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The purpose of this paper is to report on a study into how a three‐dimensional (3D) virtual world (Second Life) can facilitate socialisation and team working among students working on a team project at a distance. This models the situation in many commercial sectors where work is increasingly being conducted across time zones and between multiple teams. Collaboration in these geographically distributed teams is virtual rather than through face‐to‐face interactions. The paper investigates how a virtual world such as Second Life compares to other collaboration tools such as instant messaging or Skype; and the challenges that students experience in becoming acquainted with and working in Second Life.

The paper has employed a qualitative research methodology involving data collection through group interviews, epistolary (email) interviews and semi‐structured individual interviews. The data have been analysed by applying the inductive analysis technique.

The analysis is presented through answers to questions which educators may have about the effectiveness of virtual worlds in supporting collaboration in virtual teams.

The paper highlights the pedagogical role of 3D virtual worlds in supporting communication, team working and community building. The methodology will be of interest to researchers in the area of virtual worlds as there is little guidance in the literature about how to evaluate student experiences of these environments.

The research reported in this paper is timely and significant in view of current business scenarios such as the challenges of a globally distributed work‐place, the need to offer training to develop employees' skills of working in distributed environments and to meet changing market needs. Furthermore, the research will support the development of a coordinated response to the Leitch review of skills in the UK, which identified issues of resource‐intensive travel, global warming and the need for businesses to be seen as “green” for customer attraction and retention.

The paper discusses the role of 3D virtual worlds in supporting student team projects involving students who are geographically dispersed. The sense of visual presence and of place in a 3D world can make socialising in a virtual world, a more “human” experience than in 2D environments such as web sites, e‐mail, wikis and blogs, and even phone or video‐conferencing. The research reported in this paper could enhance uptake of 3D virtual worlds by organisations facing the challenges of facilitating socialisation and knowledge sharing in a distributed workforce.

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.

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.

This paper examines the three-dimensional (3D)virtual world users’ perceptions of authenticity and trustworthiness in the virtual prototypes and users’ potential purchase behavior in the real-world settings. The 3D virtual worlds provide a new platform that exhibits virtual prototypes as a promotion channel for new products of real-world and online service, where users can communicate “face to face” via their representative avatars.

The authors conducted an experiment in Second Life and collected data in a post-study questionnaire to test our proposed conceptual model. Structural equation modeling was the main methodology.

The research results showed that 3D virtual world users obtained a high sense of telepresence and social presence. The sense of telepresence positively leads to users’ perceptions of online trust in the virtual prototypes and thus increases their intention to purchase real-world objects; the users’ sense of social presence positively associates to their perceptions of authenticity and online trust and, therefore, their purchase intention.

In survey research, the common method variance is a problem. A more robust way is to use objective measures.

A new channel was proposed for businesses to enhance their online strategies that will increase their business value.

3D virtual world is also a cutting-edge platform for remote education, public information service, etc.

This paper initially contributes to the literature that interprets underlying factors in 3D virtual worlds associated to purchase intention in real-world objects. We demonstrated the advantages, i.e. the communication efficacy and vivid virtual design in the 3D user-generated environment.

Virtual environments (VEs) are computer‐based, three‐dimensional virtual worlds where users create avatars and interact socially and competitively within the environment. Users spend millions of dollars every year consuming items for their avatars. Marketers have begun offering branded items in these communities with mixed results. The purpose of this paper is to examine motivational, usage, and demographic differences in VEs across two popular VE types: reality and fantasy‐based platforms.

A sample of 106 users of reality and fantasy based VEs was collected using an online survey methodology.

Results indicate that both reality and fantasy worlds are outlets for escapism and immersion. Reality VE users are more motivated to seek social relationships with other users and are more highly involved in the VE than fantasy users. Fantasy‐users are motivated by achievement and manipulation of others and are slightly more likely to be male, younger, and engage in the VE with members of their household.

Studies suggest that message congruency with the gaming context leads to better attitudes toward advertising in online games. This study suggests that tailoring communications for differences due to VE type may produce more favorable outcomes for marketers. Implications for product and branding strategy are suggested.

Little empirical work addresses successful marketing strategy in VEs, although hundreds of brands have entered these worlds. This research is the first to consider VE type and user motivation, usage, and demographics in the framing of marketing messages.

