[via Virtual World News] NASA sees potential for virtual worlds as learning environments. The organization has just announced a Request for Information about developing an massively multiplayer online learning game. This is what I was talking about when I asked whether there is any educational potential for virtual worlds. NASA seems to think so.
According to the RFI posting, NASA sees potential for real, innovative, non-standard learning in virtual worlds and mmos:
MMOs help players develop and exercise a skill set closely matching the thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills increasingly in demand by employers today. These skills include strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, team-building and collaboration, and adaptation to rapid change.
A world based around science research provides exactly the type of epistemic frames that Shaffer and Gee talk about in their work.
This is a good sign and I think we’ll see more big names moving into educational virtual worlds for kids and hopefully evolve past the mini-games for coins cycle being repeated by many of the current offerings.
