3Dvirtual learningsystems and educational gaming：possibilities for e－Textbook 2.0

J.M.LAFFEY

（School of Information Science and Learning Technologies，University of Missouri，MO65211，USA）

0 Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to envision and argue the potential of 3D virtual learning environments（3D VLE）and educational gaming as a new form of e－Textbooks.For over 20 years publishers and educators have conceptualized and tried pilot implementations of digital forms of textbooks.Typically these forms of e－Textbooks have taken the form of digital copies of traditional paper books delivered in a new format，such as on a Compact Disc，and in some cases enhancements including supplementary video and animations.These efforts have been hindered by publisher’s concerns about how to protect their intellectual property and the profits they receive from traditional textbooks as well as by the complexity of implementing e－Textbooks in the varieties of technologies and implementations of technologies in schools.Recently advances in technology such as ubiquitous high speed networking and the proliferation of personal computing devices，such as iPads as well as other mobile forms，has stimulated renewed interest in e－Textbooks.Scholars are also envisioning new functionality，such as interactivity and analytics，as part of a new form of how educational content can be delivered.This paper explores the potential of developing a new form of e－Textbook，let us call it e－Textbook 2.0，based on advancing technologies for 3D virtual learning and on designing to meet pedagogical objectives using game mechanisms and strategies.

1 E－Textbooks

1.1 Use of Textbooks

When Socrates voiced concerns around 450 B.C.that the new technology of writing would weaken the mental capacities of Greeks he began a debate about the use of textbooks for educational purposes.Chinese philosophers may have voiced similar skepticism perhaps 1000 years before Socrates.Two thousand years after Socrates Gutenberg’s improvement in the mechanics of movable type ushered in the modern printing press and began the widespread use of books in western civilization.In the 19thcentury textbooks became the primary teaching instrument for most children in western civilization.Today we must reconsider the role and form of textbooks as our technologies have advanced and provided new capabilities and our understanding of learning has progressed from traditional models of knowledge acquisition to models that explain learning and cognitive growth through activity in context.

Textbooks bring many benefits to the classroom including：

1.Standardizing curriculum and coverage of content，

2.Economics of scale for producing learning materials，

3.Mitigation of the need for teachers to reinvent the wheel in content creation，

4.Ability of students to study outside the classroom，

5.Ability for students to access content when they miss class sessions，

6.Ability for students to look forward and look backward on content coverage，

7.Professionally developed materials including narrative and images.

However，textbooks also have a number of limitations or constraints：

1.Mass production and not attuned to the needs of a particular classroom and individual students，

2.Content is decontextualized，so for example science educators complain that students are learning about science not how to do science，

3.Textbooks must meet commercial and political requirements in addition to pedagogical requirements，

4.Knowledge grows rapidly but textbooks are changed out slowly，

5.Textbooks are limited in how they can engage active learning，

6.Textbooks are not interactive like much of the media that engage students outside of the classroom.

1.2 Potential of e－Textbooks

Advances in technology including high－speed networking，mobile devices and digital media have excited publishers and educators about the potential of developing e－Textbooks so as to retain the benefits of textbooks while mitigating their deficiencies.This movement to envision，design and implement e－Textbooks can be extremely powerful in improving education since textbooks are a primary vehicle of education with some accounts citing that textbook usage is as high as 90%of available time in some classrooms［1］.In addition for most teachers textbooks are the primary means of implementing homework and other outof－classroom learning activity.Thus，if e－Textbooks can improve the pedagogical impact of textbooks，then the expected benefits can be widespread and substantial.

For the past 20 years the education industry has been imagining，conceptualizing and implementing e－Textbooks of various types and formats from web based to device based，from screen rendered editions as exact copies of printed books to editions with enhancements，such as animations，video and interactive quizzes［2］.The modern day e－textbook is perhaps best represented by two visions：（1）how mobile devices such as Kindles and iPads could be transformed into interactive digital textbooks，and（2）web－based environments such as WileyPLUS and MYLabs which combine interactive textbooks and assessment systems with the hope for ubiquitous access.Chesser［2］identifies 3 forms of e－Textbooks：（1）page fidelity where the e－textbook is an exact replica of the print version，（2）reflowable where the e－textbook updates formatting to take advantage and conform with media devices such as web pages，tablets and smart phones but does not change content，and（3）media－rich and interactive where original text sources are re－engineered to include inline or online video，gradable quizzes，and adaptable learning paths.The media－rich and interactive models are also taking on new forms such as stand－alone apps and web portals.

