A survey of e-learning usage in a three-dimensional virtual environment second life

Online virtual worlds have been a popular tool for conducting e-learning since they are designed to offer 3D space, avatars, real-time communication, interaction capabilities and collaboration. In this paper, we study the impact of using the most popular 3D virtual environment Second Life as an e-learning platform. There are many 3D web-based virtual worlds, but the main motivation for studying the potential of Second Life in education is that it is recognized as a primary tool for distance learning that has been used by many prestigious universities. A comprehensive survey on using Second Life for education and education outcomes in different disciplines is presented. Besides, this paper studies an impact of using new technologies on the knowledge acquisition and motivation of university students.