Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Sharon Tettegah and Cynthia Calongne -- An Introduction / Sharon Tettegah -- Virtual Environment: The Machine is Our World / Grant Kien -- If The Walls Could Talk / Alfred Weiss -- Education and Virtual Worlds / Eun won Whang , Cherryberry Gerstort , Kona Taylor , Madison Poppy , Timothy Cash and TJ Milev -- Challenges and Opportunities in Using MUVEs in K-12 Environments / Lisa Perez -- Education in Virtual Environments,the Student Experience / Rhonda B. Trueman -- Pre-Service Teachers in Second Life: The Dichotomy with the Net Generation / Jase Teoh -- Effects of Virtual Reality on Learning at a Science Exhibit / Arlene de Strulle -- Multiuser Virtual Environments (MUVEs) and Massive Multiplayer Online Rolepaying Games (MMORPGs) / Cynthia Calongne -- Virtual Libraries and Education in Virtual Worlds / Lori Bell -- Conclusion: Merging Realities / Virgil Varvel and Alfred Weiss -- Biographies / Sharon Tettegah and Cynthia Calongne -- Index / Sharon Tettegah and Cynthia Calongne.

Virtual worlds and other virtual environments offer an adaptable context for applied and situated learning experiences. In this book, educators, instructional designers, librarians, administrators and scholars reflect on how to leverage constructivist, authentic, collaborative and complex interactive educational experiences through the use of these multisensory environments. Explore the intersection of presence, personal and group identity, culture, immersive learning experiences, multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs) and massive multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs) with eleven multidisciplinary researchers. The examples range from K-12 to university educational experiences and highlight critical information from a variety of MUVEs, such as Second Life, Active Worlds, There, and several MMORPGs, including Ultima Online, Everquest and the World of Warcraft.