Individual Differences, Multi-Tasking and Learning in Virtual Environments

Abstract

Virtual environments are inherently social spaces where user productivity and collaborative learning can take place. As part of a thesis dissertation, this study investigated the importance of structuring learning environments within virtual worlds to maximize learning and minimize different types of distractions, accounting for individual differences between learners. Using an OpenSim virtual environment, the researchers conducted an experimental study between September 2013 to April 2015 with 91 undergraduate students at the University of Alberta. The study investigated the influence of participants__ extroversion-introversion on the impact of passive and social distractor tasks during learning and recall of factual information in virtual worlds. The results indicated that while extroverted individuals tended to complete questions faster under the interactive-type distractor condition, they achieved higher accuracy scores under the passive or no distractor-type conditions. Introverted individuals tended to complete questions faster and more accurately under the no distractor-type condition.

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Author Information
Connie Levina Yuen, University of Alberta, Canada
Patricia Martha Boechler, University of Alberta, Canada
Erik Alexander deJong, University of Alberta, Canada

• Category: IICTCHawaii2016, Oral Presentation, Paper Available
• Tag: Education in a Virtual World,

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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