Learning in Virtual Worlds: A Situated Perspective - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 121

objectives that can be accomplished through more
cost-effective means.
Frequently, innovations end up being used to
do the same things that we have been doing with
older technology. It appears that, except for some
very interesting examples, this is still the case with
open access virtual technologies; for instance,
Dieterle and Clarke (2005) stated that, although
multi-user virtual environments have been used
for games, they are seldom used for significant
teaching and learning experiences. Also, Berge
(2008) found few innovative instructional uses
for the virtual world Second Life and stated
that it has been mostly used to replicate real life
experiences. I agree with Richardson and Molka-
Danielsen (2009) when they wrote that, although
used extensively by educational institutions, we
are still in an early phase of adaptation regarding
technologies like Second Life.
We are at a stage where we still need to better
understand how we learn within a virtual world
and to explore new and different ways to take
advantage of the educational potential that these
technological platforms have. Of similar opinion,
Gunawardena et al. (2009) recently stated that
we need new theoretical frameworks to explain
learning and the type of social interactions made
possible by the new technologies.
Considering the previous arguments, this
manuscript's main objective is to outline a set of
instructional strategies framed within the situ-
ated learning paradigm to increase the quality of
learning in a MUVE; and to recommend some
research questions that could be used to validate
the proposed instructional strategies. The field of
situated cognition is complex and uses different
terminology; thus, an effort will be made in this
paper to structure and clarify what we mean by
situated learning. First, the Background will intro-
duce the situated learning paradigm and some of
its more relevant influences will be reviewed; i.e.
constructivism, Vygotsky's theory, communities
of practice, practice fields, learning communities
and cognitive apprenticeship. Secondly, based on

all these ideas, a group of instructional strategies
and research questions will be presented; and
finally, a conclusion and some future trends will
be discussed.

BACkgROUND

The Situated Learning Paradigm

As can be inferred from its title, this manuscript
considers that the situated perspective of human
cognition is a valuable framework in which to
analyze how students build knowledge interact-
ing psychologically and physically within virtual
worlds. This is so because the situated learning
paradigm takes into consideration the social,
cognitive, and contextual aspects of a learning
situation. This theoretical frame of reference has
been developed by a group of investigators over
several decades and proposes a different perspec-
tive on the nature of human learning.
To begin the discussion about this different
perspective on the nature of human learning it is
important to first bear in mind what Maturana and
Varela (1987) assert regarding human cognition,
a statement that I believe captures the essence of
the situated learning paradigm and also enlightens
why this paradigm is useful for studying virtual
worlds that intend to simulate real life; they pro-
pose to see cognition “As an ongoing bringing
forth of a world through the process of living
itself.” (p. 11). This idea, clearly in line with
constructivist propositions, is basically integrat-
ing knowing and doing, or, as the same authors
eloquently put it with the aphorism: “All doing
is knowing and all knowing is doing” (p.27). By
depolarizing knowing and doing we are in fact
focusing on the person and his or her context as
a whole. Unfortunately, most of the educational
processes happening around the world, be it in a
regular classroom, a teacher's training program
or a corporate training unit, believe that these
two can in fact be separated; just visualize for a