Blending real experiences with virtual worlds

Increasingly the lines are being blurred between traditional face-to-face and online learning. With new technologies, we are increasingly able to provide pertinent interactive experiences that mimic the authenticity of real-world skills and experiences. This chapter will review the options for creating in virtual worlds and translating that experience into real world skill sets. It will explore case studies of virtual worlds that offer a space in which a range of spatial and social phenomena may be simulated. In them students have been engaged in rich narratives that encourage students to engage in socio-scientific inquiry to solve problems. These worlds provide complex simulations that offer students opportunities to behave like scientists, designers and other professionals within a safe environment. However, it may be argued there is an opportunity available in creating virtual worlds that is being under-utilised in the case projects: the potential for students to actively design and construct their own artefacts within the virtual world. Options exploring Web 2.0 tools provide greater interactivity and enable blending of worlds in unique ways. Student design and construction of artefacts within the virtual world enables students to go beyond the pre-designed narrative, providing more open-ended activities through which students demonstrate their creativity and higher-order thinking.