Virtual Reality (VR) refers to the computer generation of realistic three‐dimensional artificial worlds in which humans, typically equipped with head‐mounted 3D displays, interactive gloves and even whole‐body suits, can be ‘immersed’, and are free to explore and interact with graphical objects in real time, using such natural skills as looking from different angles, moving, pointing, grasping, listening and talking. The early history behind the emergence of VR is short and incredibly intense and characterized by a small group of familiar names. As one of the key figures, Myron Krueger has described it, ‘…Like particles in a fission reaction, personnel from one project disband and reappear with new affiliations’. That reaction continues today, with a reproduction of the American experience in Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how teachers’ approaches to teaching and conceptions of teaching and learning with educational technology influence the implementation of three-dimensional virtual worlds (3DVWs) in health care education.

Data were collected through thematic interviews with eight teachers to elicit their approaches to teaching in a 3DVW and their conceptions of teaching and learning with technology in online health care education.

Results indicate that teaching in 3DVWs necessitates the adoption of a student-centred approach to teaching. The teachers’ underlying approaches to teaching and learning became evident in their student-centred approach and use of problem-based activities. The immersive, social nature of the environment facilitated the creation of authentic, communicative learning activities created by the health care teachers and was in alignment with their disciplinary approaches to teaching and learning.

The sample size of the study is relatively small which limits the degree of external validity and generalisability of the results.

If sustainability of 3DVWs is to be achieved, academic development activities for teachers and their communities of practice may be necessary to support conceptual change and facilitate a shift to student-centred teaching where necessary.

There is limited research concerning the relationship between teachers’ approaches to teaching and the use of educational technologies, in particular the implementation of 3DVWs.

This paper provides a general comparison between the ethos, methodological mission, and theoretical standpoint of the New Iowa School, established by Carl Couch and his students and Second Life, a three dimensional virtual world that invites particular forms of sociation. Despite differences in orientation and purpose, as well as biases in communication, we propose that the methodological and conceptual emphasis underlying the research generated from New Iowa School experimental studies can provide a useful framework for research into the virtual worlds created in Second Life. In the course of citing similarities and differences between the New Iowa School and Second Life, we also note that contrived worlds in laboratories and virtual worlds in user domains not only have relevant analogical processes to outside, in situ social worlds, but consist of social stages for performances that have application to the various social stages constructed by actors in the real world. In conclusion, we suggest that the New Iowa School and Second Life represent different but compatible realities in their own right, that the conceptual depth associated with the New Iowa School can inform research into Second Life interactions, and that each offer insights into the external worlds inhabited by real actors who navigate across time and space in their everyday lives.

The use of three-dimensional virtual worlds (3DVWs) is increasingly becoming a common practice in language education to provide digital learning environments for second-language (L2) communicative classes. This study aimed to identify the key factors underlying communication in 3DVWs that can improve the communication skills of L2 learners.

To achieve this, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to validate the identified factors affecting communication in 3DVWs. A self-reported questionnaire with 47 items on a five-point Likert scale was administered to 513 pre-service teachers, teachers and lecturers in the field of language education.

The results of the EFA revealed four factors that contribute to communication in 3DVWs, namely learner motivation, interaction pattern, language development and learner autonomy. CFA results provided support for the updated model, with statistically significant Chi-square results (χ² (df = 83) = 181.049, p < 0.001) indicating a good fit between the model and the data.

The findings suggest that the four EFA-derived parameters are valid and can assist instructional designers and L2 instructors in creating 3DVWs that enhance L2 learners' communication abilities. This study provides valuable insights for educators, instructional designers and researchers in the field of language education and technology-enhanced learning.

This study aims to describe a library project exploring innovative options for embedding information literacy skills in the elementary school library by utilizing Minecraft, a virtual world three-dimensional (3D) building game environment.

The small-scale descriptive study, with a follow-up survey, focuses on a group of fifth-grade students in an after-school technology club facilitated by the school librarian. The students designed and built a 3D virtual world library game for younger students to help them learn digital citizenship and information literacy.

Analysis of observations, interviews and videos indicated that students were highly engaged in learning information literacy elements throughout all stages of the project from design, building, implementation and testing of younger students.

Although the small number of students enrolled in the club is a limitation, the feedback provided strong evidence of motivation for learning through gamification. Further research could assess learning outcomes with the curriculum, specifically for digital citizenship and information literacy.

Embedding information literacy into a 3D world allows students to learn computer code, mathematics, game design, and fosters collaboration while demonstrating digital citizenship.

Game design requires teamwork, a real-life skill essential for students entering the work force.

Few articles share student-designed solutions of critical information literacy needs. This study exemplifies constructivist learning in a gaming environment.