.                  

Immerse Online

VR Chat

Active Worlds

AW3DU

Sine Space

VirBELA

Play2 Speak

Friend base

Altspace VR

OpenSim Edmondo-Craft

OpenSim ELT Treasure Island

Second Life

CoSpaces

World of Warcraft

Minecraft

Is the given environment free, if not: how much does it cost?

No longer available as SaaS

Students get the Oculus Go as part of the package

Does not seem for students

70-100 USD an hour for a teacher and the solution

 Free  

Both free and paid access.  See https://www.activeworlds.com/pricing.php

and for more information and possible assistance, http://www.aw3du.com/ 

https://twitter.com/aw3du 

Hosting costs listed at https://sine.space/premium Whitelabel pricing at http://enterprise.sine.space/pricing.html

The prices are very low for most items, so possible to develop a teaching environment on a small budget.

 Free Campus

200/ month for private meeting rooms

 Only one chapter seems to have been developed which costs less than 4 USD - seems to be just a trial

 Free

Free

Edmondo is free but only for Italian teachers and students

Craft is free but if you want you can buy a region

A region is approx. 15-20 USD/ month

Free for learners

Kitely

Approx. 15 USD a month

20 USD a month for Virtual Campus 4 regions

Free for users, not free for land-owners

You need land to build

Free for 1 teacher and 29 students

Paid version starts at 75 USD annually for 5 seats

Free the first 20 levels

Starting at 13 USD/ month to about 18 USD/ month

Free as users

Minecraft servers need server space

Multiplayer MP or single player SP?

SP/MP

MP

MP

MP

MP

SP

MP

MP

MP

MP

(or SP for self access learning - (synchronous/asynchronous, in person/online/mixed))

MP

MP for building, can do the coding and SP for playing

MP

MP

Is the environment safe for children?

 yes

Somewhat.  Open environment, but with robust screening features to mute avatars or set safety features (shields) for groups.

 Yes.  Designed to be suitable for children.

The open grid is for adults, but whitelabel grids are completely private and safe for children.

A K12 area has been built / nearly finished as far as I know

 Teens are ok, Virbela seems safe

 Yes, but its more a type of adventure game with a chatbot

 No - public

There are lots of kids there but also foul language

No - public

Reviews talk about lots of foul language

Yes

OpenSim in Kitely - avatars appear as clouds

This world is locked down for children.

Second Life is an adult world and starts at 16

Yes

No

Yes, depends - some public servers are debatable

Minecraft EDU is different!!!!

Does it run on:  

• a PC,
• a mobile phone,
• a tablet or iPad,
• all of the devices mentioned.

 PC for instructor

Oculus Go for students

On Oculus Quest

On PC

PC/MAC/ Linux

CROSS PLATFORM

PC/ MAC Also mobile and VR friendly.

Browser based with limitations.

 PC/ MAC

 Only on Occulus Go

 Runs on tablet, PC, mobile and VR

App - only mobile

PC only, Viewer software:  Firestorm,  Scenegate or Singularity viewer

PC only/ MAC/ Linux

Firestorm, Scenegate or Singularity viewer

PC only/  MAC/ Linux

CROSS PLATFORM

PC, tablet, mobile

PC only/ MAC/ Linux

CROSS PLATFORM

PC, tablet or iPad, mobile phone, VR, Playstation

Are a headset, HMD, or Google Cardboard necessary?

No = you do not have to have a headset

Oculus Go only for students and PC for teachers

No

Oculus Quest is a nice to have there

No, but a phone app allows Google Cardboard head mounted display immersion.

No

VR envabled

No

ONLY VR

Occulus Rift/ Vive only

No

VR enabled (Rift/Vive)

No

No

No

(optional: headset, Space Navigator)

No

No

VR and AR enabled

No

No

VR enabled but not used much because MC is too fast

Are there specific technical requirements or equipment needed to access this environment?

Software Installation

Oculus Go for learners

Software Installation

Software Installation

Software Installation

Software Installation

App installation

VR headset

Software Installation

App

Software Installation

Software Installation

Software Installation

Software Installation and App

Software Installation

Gaming PC

Good graphics

Software Installation

Can avatars be customised?

Yes

There are a number of preset avatar options.

Yes!  Can use public prebuilt avatars, can copy the avatars of others, or can create your own.

Yes

avatars can be designed with fairly simple tools.

Yes

with Unity and imported or with items purchased in the marketplace.

 Yes

 No

 Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

If the answer is “Yes” how hard is this on a scale of 1 – 5 (5 = very hard.)

 1

 3

 1

 3

 2

 1

 1

1

3

3

3

1

4

2

Can the environment be customised

No

No / Yes with technical skills

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes with limitation

Yes

If the answer is “Yes” how hard is this on a scale of 1 – 5 (5 = very hard.)

5

1

3-4

3-4

1

4

1

What actions can be performed in this environment?

Role-plays.

Use Google Slides

Use 360° images in some cases

Whiteboard

YouTube

Ready made conversation prompts

 Different actions (movements, gestures, etc)

The avatars can communicate using voice. No text chat.

Building.

Role-plays.