International initiatives are undertaking efforts to develop standards for e－Textbooks.A leading initiative is the China e－Textbook and e－Schoolbag Standards Working Group（CETESBSWG）which was jointly founded in 2010 by the China National Information Technology Standardization Technical Committee of SAC（Standardization Administration of the People＇s Republic of China）and China e－Learning Technology Standardization Committee（CELTSC）of MOE（Ministry of Education）to work on e－Textbook ＆e－Schoolbag Standards（ETESBS）.Wu and colleagues［3］describe some of the key work in developing standards for e－Textbooks and for using e－Textbooks as a foundation for a teaching and learning ecosystem.Standards are critical for the interoperability needed among content sources，software platforms and devices.Standards enable the possibility of an ecosystem and an ecosystem enables the possibility of sustained implementation that marries content with services.The recognition that e－Textbooks need to be understood and implemented as part of a broader view of a learning and teaching ecology is key to improving how textbooks or learning materials of any kind contribute to teaching and learning.To maximize the use and benefits of learning materials they cannot be developed in isolation of the networks and devices which are needed for implementation nor in isolation from teaching and learning pedagogy and practices.

1.3 Use of e－Textbooks

While there is great hope and potential for e－Textbooks across the educational spectrum from kindergarten to life－long learning，most of the early implementation and usage has been in higher education.Studies show that higher education students use e－Books and e－Textbooks for collecting and conducting research.One study in higher education［4］using transactional logs，questionnaires and focus groups found that e－Textbooks were extremely popular，widely used and mainly used for obtaining small units of information（snippets）as part of fact finding.

In a study of e－book adoption in primary／elementary schools Embong［5］found that e－Books were not used as often as expected with only 16%of participants saying they used the e－book regularly.In this study an e－book was defined as reader software and educational content loaded on a lightweight reader device.The report also notes that the e－Books were mostly used by students to surf the Internet and listen to music.In general，the e－book was well received but was not seen as having substantial advantages over more traditional textbooks.These results show that in this community the adoption of e－Books for education was still in a fairly early stage as further indicated by students reporting that 35%of teachers rarely used the e－Books.One lesson may be that e－Books need to be designed to fit school practices and that teachers will need help integrating e－Books into their practices.Xing and colleagues［6］also report on the use of e－Textbooks in a field test in K－12 classrooms.The researchers used questionnaires and follow up interviews with a sample of 76 teachers.In this study the e－Textbooks were innovative，media－rich and interactive.Only 14%of teachers indicated they would like to use e－Textbooks to replace paper textbooks.The large majority of teachers preferred to use the innovative e－Textbooks as supplementary to traditional textbooks.The majority of teachers also saw the most benefitof e－Textbooks outside of classroom time when used for classroom preparation and selfstudy.Teachers did like some of the innovative functionality of the e－Textbooks including the ability to organize the content sequence and to identify learning paths taken by students through the content.The researchers concluded that the innovative e－Textbooks enhanced teacher capabilities for supporting dynamic and personalized learning for their students.These findings illustrate some of the potential benefits of e－Textbooks，but along with the Embong findings suggest that there still is work to be done before e－Textbooks replace paper textbooks in classrooms.

2 3DVirtual Learning Environments and Educational Gaming

In examining the potential of 3D VLE and educational gaming as a next generation etextbook it is important to recognize that there are many forms of educational gaming but for the purposes of this paper and keeping the scope somewhat narrowed，this paper will focus on role playing and simulation games.The focus is on role playing and simulation because these two forms of gaming have rich affordances［7］for virtualizing experiences by conveying both content and putting that content into practice with substantial fidelity to practices in the real world.In the United States a decade ago parents lamented that they could not keep their children from playing video games and educators banned game play from schools.Today prestigious reports［8－10］suggest that game play may be a key strategy in preparing our students for success in a complex world where the jobs we can expect them to undertake have not even been identified yet.This transformation is（1）partly due to advancing and ubiquitous technology which enables new kinds of virtualized experiences，（2）partly due to powerful examples in both the entertainment and educational sector，and（3）partly due to how well virtual environments and gaming map to our vision for improved education.

2.1 Advancing Technology

Today’s technology paradigm includes a multiplicity of devices and interfaces from mobile handheld devices to immersive 3D virtual environments，all of which may come with a high degree of connectivity to other people and resources around the world.Not only are new technologies advancing in capabilities，but the new mobility of technology means that these capabilities are ubiquitous and increasingly apart of most everyday activity.These advancing capabilities include higher bandwidth and broadly distributed networking which allow students to be connected with others and with resources in ways that are dramatically changing the teaching and learning experience.The new capabilities also include increased processing capabilities relentlessly delivered in smaller and cheaper forms.These processing advancements make it possible to envision virtualization of experience through creating computer models of real and realistic contexts that provide a sense of presence and immersion.

