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• The instructor needs to foster critical engage-
ment, to help people to connect with, and
own, those aspects which accord with their
sense of themselves, and of what is good and
right. At the same time, it is to reject certain
things, to encourage the desire and ability
to change values, behaviors, ideas that are
unjust or that inhibit well being (Swigger,
Alpaslan, Brazile, & Monticino, 2004).
• Many people do not explicitly share in-
formation about their cultural background
or educational organization for a variety
of reasons, including diverse orientations
toward privacy and public versus private
information (Raybourn, 2001). Therefore,
the instructor must invent ways to motivate
users to identify more strongly with their
community of practice, and take the first
steps towards opening a chat with others
whom they may share common interests
with, but do not know well enough to feel
comfortable communicating with in a virtual
environment. In order for this to happen:
°
The instructor could organize a discus-
sion forum supporting themes of com-
mon interest among the participants.
°
A set of educational tasks (e.g., exer-
cises) given by the instructor would
motivate the participants to increase
e-mail or chat communication. This
would reduce nervousness among the
participants, and encourage them to
support and share their own cultural
background.
• Most users who inhabit virtual worlds like to
leave their mark on the shared space, whether
it is through building artifacts (objects) or
becoming influential members of the com-
munity (Selim, 2003). Allowing each person
to contribute to development or design of
the space creates more community, which
could help individuals to surpass cultural
differences that hinder collaboration, like
language barriers. A graffiti board, or bulle-
tin board, arouses curiosity and participation
among the community by arousing interest
among teammates—whether it is curiosity
about other members of the community, or
the shared space itself. The instructor could
participate in creating more motivating
environments by designing for user fun,
curiosity, and fantasy exploration.
• Both designers and instructors could con-
sider giving the right to participating mem-
bers to express themselves anonymously in
a virtual setting—for example, only for a
few sessions at the beginning of a learning
procedure. Certain anonymity can create
more equitable communication (especially
for newcomers) reducing the appearance
of hierarchy and power in a collaborative
environment, and fostering more peer-based
communication events (Volet, 1999). A vir-
tual tour of the learning space, and perhaps
a FAQ on the formal and informal cultural
norms, will help a participant to feel more
like part of the team, and thus identify more
strongly with the community. A team gallery
of interests might be an informal mechanism
for obtaining meta-level information on the
team culture and individual identities.
• Avatar movement may be based on common
cultural attributes, or common social inter-
ests, in addition to movement throughout the
space based on keywords and common work
products. Educational agents could connect
users of common social and cultural inter-
ests, and provide reasons for the movement
in the space. Cultural information about the
team (hobbies, families, etc.) may be made
available in the learning space via interactive
objects (Myers & Tan, 2002). The instruc-
tor should encourage learners to interact in
real time where there are mutual concerns
or interests, and evaluate certain cultural
characteristics, incorporating them into an
adaptive community-based virtual environ-
ment in order to offer enhanced support for
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