Work-in-Progress—Learning about Virtual Worlds in Virtual Worlds: How Remote Learning in a Pandemic Can Inform Future Teaching
Andrea Stevenson Won, Jakki O. Bailey, Siqi Yi
Abstract
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many university classes shifted to remote learning. In some cases, this requirement intersected in productive ways with course content, especially when the class subject matter included virtual environments. This paper describes teacher and student experiences in an upper-level communication course on virtual worlds at a large United States university. As regular lectures moved to video conferencing and asynchronous communication, "field trips" and guest lectures became opportunities for students and teachers to connect remotely using desktops and headsets. We discuss how this will inform the design of future courses that combine face-to-face and virtual instruction.