Multi-User Virtual Environments - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 297

collaborate, and try new types of interactions, the
ultimate outcome was still objective-oriented in
that there was a checklist of quests to be completed.
In fact, while not the intention, it is not necessarily
a surprise that the majority of the learners fall into
the Student category. At the onset of this project, it
was predicted that, by allowing learners to utilize
the SIE environment for practice and learning in an
individualized manner, the learners would become
even better informed about the consequences of
the pragmatic choices they make. Moreover, it
was hypothesized that they would become more
adept at experimenting with different levels of
adherence and establishing a pragmatic system
with which they are comfortable. However, upon
examination of individualized learner behavior
patterns and experimentation within the SIE, it was
found that the majority of the participants did not
approach the SIE with this perspective. Instead, as
can be seen in the Student and Presenter groups,
they focused their energies on task completion
and getting the “right” answer.
While the digital context was innovative and
offered the opportunity for experimentation, the
ultimate task was linear and fairly traditional,
possibly having an impact on learners' behavior.
Once the tasks had been completed, the major-
ity of the participants chose to move on to the
presentation, the second part of the assignment.
These data confirm the necessity for complex,
varied tasks that encourage more of the type of
exploratory behavior evident in the Explorer
group in this study. Future activities in any SIE
should require experimentation and exploration
as part of the in-game experience as advocated
by a number of prominent serious game design
researchers (Aldrich, 2005; Gee, 2003; Michael
& Chen, 2006; Prensky, 2001). An attempt to
include and require experimentation was made
when creating the SIE used in this study; however,
the behavior patterns of the learners indicate that
even more complexity and integration of game play
is needed, especially in the case of L2 pragmatic
development.

Due to financial and time constraints, it is ex-
tremely difficult to create immersive experiences
in educational contexts (Bergeron, 2006; Michael
& Chen, 2006; Prensky, 2001) comparable to ex-
periences that can be produced with the available
commercial products. While it is important to le-
verage these commercial resources when possible,
it is also critical to be aware of the influence that
the lack of complexity (as compared to commer-
cial spaces) may have on the in-game behavior of
the learners. These differences can be minimized
through clever design and implementation; how-
ever, it is an issue that must be considered. A full
discussion of game design principles (Aldrich,
2005; Salen & Zimmerman, 2005) is beyond the
scope of this chapter; however, it is important to
be aware that collaboration between game design
and second language acquisition experts could
prove to be highly useful, resulting in the type
of task design most likely beneficial in MUVEs.
In creating MUVE tasks for language learning,
drawing on game design principles, as well as
personal gameplay experience, will aid in add-
ing both complexity and structure to the virtual
learning experience.
Consideration #3: Strategic implementation
of MUVE participation in the classroom should
consider the activity as an integrated part of the cur-
riculum as evidenced through grade distribution,
integration in the curriculum, and teacher buy-in.
In Croquelandia, grade distribution, classroom
integration, and teacher buy-in played a critical
role in the varied participation patterns. Although
it may not be the ideal scenario, the way in which
grades are assigned play an important role in how
learners perceive any classroom activity, and as a
result, how they participate in it. Grade distribution
in the Croquelandia unit focused heavily on the
in-class presentation based on what participants
had learned in the SIE. The primary objective of
the unit was to use what was utilized in the SIE to
prepare an in-class presentation addressing what
had been learned about requests and apologies.
The primary grade for this unit was also based