Pedagogical immigration to 3D virtual worlds: A critical review of underlying themes and their concepts

Abstract

A contentious issue has been in debate for the past decade, over the extent of dependency of current generations of students on information and communication technology (ICT) for education. Despite this controversy, there is a generalization amongst researchers that fundamental shifting of educational methods towards e-learning is deemed inevitable and beneficial to cater for emerging students' skills and preferences. One of these newly emergent e-learning platforms is 3D Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) like Second Life. To the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to derive and critically analyse, using grounded theory, advantageous and disadvantageous themes and their sub concepts of providing e-learning through 3DVLEs.