An Online Virtual Learning Environment for Higher Education

This paper describes a novel online virtual learning classroom environment focused for higher education. Students can login to this virtual world in the form of their avatars and follow lectures and laboratories in a collaborative manner. To prove the feasibility of the system, the lecture material from a 2nd year BSc degree called '3D Graphics Programming' module was ported into the online virtual learning environment. Initial evaluation with 20 users showed that overall the online virtual learning environment is enjoyable and has the potential to be used for the development and delivery of distance learning courses and degrees.