Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
First, we will describe the Zora virtual world and its design based on the
Positive Technological Development framework (Bers, 2006, 2007). Then we will
present four different case studies in which Zora was used which highlight different
approaches to the eight dimensions presented earlier.
Zora: A Constructionist Multiuser Virtual Environment
Zora is a multiuser virtual environment that was first developed as part of Bers'
doctoral work at the MIT Media Lab. The overarching goal of Zora is to provide
a safe space for youth to explore issues of identity (Bers, 2001). The name Zora
was inspired by one of the imaginary cities described by Italo Calvino: “This city
is like a honeycomb in whose cells each of us can place the things we want to
remember
So the world's most wise people are those who know Zora” (Calvino,
1972). The hope is that by engaging with Zora, children will also become wiser by
knowing who they are.
Zora is designed upon constructionist learning principles that promote chil-
dren's creation of their own personally meaningful objects and sharing them in
a community (Papert, 1980). Constructionism, as both a theory of learning and
a strategy for education, offers the framework for developing a technology-rich
design-based learning environment in which children learn by making, creat-
ing, programming, and communicating (Resnick, Bruckman, & Martin, 1996).
Constructionism is rooted in Piaget's constructivism, in which learning is best
characterized as an individual cognitive process given a social and cultural con-
text. However, while Piaget's theory was developed to explain how knowledge is
constructed in our heads. Constructionism, developed by Papert, pays particular
attention to the role of constructions in the world as a support for those in the head.
Zora provides easy-to-use tools for children to design and inhabit a virtual city (see
Fig. 18.1).
Users can populate the virtual city by making their own virtual places and inter-
active creations, including 3D objects, characters, message boards, and signs, as
well as movies and sounds. Although Zora provides tools for creating objects, the
focus is not on the aesthetics of the 3D objects, but on the meanings assigned to
them. Thus, Zora encourages users to create stories and values for every object they
make in the world. Upon logging into Zora, users encounter an initial blank 3D
world. Their task is to create the virtual world's public and private spaces and popu-
late it with interactive objects. While using building tools in Zora, users learn basic
computer programming principles as well as gain technological fluency (Barron,
2004).
One of the design goals of Zora is to support children in their thinking about who
they are, who they want to become and what kind of community they want to be part
of. For this purpose, Zora provides opportunities for users to create models of iden-
tification and counteridentification (called heroes and villains in the virtual world),
as well as personal and moral values linked to objects and a collaborative values
dictionary. Furthermore, the community values dictionary prompts users to share
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