A new approach to design education: evaluations of 3D virtual worlds on design teaching and learning

With the recent developments in information and communication technologies, 3D virtual worlds have the potential to make a major contribution to design education as constructivist learning environments. Considering the changing trend in design education, we have been employing cutting-edge technologies in our design teaching, allowing students to collaborate within the 3D virtual environments such as Second Life (www.secondlife.com) and Active Worlds (www.activeworlds.com), which support synchronized design communication and real-time 3D modeling. This paper reports our teaching experience and the students’ learning experience, based on team-based design and communication skills-building in 3D virtual environments and presents the challenges faced by design education. In this paper, we will firstly provide a critical analysis of various design learning and teaching features in 3D virtual environments as constructivist learning environments, and secondly identify issues which address the core skills and cognitive processes involved when designing in 3D virtual environments