MUVEs (multi-user virtual environments) have potential for education but currently face several limitations. Private companies control fragmented virtual worlds without standards for interoperability. Their focus is economic, not educational. While open source MUVEs exist, they have low adoption rates. High technical requirements and immature technology also limit educational use. Additionally, terms of service and emerging virtual economies are designed by private interests without citizen input. This raises ethical questions around rights, equality, and other issues as new forms of digital interactions develop. For MUVEs to reach their potential for education, interoperability, more accessible technology, and consideration of citizen and learner needs are required.

1. MUVEs Technical state-of-play Future potentialities What functionalities and tools educators use What they appear to need Open Classroom Conference 2007 Margarita Pérez-García MENON Network EEIG

2. Today?

3. The use of MUVEs in education runs a considerable risk of becoming a private option for those that can pay for it , this would be a considerable barrier to innovation and adoption of what is potentially a revolutionary development in education

4. At the present, the majority of MUVEs are fragmented and non-interoperable 3D grids controlled by private interests There are no standards that allow for fluid communication between existing 3D grids

5. Their evolution is controlled by groups of interest exclusively driven by an economic agenda , Future technological paradigms are completely beyond the scope of bottom-up decision making processes or new models of governance

6. The MUVEs open source initiatives are far from being spread, massively endorsed and commonly used by citizens. Open source solutions ( Croquet , The Metaverse project, OpenSIM ) are far from reaching widespread adoption or penetration within the educational arena.

7. High level of technical and connectivity requirements and the immature state of technological development are considered as a fundamental limitation to their adoption in education.

9. each of these new worlds develops different statements and rules (the Terms of Service) that affect how (virtual) life, and education may take place. at present educational projects must comply with apolitical and supra-political statements designed by third parties outside of the education environment

10. New currency and money exchange upon which potential future parallel economies and supra-economies will be based, owned by private interest groups, are emerging without any control.

11. MUVEs Is the technology mature enough for education? new IPR , designed/decided by private interest groups, are emerging regardless of intellectual property rights citizens may have over the content they create or otherwise own.

12. new inequalities are also emerging because of the high barriers to access and to participate in MUVEs

13. Finally... ethical implications relating to the use of MUVEs such as human rights and equity in cyberspace , the shifts and bridges between citizens digital rights and avatars rights in-world(s), freedom within no man's 3D lands, security, cyber law and cyber crimes in-world such as pornography, violence, sex trade, cyber prostitution, cyber rape and cyber murder.

14. future?

15. MUVEs Is the technology mature enough for education? An interoperable and distributed 3D grid 5 fields of enhancements are foreseen - Ubiquitous learning - Diversification of visualisation engines - Wearable technology - Enriched interaction (Brain/Body to Computer - Bridging the MUVE/RL integration

16. What tools and functionalities educators are using? Delivery of learning material Assessment and Feedback Cooperation Creation of content Individualisation of learning paths Communication and interaction Tracking Self-organisation and group-organisation Reflection and meta cognition

17. What educators appear to need ? An analysis grid was distributed during the workshop, it can be found at http://prismlab.wordpress.com/

18. Margarita Pérez-García Researcher MENON Network EEIG 35, Rue des deux Eglises 1000 Brussels http://www.menon.org Personal research at prism(lab)‏ http://prismlab.wordpress.com Blog at esphères identitaires http://www.margaperez.com Second Life Paz Lorenz