The Impact of Avatar Self-Representation on Collaboration in Virtual Worlds
Paul R. Wallace, James Maryott · NSUWorks (Nova Southeastern University) · 2009
Schools and universities around the world have begun to use collaborative virtual worlds such as Second Life and Active Worlds as distance learning environments (Dickey 2005; Bronack, Riedl, and Tashner 2006). Compared with more traditional distance learning venues, virtual worlds offer increased opportunities for interaction and an increased sense of community, both of which can enhance student engagement in learning and reduce the feeling of disconnection that leads to drop-out. Within virtual worlds, users represent themselves with graphical characters called avatars, which are generally three-dimensional models chosen from a list or created from a simple prototype. The use of avatars for representation in virtual worlds can increase a student's sense of social presence, the feeling that others are present with the user in the mediated environment (Nowak and Biocca 2004). Avatars in virtual environments can help promote a feeling of community in distance learning by providing students the opportunity to make connections with each other through activities such as discussion groups, debates, and collaborative learning groups (Rovai 2002). As in face-to-face classrooms, small-group collaboration among students is important to the development of community in virtual worlds. However, because social interactions in virtual worlds are governed by the same social norms as interactions in the real world (Yee et al. 2007), negative social attitudes, such as prejudice based on appearance, can affect the quality and extent of collaboration in virtual worlds just as they may in