Multi-User Virtual Environment – a Tool for Play or Academic Engagement?

It is common to observe small groups of students who are constantly not performing up to the expected academic standard – even with other forms of assistance such as remediation programs—and they often run the risk of giving up totally in their learning and education. This is particularly detrimental when it happens to young students when they are still at the elementary levels of their education. This negative learning experience could result in self-fulling prophecies of failure and learned helplessness affecting these students’ psychological well-being in the long run (Margolis & McCabe, 2006).

[1]  L. Vygotsky Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes: Harvard University Press , 1978 .

[2]  C. Sansone,et al.  Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation : the search for optimal motivation and performance , 2000 .

[3]  Robert L. Bangert-Drowns,et al.  A Taxonomy of Student Engagement with Educational Software: An Exploration of Literate Thinking with Electronic Text , 2001 .

[4]  P. Mukhopadhaya Trends in income disparity and equality enhancing (?) education policies in the development stages of Singapore , 2003 .

[5]  J. Porac,et al.  Cognition and Communication at Work , 1999 .

[6]  Jennifer A. Fredricks,et al.  School Engagement: Potential of the Concept, State of the Evidence , 2004 .

[7]  Y. Engeström Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. , 2001 .

[8]  Y. Engeström,et al.  Interactive expertise : studies in distributed working intelligence , 1992 .

[9]  R. Stake The art of case study research , 1995 .

[10]  Michael K. Thomas,et al.  Making learning fun: Quest Atlantis, a game without guns , 2005 .

[11]  Yrjö Engeström Cognition and communication at work: The tensions of judging: Handling cases of driving under the influence of alcohol in Finland and California , 1996 .

[12]  M. Lepper,et al.  Turning “play” into “work” and “work” into “play”: 25 Years of research on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation , 2000 .

[13]  Howard Margolis,et al.  Improving Self-Efficacy and Motivation , 2006 .

[14]  B. Nardi Context and consciousness: activity theory and human-computer interaction , 1995 .

[15]  J. Piaget Play, dreams and imitation in childhood , 1951 .

[16]  R. Sawyer The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences: Introduction , 2014 .

[17]  Lisa C. Yamagata-Lynch,et al.  Using Activity Theory to Understand the Systemic Tensions Characterizing a Technology-Rich Introductory Astronomy Course , 2002 .

[18]  Jan G. Hogle Considering Games as Cognitive Tools: In Search of Effective "Edutainment" , 1996 .

[19]  W. K. Ho,et al.  Education In Singapore: A Book Of Readings , 1997 .

[20]  Y. Engeström,et al.  Activity theory as a framework for analyzing and redesigning work. , 2000, Ergonomics.

[21]  Toni M. Kempler,et al.  The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences: Motivation and Cognitive Engagement in Learning Environments , 2005 .

[22]  Thomas C. Reeves,et al.  Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning environments , 2003, ASCILITE.