New 3D Learning Book by Karl Kapp
Karl Kapp is a longtime friend of this blog. His first comment was on a post comparing Second Life to World of Warcraft for educational purposes, way back in 2007, and his blog, Kapp Notes, has been on my blogroll ever since. Dr. Kapp is a full professor of instructional technology over at Bloomsburg University, and is a prominent thought leader and author in the field.
One of the things several researchers in educational gaming picked up on early was the facilitation immersive worlds featuring human-like avatars offered for teaching and learning. This idea has come to be generally termed “3D learning,” because the virtual gaming worlds in which it takes place are rendered in three dimensional graphics. It feels like you are in the world instead of simply playing a board game.
It seems to be a powerful learning tool, and has attracted a lot of attention from educational researchers. Perhaps, researchers suspect, there is something to the notion of transference, where players feels like they are experiencing what their avatar in the 3D virtual world is going through and go on to transfer knowledge from that virtual world to real life applications. Perhaps it is conducive to Csíkszentmihályi’s flow theory, where time becomes irrelevant in the pursuit of passionate tasks. Regardless, it’s an intriguing idea that researchers continue to investigate.
Karl Kapp’s latest book, co-authored with Tony O’Driscoll, explores the ramifications of teaching and learning within these immersive virtual environments. Aptly titled, Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration
I think one of the key contributions to the field this book makes is its insistence that 3D learning is a valid and valuable tool for both corporations and universities. For instance, the whole idea of role playing within virtual 3D environments is supported and reinforced in the book. Business personnel have long known the value of role playing within training regimens. I recall a conversation with someone familiar with the training program for the sales force of a Fortune 100 company. An artificial office environment was created, complete with cameras and recording equipment. The trainee would enter the office and attempt to sell the company’s products to another employee posing as a potential client. Trainers would later review the recordings and help the trainee hone techniques. This entire process is greatly facilitated through 3D virtualization, as the book makes clear.
On an entirely selfish note, I was glad to see the acronym “VIE” included, something I introduced to the field in 2007 in an article in the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. I called it a virtual interactive environment, while Kapp and O’Driscoll use it to mean virtual immersive environment. Regardless, it amounts to the same thing, and I’m glad to see the idea spread. Education and corporations can use a lot more VIEs.
Tags: 3D Learning, Bloomsburg University, Csíkszentmihályi, flow theory, JTATE, Kapp Notes, Karl Kapp, Learning in 3D, Tony O’Driscoll, VIE
Business Lit, Game Discussion, Gaming Blogs, JTATE, MMORPGs, Serious Games, Video Game Research, Virtual Reality, World of Warcraft | John Rice | 
February 7, 2010 8:34 pm
12 Comments
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Tweets that mention Educational Games Research » New 3D Learning Book by Karl Kapp -- Topsy.com — February 8, 2010 @ 10:02 am
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Update on educational video games, March 2010 « Tony Bates — March 10, 2010 @ 12:37 pm
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Educational Games Research » New Book: Gamification of Learning and Instruction — June 16, 2011 @ 11:43 am
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By Penny Burger, February 8, 2010 @ 11:12 am
Hi Scott,
I am user of Second Life and am trained in Quest Atlantis. I have tried to use SL for classroom demo purposes and would love to get my kids on the teen grid or the Reaction grid but,,,a major obstacle besides the hardware? Bandwidth. I know you have written on that subject. If we want to learn in virtual environments then 1:1 and adequate bandwidth are a must. How can we make that happen?
By John Rice, February 11, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
Hi Penny. I bet you were addressing Scott McCloud, whose tweet led you to this post. I’ll chime in anyway.
As a tech director for a school district, I’m well aware of bandwidth issues. It always seems that soon after we add another T1 line, another lab goes in, more laptop carts are deployed, and soon we’re maxing out the lines again. So, I feel your pain.
Another issue is that more and more applications are moving to the cloud, so bandwidth figures to be an ongoing issue for quite some time.
I’m at the giant TCEA conference this week, and one item of discussion brought up at Lone Star EduBloggerCon focused on the issues surrounding students bringing their own smart phones to school. Some districts are harnessing the students’ phones, which are essentially handheld computers, and their bandwidth right in the classroom.
