MUVE, the Future of e-Learning: Building a Virtual Learning World

Emerging multi-user virtual environments (MUVE) or virtual worlds such as Second Life offer the potential to change the nature of education, particularly in the distance taught e-learning arena. Such fully immersive 3D technologies coupled with communications approaches such as VOIP and media streaming, allow academic staff and students to engage and interact in real time, in the same virtual space regardless of their actual physical location. Such an approach, while not fully replicating real-world interaction, comes remarkably close to providing a fully immersive, integrated, socially interactive educational experience without sacrificing the flexibility of traditional e-learning techniques. This paper draws on the authors' experience of their on-going development of a virtual university campus in the on-line world of Second Life to examine the potential benefits and drawbacks of such virtual world development.