2.2 Powerful Examples

It is estimated that over 12 million people play the massively multiplayer online role playing game World of Warcraft and that the action adventure role playing game of Grand Theft Auto may sell as many as 20 million copies in the first 6 months of its new edition V.Video game play is becoming culturally disruptive（estimates suggest that over 60%of American households have a game player in the family）and children are coming to schools comparing the engaging，active experience of playing games with the rather placid and passive nature of being in a classroom.Fortunately these technologies and techniques for virtualization and role playing experiences are also being applied，although with far less investment and more limited use，to 3D virtual learning and role playing games.Laffey and colleagues［11，12］have developed iSocial，a3D VLE for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders to develop social competency capabilities.The youth enter a 3D virtual world and participate with peers in guided activities to develop effective social practices.River City is a multi－user 3D VLE developed for middle－school students to learn skills of hypothesis formation and experimental design as well as content related to recognized standards and assessments in biology and epidemiology［13］.The educational video game Mission BioTech［14］provides a virtual experience for students in learning biotechnology materials and tools as the students solve challenging problems such as the diagnosis of a deadly plague spreading throughout the city.Quest Atlantis is a set of multi－user 3D VLE for knowledge quests and interactive tasks and is designed to implement learning through transformational play.As of 2009，15 different virtual worlds aligned with academic subject matter have been developed and have been used by thousands of students around the world［15］.

Some games developed as entertainment also provide substantial educational value.One example is the turn－based strategy game Civilization that sets a challenge for the player of building a sustainable empire.Another example is SimCity where the player creates a city simulation from a relatively open ended set of options and the player is tasked with balancing citizen happiness with keeping a city budget.These examples of games provide models and illustrations of how3D VLE and games can provide educational content and practices while being highly engaging.

3 E－Textbooks 2.0

The promise of e－Textbooks is that they bring the benefits of advancing technology to improve teaching and learning by making improved educational materials available to K－12.There are reasons to be optimistic in that（1）e－Textbook examples such as those shown by Wu and colleagues offer impressive affordances，（2）e－Textbooks are relatively well received in classrooms even if the early adopters see them more as supplementary to traditional textbooks，and（3）e－Textbooks offer economic advantages over paper－based textbooks.WU and colleagues［16］have described a framework of e－Textbooks and e－Schoolbags that include both learning content and learning tools.Wu describes two types of learning tools：（1）traditional tools such as dictionaries and rulers that can be virtualizedand（2）innovative tools based on cognitive science and learning theories.The idea of innovative tools based on cognitive science and learning theory is a starting place for imagining the next generation of e－Textbooks（e－Textbooks 2.0）or alternatively additional models of e－Textbooks to complement the form to e－textbook now being discussed.

3.1 Direction for learning materials

In“How People Learn”［17］under the leadership of John Bransford the National Academies of Science in the United States identified the knowledge base and guiding principles for teaching and Learning.Much of their guidance can be summed up in 3 recommendations：

1.Understanding student learning starts with a recognition that students come to learning with preconceptions and these conceptions must be engaged.

2.The target for student learning must be a mastery of concepts that allow for deep understanding and transformation from a set of facts to usable knowledge.

3.Teaching strategies ideally engage students in problem solving and monitoring their understanding and progress.

In 2009 John Hattie［18］synthesized over 800 meta－analyses representing over 50，000 studies relating to educational achievement，and then provided rankings for the various interventions by their effect sizes.The mean effect size across all interventions was d＝0.40.A key finding of his work was to identify“quality feedback”as the single most powerful influence enhancing student achievement.In discussing the finding on feedback Hattie says，“The mistake I was making was seeing feedback as something teachers provided to students—they typically did not，although they made claims that they did it all the time，and most of the feedback they did provide was social and behavioral.It was only when I discovered that feedback was most powerful when it is from the student to the teacher that I started to understand it better.When teachers seek，or at least are open to，feedback from students as to what students know，what they understand，where they make errors，when they have misconceptions，when they are not engaged—then teaching and learning can be synchronized and powerful.Feedback to teachers helps make learning visible.”（2009，p.173）The key for Hattie was to make teaching and learning visible so that the teacher and student could monitor how fluency is gained.He summarized his beliefs in two principles：（1）having teachers see learning through the eyes of their students and（2）having students see themselves as their own teachers.

These seminal works by Bransford and Hattie articulate the knowledge base for learning that shows that learners must be active in ways that put their preconceptions into play.The enactment of prior knowledge enables new or advanced understanding of concepts to be formed in ways that make sense to the learner.Further，engaging students in problem solving activities that can be tightly monitored and which provide feedback both to the teacher and to the student is a powerful and recommended strategy for teaching.Unfortunately even with e－Textbooks and other forms of individualization in classrooms it is verydifficult for teachers to plan，execute and monitor engaging activity－based and problembased learning for students.The teacher’s task is even more formidable when faced with classrooms of 20 to 30 or more students.

