AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

In today’s global world, higher educational institutions and businesses are increasingly making use of virtual world learning environments to foster collaborative opportunities for adult students and employees across geographic boundaries, space, and time. Often, however, organizations place the responsibility for learning new skill sets on their adult learners. As a consequence, educators and employers alike argue this new, more complex virtual environment can create a steep learning curve for novice adult learners, causing frustration at the increased time it takes for novices to acquire necessary skills and confidence within the environment. This paper documents the ongoing creation and design of a new adult learner-focused, self-paced, structured skills-based curriculum and virtual world learning environment with situated, virtual world activities for novice adult learners. The primary focus of this project is to move the adult learner from novice to a more experienced user of virtual world environments.