Research Article
Turkan Karakus Yilmaz, Kursat Cagiltay
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 7, Issue 3, pp. 206-222
ABSTRACT
Many virtual worlds have been adopted for implementation within educational settings because they are potentially useful for building effective learning environments. Since the flexibility of virtual worlds challenges to obtain effective and efficient educational outcomes, the design of such platforms need more attention. In the present study, the aim was to investigate design issues and the concerns of novice instructional designers who were developing a virtual learning environment with a gaming approach. Active Worlds (AW), an immersive virtual environment, was selected as a platform to develop virtual world projects that presented instructional materials. Twenty-three novice instructional designers participated in this study. Data were collected through observations, interviews, document analysis, and a questionnaire. The results indicate that the novice instructional designers were most challenged when attempting to incorporate motivational and assessment features in their project designs. They ignored collaboration opportunities of the design platform. They also accepted that they could not achieve to provide a feel of real game. The results suggested that design and development in virtual worlds has many challenges but a broad experience for novice instructional designers.
Keywords: Instructional design, Novice instructional designers, Instructional design education, Virtual worlds, Active Worlds
Research Article
Katja Fleischmann
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 5, Issue 1, pp. 39-52
ABSTRACT
Technology has not only changed the work practice of designers but also how design is taught and learned. The emergence of digital technology has made computer labs a central learning space for design students. Since this change, studio-based learning in its traditional sense appears to be in decline in higher education institutions. This is in spite of the fact that characteristics of the studio have been identified as supporting interaction, active learning, and social engagement. These, however, are also characteristics connected to the use of Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook, Flickr, and Skype. Could these services be utilized to revitalize studio culture in a contemporary sense? How can new technologies be used to facilitate interactions between students inherent to traditional studio culture? These questions were explored in practice by documenting student reactions to using Flickr and Skype during a five week project requiring collaboration between first year creative arts students at two geographically distant institutions in Australia. Findings provide a better understanding of how to expand the studio idea into the digital environment, in particular regarding the challenging task of offering the media design major fully online in the near future.
Keywords: Design education, Design studio, Web 2.0 technology, Social media, Higher education