3D e-learning is as diverse as 2D

The focus of most discussion concerning 3D worlds, at least in the education and training space, is related to the live, multi-player variety, as exemplified by Second Life. But restricting our view of the scope and potential for 3D worlds to a single form is as unhelpful as regarding all conventional, i.e. 2D e-learning (and I never thought I'd use the word 'conventional' for this purpose) as self-study.

I decided to explore the potential for 3D using the some of the same dimensions that you could apply to 2D e-learning, i.e. whether it is designed primarily for individual or collaborative use, and whether it is essentially asynchronous (self-paced) or synchronous (live).

The left-hand part of the diagram above looks at the forms that 2D e-learning can take when analysed against these dimensions. I'm sure you can think of more examples to go in each of the four cells, but hopefully you get the idea.

The right-hand side applies the same dimensions to 3D e-learning. The collaborative / synchronous cell is typified by Second Life (in-world meetings, workshops, activities, etc.) and Forterra (live, multi-player games and simulations); the individual/asynchronous cell would include applications such as flight/driving simulators or the sort of problem-solving activities you would find in Caspian Learning's Thinking Worlds. The other two cells are relatively peripheral but are bound to be exploited further as 3D worlds continue to develop.

What do these distinctions matter? Well, each has unique characteristics that makes it more or less suited to particular requirements:

• Asynchronous activities are self-paced and much more flexible in terms of scheduling.
• Synchronous activities are immediate and energising; they also function as milestones in a course of study.
• Individual activities require little in the way of co-ordination and are more easily orientated to the needs of the learner.
• Collaborative activites facilitate the sharing of experiences and perceptions; they allow interpersonal real-world tasks to be simulated; they also generate a degree of peer pressure/competition.
• 2D media are familiar, flexible and relatively easy to produce.
• 3D worlds are engaging, immersive, can provide the learner with a greater sense of being in control, and (assuming the world is matched to the subject matter) are more authentic.

Although it's obviously dangerous to generalise, it's likely that enterprises will be more attracted to asynchronous/individual forms of 3D learning, simply because this is much easier to accommodate within busy working lives. There will of course be exceptions, where a 3D world may be used to host a meeting or stage an important multi-player simulation, but I can't see these being an everyday occurrence. In education, the emphasis may switch, because learners will often be on-site and their time more easily co-ordinated. Whatever the case, it's likely that 3D learning will take many shapes, of which only a few have we so far been able to conceive.