The Arts 3D VLE Metaverse as a Network of Imagination

While academic discussions and investigations of the virtue of three-dimensional virtual learning environments (3D VLEs) have provided ample evidence of student enjoyment (Dillenbourg, Schneider, and Synteta 2002; Strangman and Hall 2003; Nonis 2005), they have proven inconclusive in evaluating the net effect of such environments on student learning. Anecdotal evidence suggests that students are more engaged or immersed in subject matter when it is offered in a 3D VLE (Yair, Mintz, and Litvak 2001), although these reports sometimes bear the sign of enthusiastic bias. Nevertheless, more recent publications focusing on the research and development of games and simulations in online learning tend to support the effectiveness of student engagement in immersive media (Gibson, Aldrich, and Prensky 2007; Van Weigel 2002).