Information sharing through voice, chat, signs, embedded video and audio.    

500-2K            avatars can meet at once in a virtual conference center.                

 Role-plays and quests

Information sharing through voice, chat, signs, embedded video and audio.    

Quests.

Presentations, lectures, meetings

 Interaction with Non-Playing-Character which is a chatbot which understands voice

 Collaboration, meetings, parties

Chat with anybody, lots of language practise opportunities, private chat too

Role-plays

Storytelling games

Building

Practicing the 4 skills: writing, listening, reading and speaking

Students research and rebuild entire towns

Target language rich environment

Games, self-directed learning

Students build

Scenarios, role plays, interaction/chatting with bots, quests, treasure hunts, machinima- making

Different educational aims

Any as on Open Sim plus affordances with breedables, modifiable bots, holodeck simulations, inexhaustible animations

Collaborative building and then single player gaming

Conquests, Quests, Combat

Collaboration, role-plays, storytelling

Are there separate language groups within the environment? Name them.

No only English

There is a possibility to speak different languages.  International user base using voice chat.

 English only

No native English speakers in Edmondo-

Yes English speaking people in Craft

“ELT Learner Factor” is for learning English

Yes on European Servers

No voice

Is there any content in the environment?

List items.

I see different areas. The designers seem to have decided to have a ‘situational approach’ and provide spaces that can be used for situational language learning.

Different worlds can be accessed through menus and portals.  Each world is a unique, often very detailed, environment.

There are existing worlds that can be accessed where there is already learning content, or you can build your own.

There are lots of existing regions in which learning, meeting, and teaching can be hosted.  needs.

No

 Yes, learning content. A story, characters, a quest, finding objects

 No

No

Tons of content by other users

Kitely marketplace and hyper gridding

learner/teacher-created  ELT material

Abundant content on marketplace

Yes, limited for free version but with great search tools for 3D content on the web.

What are the primary ways of communi-

cating in this environment?

• Text
• Voice chat
• Streaming video
• Other

Voice

No text chat

White- boards/ Video

Pop up text that will appear in view of each student.

Voice only, NO text chat.

Shared watching of streaming video.

Voice and text chat, signs, embedded video and audio.

Includes some built in language translators.

Voice and Textchat

Whiteboards, embedded video, chat, , shared streaming video.

Voice chat/ Text chat

Play Videos and watch presentations

Text und Voice chat

Voice chat and limited private chat

Textchat only

Text and Voice

Video-machinima,

External, online software/apps

Chatbots

Text und Voice chat,

Video-machinima,

External, online software/apps

Chatbots

Text und Voice chat

Communication with chatbots via text

External software: Discord for voice and textchat

Text und Voice chat

External software: Discord for voice and textchat

Is it a freeform world in which you can build anything?

No

Yes, using the SDK you can build and share environments.  Building is done in Unity.

Yes. To make building easier there are over 2K pre-existing objects (like cows) and shapes that you can edit and combine into new builds.

Yes. Can also import items, worlds, and landscapes from OpenSim and Sinespace market and Unity asset store.

No

No

No

No

yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Are there built in game mechanics?

If so, could the built in game mechanics be used to support language learning?

Some.  Scenarios in which students find things or solve sequence riddles.  Also built in conversations

No, some e-sports

No.

No

No

Yes, its an adventure game and a chatbot

No

No

OS is a user generated

Yes, games can be build

Yes, there is a plethora of learner/teacher-generated games, scenarios and immersive tasks

No

No

Yes

Yes, in survival mode: how to survive

Unique features

Stability, longevity

Simplicity of building

Number of avatars that can meet simultaneously

Based on Unity game engine, so has ability to grow with develop- ment of the technology.

User -friendly

Bookmarking presentations before sessions or meetings.

Chatbot which listens to voice

Open Source means content is somewhat safe

Older students helped younger students on how to build

Young pupils/ kids - everyone can build

Second Life can decide to close down

Unique challenges

Avatars can be heavy load on server, so possible limits on number of folks per environment.  Sometimes challenges setting up streaming video..

Single player only, might play to the end and then what?

It’s difficult to write scripts to make objects move.

Students are better in building than the teacher!

Scripting language C++ and LSL (Linden Second Life)

What is missing?

Can’t build/ can’t VR

https://virbela.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029538992-List-of-Emotes

Agency, prescribed learning path, predetermined content which might not be applicable to what students need to learn - beginner level only

Avatar movements, gestures

Holodecks OpenSim - Open Source = non- commercial, under- funded, lot’s handmade

Where can I learn more?

https://www.activeworlds.com/ and http://www.aw3du.com/

gholden@onlineschool.ca

Yes, see https://www.activeworlds.com/downloads.php

https://sine.space/

https://unity.com/

virbela.com/book-a-tour 

http://play2speak.com/game

https://youtu.be/RChLkOG1PWQ

https://youtu.be/NooSThtL9sI

Annalisa di Pierro

http://edmondo.indire.it

https://www.craft-world.org/page/en/home.php

Helena Galani

Aka Prof Azure on Kitely or ErlinaAzure on Second Life

VOTING