Eduserv awards ?[fraction one-third]m in research grants

Eduserv has awarded grants totalling ?333,000 to fund four research projects, each of which involve investigations into the use of virtual worlds in learning and education. The not-for-profit Foundation's grant programme is designed to drive the effective application of IT in education.

The

Diane Carr, post doctoral research fellow in media and education at the London Knowledge Lab, will use the grant to analyse the effectiveness of learning in online worlds such as World of Warcraft and second Life. Courses will be taught in Second Life and the outcomes assessed.

Daniel Livingstone, lecturer at the University of Paisley's school of computing, will research and develop pedagogical theories relevant to multi-user 3-D virtual worlds and develop Sloodle (an open source project integrating second Life and Moodle) to provide the tools required for the support and management of student's learning.

At Kings College London, Prof. Richard Beacham will also explore learning in second Life by developing replica models of 19 European theatres from different historical periods and investigating how they can be used in practical teaching situations.