Monday, June 22
10:00-10:30 AM
EDT
Ballroom East

A Social Network Game as virtual Third Place: Community Enabler in Virtual Learning Environments?

Full Paper: Conceptual & Empirical Study ID: 45178
  1. aaa
    Heinrich Söbke
    Bauhaus-Universität WeimarBauhaus-Institute for Infrastructure Solutions (b.is)
  2. Jörg Londong
    Bauhaus-Universität WeimarBauhaus-Institute for Infrastructure Solutions (b.is)

Abstract: Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are essential components especially in distance learning. However, they show shortcomings in terms of community building. Because (community-induced) social interactions are considered to be a fundamental part of learning, there is still a need for strategies to mitigate this weakness. On the other hand video games have proven to be community-enabling catalysts. Combining both facts leads to the idea of using a video game as community builder. Therefore we present the case of a simple Social Network Game (SNG). We evaluate this SNG (Fliplife) as a virtual third place. We also match an accepted set of rules for building virtual communities to characteristics of Fliplife. In sum we found evidence that it facilitates social interactions. As a consequence we propose the integration of a Fliplife-like game into a VLE to foster community building and thus to improve the learning success.

Presider: Jennifer Leauga, Lynfield College

Topics

Conference attendees are able to comment on papers, view the full text and slides, and attend live presentations. If you are an attendee, please login to get full access.
x