**2. Background and related work**

Various studies for enhancing education with 3D MUVE can be found. A recent research on exploring meaningful learning of students in 3D virtual worlds (Keskitalo *et al.,* 2011) shows the importance of developing suitable pedagogies for 3D MUVE learning. Pedagogy to relate 3D presence was introduced by Bronack (*et al*., 2008), in which avatar engagement with the environment has been considered as an important element for the pedagogy. De Freitas (*et al.*, 2010) has proposed a framework for designing and evaluating learning experience in 3D virtual worlds, considering efficacy and challenges of new learning styles. Burkle and Kinshuk (2009) have elaborated the potential possibilities of using 3D virtual worlds for the needs of 21st century education. These signify the importance of associating 3D MUVE for learning. However, most of the studies on 3D MUVE based learning assume the fact that 3D MUVE implicitly facilitate learning needs. Since 3D MUVE are not designed for educational needs, users have to consider system and environment properties extensively for integrated blended learning experience (Perera *et al.*, 2011a). For managing e-Learning environments, an approach using policy based management on security and usability was introduced by Weippl (2005). We investigate the same with 3D MUVE as the principal research; in this study, we focus on identifying factors for 3D MULE management and their effect on student engagement.

Students' comfortable ability to engage in the learning environment is an essential factor for the virtual world supported education (Burkle & Kinshuk, 2009). This indeed rationalise our research objectives. Furthermore, technology supported learning environments can help to develop specific self-regulatory skills related to successful engagement in learning (Dabbagh and Kitsantas, 2004). 3D MULE can be a valuable learning platform if students can highly engage with the environment while having self-regulatory skills for their learning. In another study, Wang (*et al.*, 2011) has identified that the visual guidance and support help to increase the self-regulation and student engagement in learning activities. 3D MULE not only include rich 3D content objects for visually enabled learning aids, but also provide learners to engage in the environment with immersion.

Our previous work on using 3D MUVE for teaching and learner support include a range of advanced learning constructs to facilitate students. Wireless Island (Sturgeon *et al.*, 2009) aids collaborative learning and exploration of wireless traffic through interactive multimedia and simulations. Wireless Island was used as the experiment environment for this study and further details will be discussed later. The Laconia Acropolis Virtual

between the two systems has been a major research benefit for our work. Current trends indicate a significant shift of preference towards OpenSim for learning activities, however

This chapter is arranged into the following sections: in section 2 we describe background details along with our experiences on using 3D MUVE for learning; section 3 explains the research problem, including the hypotheses for this study. Section 4 describes the research methodology and the experiment design while the section 5 extensively analyses the research findings validating the hypotheses of the study. The section 6 discusses the contributions of the study, study limitations and the expected future work. Finally, the

Various studies for enhancing education with 3D MUVE can be found. A recent research on exploring meaningful learning of students in 3D virtual worlds (Keskitalo *et al.,* 2011) shows the importance of developing suitable pedagogies for 3D MUVE learning. Pedagogy to relate 3D presence was introduced by Bronack (*et al*., 2008), in which avatar engagement with the environment has been considered as an important element for the pedagogy. De Freitas (*et al.*, 2010) has proposed a framework for designing and evaluating learning experience in 3D virtual worlds, considering efficacy and challenges of new learning styles. Burkle and Kinshuk (2009) have elaborated the potential possibilities of using 3D virtual worlds for the needs of 21st century education. These signify the importance of associating 3D MUVE for learning. However, most of the studies on 3D MUVE based learning assume the fact that 3D MUVE implicitly facilitate learning needs. Since 3D MUVE are not designed for educational needs, users have to consider system and environment properties extensively for integrated blended learning experience (Perera *et al.*, 2011a). For managing e-Learning environments, an approach using policy based management on security and usability was introduced by Weippl (2005). We investigate the same with 3D MUVE as the principal research; in this study, we focus on identifying factors for 3D MULE management

Students' comfortable ability to engage in the learning environment is an essential factor for the virtual world supported education (Burkle & Kinshuk, 2009). This indeed rationalise our research objectives. Furthermore, technology supported learning environments can help to develop specific self-regulatory skills related to successful engagement in learning (Dabbagh and Kitsantas, 2004). 3D MULE can be a valuable learning platform if students can highly engage with the environment while having self-regulatory skills for their learning. In another study, Wang (*et al.*, 2011) has identified that the visual guidance and support help to increase the self-regulation and student engagement in learning activities. 3D MULE not only include rich 3D content objects for visually enabled learning aids, but also provide

Our previous work on using 3D MUVE for teaching and learner support include a range of advanced learning constructs to facilitate students. Wireless Island (Sturgeon *et al.*, 2009) aids collaborative learning and exploration of wireless traffic through interactive multimedia and simulations. Wireless Island was used as the experiment environment for this study and further details will be discussed later. The Laconia Acropolis Virtual

section 7 gives the conclusions of the research to conclude the chapter.

(Allison, *et al.,* 2011).

**2. Background and related work** 

and their effect on student engagement.

learners to engage in the environment with immersion.

Archaeology (LAVA) (Getchell *et al.*, 2010) project allows students to engage in a simulated archaeological excavation, and then explore a recreation of the site. Similar to the Wireless Island another research project, Network Island in OpenSim, developed a learning island to facilitate teaching network routing (McCaffery *et al.*, 2011). Network Island simulates several routing protocol behavior as an interactive method. Students can create their own topologies and examine the routing behavior. As a part of the evaluation of 3D MUVE for serious learning needs a network traffic analysis of 3D MUVE was performed (Oliver *et al.*, 2010) to identify challenges. Second Life and OpenSim were used for teaching Human Computer Interaction (HCI) to undergraduate students, through creative student projects (Perera *et al.*, 2009). Research on integrating 3D MUVE with e-Learning infrastructure with the objective of formulating a blended learning environment with 3D support is conducted (Perera *et al.*, 2010; Perera *et al.*, 2011a) and the results facilitated this research.

Fig. 1. Selected projects based on 3D MULE: Left side – virtual humanitarian disaster training environment, and right side – the Network Island to facilitate teaching and learning on network routing algorithms
