NMC Campus Observer

Results of New NMC Two Minute Survey on Virtual Worlds

NMC Virtual Worlds : Feb 12, 2010 04:01pm

Recent results for the NMC Two Minute Survey on What’s Happening in Virtual Worlds have been tallied and posted at http://www.nmc.org/2minute-survey/virtual-worlds. Also available is a 10-page listing of educational projects submitted by respondents.

Some highlights include:

1. The data indicate that virtual worlds have moved through the bulk of the hype surrounding them, and are now at the point where we are beginning to see real success, albeit also at a much more realistic level that early visions imagined.  Most survey respondents (70%) placed Virtual Worlds on the right side of Gartner’s curve, with the highest proportion placing them on the Slope of Enlightenment (35%) or even the Plateau of Productivity (4%), suggesting that many are starting to see very practical and effective uses for virtual worlds.
2. Contrary to statements that virtual worlds are passé, our data suggest that, among educators, interest continues to be strong or growing.; Nearly two thirds of respondents report their level of activity is about the same or higher than two to three years ago. About one third (36%) report lower activity, and a number of factors may be seen as influencing that result, including people who came to virtual worlds early and left before pedagogical practice caught up with the interest in virtual worlds, or people new to the experience from whom the hype may still be new. In any case, the results clearly indicate that use of virtual worlds is very much alive among educators.

   These data indicate that virtual worlds have moved through the bulk of the hype surrounding them, and are now at the point where we are beginning to see real success, albeit also at a much more realistic level that early visions imagined.  Most survey respondents (70%) placed Virtual Worlds on the right side of Gartner’s curve, with the highest proportion placing them on the Slope of Enlightenment (35%) or even the Plateau of Productivity (4%), suggesting that many are starting to see very practical and effective uses for virtual worlds.

3. Second Life® is the dominant virtual world platform among survey participants, 76% of them citing Second Life as their virtual world of choice. Few others event registered with OpenSim and Teleplace (Qwaq) listed by a few users. Second Life, being the most mature of the social virtual worlds, has been the highest public profile too so it is really no surprise to see this result.
4. In terms of adoption, a full 43% of respondents believe the steep learning curve or negative press/perceptions have played a role as a barrier to their use of virtual worlds in their institutions.  Right behind this, at 17% of the results, is a lack of pedagogical models as a significant barrier of adoption.

Finally, a wild card in this is really something not related to virtual worlds directly but rather the infrastructure to support it. Virtual world environments perform poorly on wireless internet connections and slow wired connections. Many institutions cannot afford fast pipes on a large scale for virtual world users. There are measures afoot in this country to expand ultra-fast internet connections and if this gets adopted on a large scale (and hopefully it will sooner rather than later), a faster pipe may breath some new life into virtual worlds allowing a new round of experimentation and use as the bandwidth highway adds some new lanes.

A list of examples of projects shared by the survey participants is also posted as a PDF download for reference.

See the full details on the survey at http://www.nmc.org/2minute-survey/virtual-worlds

Originally published at NMC Virtual Worlds

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