[1] Joe Miller, Linden Lab Vice President of Platform and Technology Development, claimed in 2009 that "Language learning is the most common education-based activity in Second Life".
Traveler included the possibility of audio communication (but not text chat) between avatars represented as disembodied heads in a three-dimensional abstract landscape.
Svensson (2003) describes the Virtual Wedding Project, in which advanced students of English made use of Active Worlds as an arena for constructivist learning.
[4] The Adobe Atmosphere software platform was also used to promote language learning in the Babel-M project (Williams & Weetman 2003).
EUROCALL and CALICO, two leading professional associations that promote language learning with the aid of new technologies, maintain a joint Virtual Worlds Special Interest Group (VW SIG) and a headquarters in Second Life.
for example, is an open-source project which integrates the multi-user virtual environments of Second Life and/or OpenSim with the Moodle learning-management system.
Virtual worlds such as Second Life are used for the immersive,[22] collaborative[23] and task-based, game-like[24] opportunities they offer language learners.
[28] 3D virtual worlds are often used for constructivist learning because of the opportunities for learners to explore, collaborate and be immersed within an environment of their choice.
[33] Other tasks may focus on more interactional language, such as those that involve more social activities or interviews within a virtual world.
Dogme language teaching is an approach that is essentially communicative, focusing mainly on conversation between learners and teacher rather than conventional textbooks.
Learners develop texts, audios or podcasts based on their research, part of which is within a virtual world.
[36] The Dutch Digitale School has built two virtual language villages, Chatterdale (English) and Parolay (French), for secondary education students on the OpenSim grid.
The wide variety of replica places in Second Life, e.g. Barcelona, Berlin, London and Paris, offers opportunities for language learning through virtual tourism.
The Hypergrid Adventurers Club is an open group of explorers who discuss and visit many different OpenSim virtual worlds.
By using hypergrid connectivity, avatars can jump between completely different OpenSim grids while maintaining a singular identity and inventory.
It is focused on developing virtual worlds learning experiences for TVET Tourism students and located on the joycadiaGrid.
Holodecks offer exciting possibilities of calling up a range of instantly available simulations that can be used for entertainment, presentations, conferencing and, of course, teaching and learning.
For example, if students of hospitality studies are being introduced to the language used in checking in at a hotel a simulation of a hotel reception area can be generated instantly by selecting the chosen simulation from a holodeck "rezzer", a device that stores and generates different scenarios.
Many Second Life users report on difficulties with voice chat, e.g. the sound being too soft, too loud or non-existent – or continually breaking up.
Students may also use public sandboxes, but they may prefer to exhibit their creations more permanently on owned or rented land.
[14] The Immersive Education Initiative revealed (October 2010) that it would provide free permanent virtual world land in OpenSim for one year to every school and non-profit organization that has at least one teacher, administrator, or student in attendance of any Immersive Education Initiative Summit.
OpenSim is employed as free open source standalone software, thus enabling a decentralized configuration of all educators, trainers, and users.
[58] Such a standalone sim offers 180,000 prims for building, and can be distributed pre-configured together with a virtual world viewer using a USB storage stick or SD card.
Pre-configured female and male avatars can also be stored on the stick, or even full-sim builds can be downloaded for targeted audiences without virtual world experience.
The following lists describe a variety of different virtual world platforms, their features and their target audiences: Virtual World Language Learning is a rapidly expanding field and it converges with other closely related areas, such as the use of MMOGs, SIEs and Augmented Reality Language Learning (ARLL).
MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games) are also used to support language learning, for example the World of Warcraft in School project.