Abstract:

Massive Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) have gained a lot of attention in the last years – mostly vy means of games like “World of Warcraft”, but there are also some more serious worlds like Linden Lab's “Second Life”. The latter is used by many organisations or institutions for educational/learning purposes, with the problem that there is a general lack of structured support for practitioners in Lifelong Learning, especially concerning models for learning scenarios.

LLL3D is a 2 year project funded under the EU's Lifelong Learning Programme, and aims to improve the opportunities for Lifelong Learning and the quality of the experience, by identifying, developing and sharing best practice in the use of MUVEs in education and by providing a kind of 'construction kit' able to allow interested, but unexperienced users the creation of learning scenarios that have proven to provide good results.

In the current stage, the project has opened an island in Second Life to support practitioners in the implementation process of learning arrangements by providing three products/services:

1. Learning scenarios for different target groups within the field of Lifelong Learning that can be studied or modified in order to adapt them to personal needs;

2. The “Bazaar” – an opportunity to obtain free educational tools and services;

3. A community of researchers, teachers and practitioners interested in using MUVEs in Lifelong Learning.

First experiences and feedback will give an indication on the usefulness of learning scenarios in virtual worlds and results on “what works with whom under which circumstances”.

Keywords:

muves, second life, learning scenario, lifelong learning, innovation, virtual.