It doesn’t solve all the problems, and opens up some others, but in time it may become part of a better solution.
JR
By Penny Burger, February 12, 2010 @ 6:06 am
Hi JR,
Oops! I saw the Castle logo and as you say, the tweet from Scott so I made an incorrect assumption. Anyway, I appreciate your response. I am a hardware and infrastructure dunce, so I don’t quite understand the harnessing of students’ phones. But seeing as how they are banned in our classrooms anyway,,,,, >sigh<
If I might ask while I have your attention, I am on a new tech committee which needs to decide how to spend some Microsoft dollars for our school. I will be strongly advocating for machines with a substantial video card because I foresee student work including the use of heavier graphics use and gaming – is this the trend you see and would this be a good argument to make? I work in a district where most of the teachers still don't have clue as to what a wiki is,,,if you get my drift, so it will be a hard sell I think.
Thanks for any input.
Penny
By John Rice, February 12, 2010 @ 10:28 pm
Penny, you are having some interesting thoughts. I hear you on the banning stuff. All new and exciting technology is banned from school at first. I remember growing up and calculators were banned. Later, we couldn’t use spell check with word processing, because we needed to know how to spell. Eventually everybody will come around to letting kids use existing technology in schools. Kids have phones these days, and they bring them to school. Eventually we’ll let them use the tools they use in the real world in school.
As for those video cards, I don’t know how much money you’re talking about. My first thoughts, from the disadvantage of not knowing much about your situation, would be to sink the money into software rather than hardware. The logic is, when the hardware dies, you can still use the software on new hardware, and it will continue to be useful.
Obsolete software, that is software for which new versions have come out, remains more useful over time than obsolete hardware. A case in point: Folks still make heavy use of Office XP, even though Office 2003, then Office 2007, and later this year Office 2010 have all made Office XP technically “obsolete.” Yet, people still install the old XP on new machines and it serves its function well, even though the machines they had when they first bought XP are long gone.
So, that’s my reasoning, and my “input.” Hope that helps.
JR
By Karl Kapp, February 13, 2010 @ 7:12 am
John,
Thanks for being a great stop on the tour. I agree with the comments that SL has issues in terms of bandwidth and access but I think we need to think a little beyond SL and think about other alternatives that will, in the near future, be available.
I agree that eventually this will be accepted technology, in the meantime, educators need be be aware of the technology available and think of how it might be used and then seek opportunities to use the technology. I think when a major browser-based virtual world for learning becomes available, that will be a “killer app” for 3D worlds for learning and will really take off.
I think the immersive nature of these worlds and the ability to collaborate over distance are two of the more powerful affordances of 3D virtual worlds and will, eventually, lead to their wide spread adoption like spellchecker and calculators. Its just too bad we have to go through this process…every time.
By John Rice, February 13, 2010 @ 8:32 am
Karl, I agree and your comments are spot on. In Texas, we are embarking on a statewide online student portfolio system. The students can keep their products online indefinitely. I would think it might be only a matter of time before a dedicated 3D world is adopted by a state for educational purposes.
JR
By Penny Burger, February 14, 2010 @ 4:14 pm
Hi John,
Thanks for your comments and insight!
Penny
By Mike, February 18, 2010 @ 6:46 pm
I agree that VIEs could be an effective new approach to learning in either an educational or corporate setting. The only negative thought I have is that VIEs like SL have the freedom to explore areas that shouldn’t be explored in a learning environment. I guess it depends on the maturity level of the learner, because I know that SL can be used for more than learning. I worked on a project using SL in which we developed on an island owned by the university I currently attend. This was the first time I had used SL and was told explore the area. Lets just say we found some interesting things on the island. I recently visited the island and noticed that the area had been cleared. I feel that as long as the VIE is controlled that they can offer an immersive environment for learning.
By Takako Oconor, November 2, 2011 @ 6:28 am
wonderful post, very informative. I wonder why the opposite experts of this sector don’t realize this. You should continue your writing. I am confident, you’ve a great readers’ base already!