Teaching Risk with Virtual Worlds - Experience and Lessons Learnd in Second Life and Other Virtual Worlds

Abstract

We discuss and demonstrate how Virtual Worlds available at the University of Bedfordshire have been used to teach Project Management using a 'situated learning' approach. In particular we have a closer look on the aspect of teaching risk management and identify how different aspects of risk are addressed in a variety of implementations of Virtual Worlds, namely Second Life, a Virtual World provided by an external provider, not Linden Lab, a Virtual World that is maintained 'in-house' and a Virtual World hosted by the students themselves. We note that the student experience of risk is different in each of these incarnations of a Virtual World which impacts their perception of risk and hence the effects this has concerning the teaching goals.