The Benefits and Unanticipated Challenges in the Use of 3D Virtual Learning Environments in the Undergraduate Media Arts Curriculum - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 246

Over the thirteen week semester students
completed the following topics:

2. A prototype of the final website design cre-
ated in Photoshop
3. A portfolio shop front in Second Life (Figure
9) which linked to their online portfolio
(Figure 10).

• Introduction to business use of Web 2.0

and 3D virtual worlds

• Social & ethical responsibility of designers

• Design concepts for Web and in 3D virtual

worlds:

Students undertook peer review of each other's
Second Life portfolio shop fronts as well as the
online portfolios. As with the Design for Interac-
tive Media course, an anonymous online evalua-
tion was also conducted at the conclusion of the
course to determine the level of student satisfac-
tion with both the course and the 3D virtual learn-
ing experience. The findings of this evaluation
are reported below.

• Coding in XHTML

• Introduction to CSS

• Interactivity in Web design

• Search engine optimisation

• Choosing your domain and virtual spaces

in 3D virtual worlds:

• Marketing your business on the Web and

in 3D worlds

Outcomes of the Trials

Students undertook 3 assignments:

An anonymous online questionnaire was con-
ducted at the conclusion of the semester for
students enrolled in Design for Interactive Media
and Electronic Publishing on the Internet courses,

1. A design proposal outlining target audience
and design specifications

Figure 9. A shop front virtual world portfolio created by one of the EPI students