Virtual Worlds: Learning and Teaching in a Digital Age

I am Nicole Cargill-Kipar, working at an HE institution in Scotland, and my main research interest is individual and collaborative learning in Virtual Worlds (Second Life). This is what this blog is mostly about.

Regarding individual learning I am an ardent advocate of reflective learning and the process of learning as it is recorded on learning logs, and in the light of this I focus on learning motivation and emotions in learners.

Regarding group learning I mostly work in the categories by Johnson & Johnson but am analyising what we believe is collaborative learning and is actually cooperative learning. Motivation in group learning in virtual worlds goes hand in hand with individuals’ motivation and thus I focus on the two areas above.

I am also interested in the emerging generation and in what kind of learners the current-day teenagers will be, when they step across the thresholds of our universities.

Mostly, though, you’ll find me writing about the Virtual Worlds project I am involved in, and everything related to this, including presentations I give and papers I write – whenever I find the energy to actually blog.