Collaborative virtual environments for supporting learning communities: an experience of use

In this paper we present the experiences of usage of Viras, a collaborative virtual environment for social awareness support in educational settings. Collaborative Virtual environments (CVE) have lately been used for learning in different contexts, and offer promising possibilities for supporting social awareness. In our study, we look at how students evaluate CVE in educational settings and investigate the importance of different factors on social awareness. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.3 [Group and Organization Interfaces] - Computersupported cooperative work, evaluation/methodology. General Terms Design, Experimentation, Human Factors Keywords Collaborative virtual environments, learning, communities, social awareness.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: GROUP
• Authors: Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland, Monica Divitini
• Keywords: Collaborative Virtual Environments, Educational Settings, GROUP 2003, Social Awareness