1. MUVE’S: Multi-User Virtual Environments for Teaching and Learning Alejandra Garza Tomas Moreno Birzabit Iracheta Iliana Aguirre

5. Multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) are a popular form of multimedia-based entertainment. However, recently attention has turned to exploring their use to support learning, and several research groups have been creating MUVEs and investigating their effectiveness. MUVEs designed for the educational community embed tasks or problems within a virtual environment or context. Users can:

6. a) Access virtual contexts

7. b) Explore the environment and interact with digital objects

8. c) Represent themselves through “avatars”

9. d) Communicate with other users (in some cases also with computer-based agents)

10. Educational MUVEs are designed to support inquiry-based learning and conceptual understanding. Unlike MUVEs designed purely for entertainment, students using educational MUVEs often must gather information offline, and usually there is a final product that they must submit, such as a report or a video diary of their experience.

11. Harvard University’s River City MUVE (http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/rivercityproject) is an illustrative case study. It is described as “a multi-user virtual environment for learning scientific inquiry and 21st century skills”. The virtual environment is a nineteenth century American town that is plagued by disease. Students work in teams to develop a hypothesis regarding the disease’s cause. They can interview citizens of River City, read relevant documents, visit the hospital, and review photographs. Agents are available to provide guidance, but the students determine the approach they will take.

12. The focus is on learning both science concepts and inquiry. In one study of nearly 700 students, those who used River City showed greater improvement in their inquiry skills than did control students who used a paper-based curriculum. Additionally, qualitative measures indicated that they had a better understanding of the science content (Ketelhut, Dede, Clarke, & Nelson, 2006). The grade levels for the study were not specified, but River City is designed for students in grades 5 through 12. According to an exploratory study, programs such as River City might also support student development of self-efficacy (Ketelhut, 2007).