This is our group project for using 3D virtual world in learning.

1. Designing share virtual environment (Active world) for learning. Group Members: Chan Kam Kuen Fok Man Yee( 2010884064) Kung Hiu Tung Kwong Ka Lap HKU MITE 6304 Group B

6. Essential skills emphasis Students are expected to learn / apply the following skills during the learning tasks. Cooperative skills Students form groups to finish the learning tasks. Students participate in collaborative learning. Communications skills Students will participate in collaborative learning. Blogs are used as communication tools. Team blogs which students can communicate about their team work. Help desk blog which enables students to get help from teacher. Information skills Lots of resources (web sites, video, audio) are provided in this authentic environment. Stu are encouraged to evaluate, reflection, interpret and critique information provided. Image adopted from http://www.ryanrwatkins.com/how2elearn/course.htm

8. Guided questions and formative learning tasks are provided in each session. For example, clear task instructions are given in the entrance of Hong Kong Nature section. clear task instructions in each session

12. The following diagram show how the teacher uses weblog to achieve students' collaborative learning.

15. Conversational model is applied in the learning design of the topic. Learning Strategy(Choice of technology platform)

16. Design Overview ' D iscovery Hong Kong ' is designed as a theme park . It is divided into 4 sessions : Hong Kong Popular Place, Hong Kong Nature, Hong Kong Cuisine, and Hong Kong Festivals. Each session includes several tasks for students to complete. Bird view Floor plan

17. Clear Overall instructions are provided on the entrance of the theme park , such as, - Project Description - Tasks Details which link to group blog - Floor plan ( a brief overview of the ‘theme park’ that students will explore) Design Overview Clear Overall instructions on the entrance of the theme park

18. Clear route/signs are provided in order to guide the students to different sections in the theme park "Discovery Hong Kong“. Design Overview Clear route/signs are provided

20. C lear instruction sign about the learning objectives of each section are provided to students. Design Overview clear instruction sign

21. Different learning resources are provided in the virtual world, such as, web site , audio , video , etc. Design Overview

23. Introduction about Hong Kong Cuisine is given by means of Multimedia tool (Voki)

24. Learning theories behind the learning design. Constructivism C onstructivism as a paradigm or worldview posits that learning is an active, constructive process. The learner is an information constructor. People actively construct or create their own subjective representations of objective reality. New information is linked to prior knowledge, thus mental representations are subjective. (www.learning-theories.com/) In our project, teacher acts as a facilitator and students act as information constructor. In our virtual learning environment, authentic environment and different learning resources (e.g. websites, video, audio) are provided in order to help students to construct their knowledge. The scenario provides rich descriptions and information about different elements of Hong Kong. In each site of four sectors , there are activities that require learners to answer questions. Guided questions is essential to facilitate students’ thinking and construct their knowledge. In each section of our virtual world, clear guided questions and learning tasks are provided. Collaborative learning environment are a must as students are arranged to work in form group. Students need to answer questions and post their comments to their group blog. And they need to comment on other group posts. (Social Constructivism) Students can learn further through these collaborative learning environment.

27. Conclusions In our group project, we tried to imply a 3-D virtual world (Active World) as a virtual learning environment for learning. The learning topic is Discovery Hong Kong in which students learn more about Hong Kong in the learning design. Compared with traditional VLE (e.g. Moodle), shared 3-D virtual environments (e.g. Active World) attract students attention, interests and motivation. These VLE platforms allow different types of course materials delivery, such as text, multi-media, website link, and also provide communication tools, such as chat room, email. The project provides us useful hand-on experiences in applying 3-D virtual world as a virtual learning environment for learning design.