Individual Versus Collaborative Learning In A Virtual World

E-Learning in general and, specifically, learning in virtual worlds has become more and more popular in recent years. In the present study we investigated whether learning is more successful if students learn in a virtual world individually or collaboratively. We also assessed the motivation of the participants and the usability of the virtual environment. The findings showed a tendency that learning was more successful when participants learned collaboratively than individually. Furthermore, their interest (current motivation) decreased during the learning session when they learned individually and increased when they learned in a group. This experiment shows that, in virtual worlds, collaborative learning seems to be more effective and more engaging than individual learning.