Virtual Worlds Today & Tomorrow

• 2007 – Gartner predicts virtual world use in 2011• 2007 – 400+ universities in Second Life (SL)• 2009 - Over 19 million accounts

– Increases up to 1 million per month

• 2011 - Costs for education regions doubled– Education exodus due to tight budgets– Rise in open source use of virtual worlds

• 2012 – 4 AI classes on the IEEE SL regions• 2012 – Emerging Technologies Gartner Hype Cycle

– Virtual worlds heading to slope of enlightenment– 5-10 years for plateau of productivity

Virtual World Opportunities

• Holograms - Holographic Content– Immersive Books – scenes you enter, interact with content & others, &

synthesize the experience– Holographic content & games for real spaces– Learning spaces, laboratories and workspaces

• Virtual World Research and Education– Feb 2013 – Over 4000 doctoral dissertations refer to a virtual world or

virtual worlds (Proquest/UMI)– 4336 papers on virtual worlds in the IEEE Digital Library– Growth in open source virtual world use

• Dec ‘12 - 232 OpenSim grids (Hypergridbusiness.com)

For More Information

• Military Open Simulator Enterprise Strategy (MOSES)• http://brokentablet.arl.army.mil/index.html•

• Learning theory, heutagogy and constructivism• http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html• http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html

• Eberie, J. and Childress, M. (2004). Heutagogy: It isn’t your mother’s pedagogy any more, National Social Science Association.– http://www.nssa.us/journals/2007-28-1/2007-28-1-04.htm

• Learning-Theories.com (2012). Social Development Theory (Vygotsky). – http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html

• Learning-Theories.com (2012). Constructivism. – http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html