do not relocate to host locations, but work remotely, have several advantages compared to traditional international assignments, such as enhanced flexibility, cost-efficiency and the possibility that virtual assignees can stay in their home communities. However, it is open to question whether virtual assignments are as effective as traditional assignments. The purpose of this study is to compare the ability of virtual vs traditional assignees to bridge the distance between headquarters and subsidiaries.

Based on a survey among virtual and traditional assignees, the ability to bridge multiple facets of distance is examined.

The results indicate that virtual and traditional assignees have similar abilities to bridge geographic, cultural, functional and language distance. However, traditional assignees have a higher ability to bridge emotional and temporal distance.

By applying the distance framework to virtual assignments, a new theoretical perspective is introduced and the importance of clearly disentangling distance-bridging abilities is highlighted. One practical recommendation is that, due to lower costs and reduced coordination efforts required for virtual assignments, this assignment type is preferable if the cultural, language, functional and geographic distances are the most problematic ones during international assignments.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a research framework that identifies crucial leadership capabilities pertaining to the different lifecycle stages of a virtual team (VT). More specifically, the framework seeks to identify and explain the role of social, cognitive, and behavioral capabilities as important determinants of effective VT leadership and success.

This article provides an overview of literature on VT leadership, categorizes leadership capabilities, and relates the capabilities to various stages of VT life‐cycle. A research analysis is undertaken to depict the proposed relationships.

The propositions demonstrate that for effective VT leadership to happen it is important to understand the specific set of capabilities that contributes to successful management of a particular VT stage.

VT leaders' application of appropriate capabilities may result in the development of greater levels of tolerance toward cultural, temporal and geographic diversity that exists among VT members and leaders. Such tolerance may actually help improve worker satisfaction, cohesiveness among team members, and promote better work‐life balance – outcomes that are beneficial to society. In addition, more effective and successful VT leadership will lead to better VT performance and organizational success – suggesting positive social impact.

Research relating to VT leadership has been limited. With the usage of VTs predicted to gain more importance in the future there is a greater need to understand how specific leadership capabilities contribute to the successful management and development of VTs. This study fills the void in the extant literature by exploring the specific leadership capabilities and by analyzing their relative influence and relationships with VT lifecycle stages.

Process modeling is a complex organizational task that requires many iterations and communication between the business analysts and the domain specialists. The challenge of process modeling is exacerbated, when the process of modeling has to be performed in a cross‐organizational, distributed environment. This paper aims to suggest a three‐dimensional (3D) environment for collaborative process modeling, using virtual world technology.

The paper suggests a new collaborative process modeling approach based on virtual world technology. It describes the design of an innovative prototype collaborative process modeling approach, implemented as a 3D Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) modeling environment in Second Life. We use a case study to evaluate the suggested approach.

Based on a case study application, the paper shows that our approach increases user empowerment and adds significantly to the collaboration and consensual development of process models even when the relevant stakeholders are geographically dispersed.

The paper presents design work and a case study. More research is needed to more thoroughly evaluate the presented approach in a variety of real‐life process modeling settings.

The research outcomes as design artifacts are directly available and applicable by business process management professionals and can be used by business, system and process analysts in real‐world practice.

This research is the first reported attempt to develop a process modeling approach on the basis of virtual world technology. It describes a novel and innovative 3D BPMN modeling environment in Second Life.

This paper introduces an alternative teaching model in a virtual architectural design studio, its application, impacts and constraints. This model aims for achieving collaborative learning through facilitating students to Inhabit, Design, Construct and Evaluate (IDCE) their designs collaboratively in a multi-user real-time 3D virtual environment platform (Activeworlds). The application of this model in virtual design studio (VDS) teaching has favorably impacted students' motivation for active, creative and explorative learning, social dynamics between studio participants. It also fostered learning electronic communication, collaboration techniques and etiquette in addition to design technology. The model assisted in developing collaborative experience and shared responsibility. However, there are some drawbacks of the virtual environment platform that hindered having a responsive design environment to users' needs with especially in modeling and rate of viewing. The advantages and constraints of applying the IDCE teaching model in a multi-user real-time 3D virtual environment for first year students at the University of Sydney are addressed in this paper.

The ability for learners to interact online via their avatars in a 3-D simulation space means that virtual worlds afford a host of educational opportunities not offered by other learning technology platforms, but their use also raises several pertinent issues that warrant consideration. This chapter reviews the educational use of virtual worlds from a design perspective. Virtual-world definitions are explored, along with their key educational characteristics. Different virtual-world environments are briefly contrasted, including Second Life, Active Worlds, Open Sim, and Minecraft. A wide variety of virtual-world uses in schools and universities are examined so as to understand their versatility. Key educational benefits of virtual worlds are distilled from the literature, such as the ability to facilitate 3-D simulations, role-plays, construction tasks, and immersive learning. Emergent issues surrounding the use of virtual worlds are also analyzed, including cognitive load, safety, and representational fidelity. One higher education and one school level vignette are provided in order to offer more detailed insight into the use of virtual worlds in practice. Recommendations for learning design and implementation are presented, based on the thematic analysis of contemporary virtual-worlds research.

The purpose of the present study is to explore the possibility of introducing a 3D environment in the library by reviewing current literature and to provide a good understanding of different purposes of using this immersive environment.

The present paper is a narrative account of libraries’ presence in the virtual world in combination with an overview of how libraries respond to the 3D environment. Relevant data for the review paper have been collected from library websites, books, journal articles, interview, etc.

The study found purposive involvement of libraries in this immersive environment which indicates that users use this exciting 3D medium to satisfy their information requirement.

The paper basically considers publications containing observations of broader research community in the relevant field and contents in websites dealing with virtual world and outlines the major features as discussed in available documents. The review study infers that the implementation of 3D project in libraries requires a mindset for the specific approach, from the end of both librarians and users, together with involvement of funds. Therefore, a library may start with a beta project and observe the effectiveness from the users’ perspective before embarking on a full-fledged project.

With numerous examples, as evident from publications and websites, the current review study makes an attempt to improve the understanding of librarians towards informed selection of projected purposes to be integrated with the virtual world from library perspective. The study also presents different approaches of libraries motivating users in the virtual world that other libraries may follow while considering their 3D library project.