CSCL Techniques in Collaborative Virtual Environments: The Case of Second Life - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 143

Table 1. Space and collaborators awareness / avatars

User
Interface&
Installation
Usability

Realistic
Avatar

Immersion
Quality

Avatar
Customization

Maps -
Orientation

Collaborators
Awareness

Croquet slightly moderate good hard none moderate

Wonderland enough moderate good easy none good

Worlds slightly moderate moderate easy but limited none good

Tixeo much good good N/A N/A very good

I-maginer enough good good N/A N/A very good

Active Worlds enough good very good easy but limited provided very good

There enough good good easy N/A very good

Dive enough N/A N/A N/A N/A very good

Moove very much good good easy provided very good

Second Life very much good very good very easy provided almost excellent

The functions described above are a useful set
of requirements to check against, when choosing
a virtual learning platform. Please note that in the
following tables “N/A” means that either there
was no information about the specific feature or
the feature was not available at all.
The functions described above are a useful set
of requirements to check against, when choos-
ing a virtual learning platform. Among the other
platforms, SL seems to be one of the most prom-

ising ones, concerning online education. This is
because it implements the researched functionality
in a more efficient and accessible way. Although
Second Life has a rich feature set, it should be
noted that that does not instantly constitute it ideal
for educational use. Several other factors, as the
next section illustrates, must also be taken into
consideration.

Table 2. Access Control and user groups

Custom User groups Roles assignment Floor control

Croquet no no no

Wonderland no no no

Worlds N/A N/A basic

Tixeo yes yes basic

I-maginer yes N/A basic

Active Worlds yes yes basic

There yes N/A basic

Dive N/A N/A N/A

Moove N/A N/A basic

Second Life yes yes basic