3.2 Designing 3D VLE ＆ Games to implement e－Textbooks 2.0

Fortunately the video game model fits well as a starting point for enacting the kind of teaching and learning espoused by Bransford and Hattie.Games are problem solving situations that when done well engage students in sustained learning（of how to play the game）and problem solving so as to succeed at the game.The challenges，immersion，interaction and feedback of game play provide inherent rewards to the player for playing the game.To bring about e－Textbooks 2.0educators must envision ways that games can be put to the service of learning curriculum objectives without losing the sense of play.While there is much to learn about how best to design and develop 3D VLE and gaming so as to create e－Textbooks 2.0，synthesizing what is known about games and educational games（see section 3）with the work of Bransford and Hattie（see earlier parts of section4）suggests two important areas of research and development.

The first area is how to make the content of the curriculum into the subject of game play.Laffey and colleagues［19］developed a framework based on curriculum，place，story and learning orthotics to engage，support and guide a learner in a virtual world－based educational game.The school curriculum must be translated into cognitive and behavioral tasks so that the game designer can know what the player should be doing and should be reaching higher levels in their doing while playing the game.In iSocial，referenced above，the curriculum objectives of having students with ASD learn to take turns in conversations and share ideas with friends and partners were translated into tasks of building a restaurant and saving a king in his castle in ways which required students to share ideas and showed the students the benefits and strategies of taking turns.The game designer also needs to create a virtual place（sets of 3D models and objects）in which to bring these tasks to life.Imagine the difference between the learners experience of being in a 3D restaurant that is actually being created around you while going through such tasks as opposed to just being given a paper and pencil tasks of writing down the features you want in your restaurant.Having a rich place which is visually stimulating and representational of your ideas inspires students to want to take the next step and see what the next part of the restaurant will look like.Additionally the designer needs to create a rich story which makes the tasks meaningful and places them in the virtual setting.The story and the need to complete it sustains the students even when there are failures and tasks get hard.In Mission BioTech the players must diagnosis a viral strain in order to save their city.As the students work in their biotech lab they receive reports and see victims of the plague which creates drama and compels them toward finding an answer.Lastly，is the idea of learning orthotics.Orthotics are generally physical devices that can be added to a persons world to enable capabilities the person does not yet or may never have，but which are important for some valuable per－formance.For example，wearing glasses to adjust your eyesight or using a crutch while you wait for a broken leg to heal are forms of orthotics.The nice thing about virtual worlds（although it is also the hard thing）is that everything in the world must be imagined，designed，developed and implemented by the developer.This means that whatever the developer can imagine could be part of the world.For example in many popular entertainment games the players have to be able to defeat antagonists，so developers have created all sorts of weapons to be used in their games.In the iSocial project we needed to find ways to help the online teacher manage the movement of youth during a lesson.Naturally the students were curious about their worlds and wanted to explore as soon as possible，but the teacher needed to get their attention and give guidance before letting the students take on their tasks.So we created learning places and pods that could be locked and unlocked by the teacher.When the student got onto their pod（similar to taking their seat in a classroom）the teacher could lock the pod and it would turn red，when the teacher time was completed the teacher could unlock the pod and it would turn green.The students learned how pods worked and what red and green meant and generally conformed to this expectation for behavior management because they had an orthotic that helped them understand boundaries and when and where certain behaviors were appropriate or not appropriate.Another form of orthotic for educational games that we are imagining for a simulation game we are developing is the ability to use a time machine to travel into the future to see the results of decisions after 10 years or 50 years or whatever time period is appropriate.We cannot use time machines in the real world，but in virtual worlds these types of features can be readily available to help the student learn through feedback on their actions.

The second area is how to integrate assessment into the game so as to provide rich and helpful feedback to the teacher and the student.One of the affordances of 3D VLE is making activity visible，so that when a student wants to review a resource they may need to walk to the library and find the book on the virtual shelf or when a student wants to ask a question they may need to orient their avatar in a position so as to engage with another avatar.In this way students see what they are doing and perhaps as importantly see what others are doing.So rather than being in a textbook where the only action is the private turning of pages，in virtual worlds students see other students navigating to resources and engaging in activity in ways（we call this social navigation）that suggest action.Having a co－presence with others can be very powerful when managed well in supporting risk taking and perseverance on tasks as well as providing tacit guidance for how activities are to be undertaken.Making the students action explicit and visible creates opportunities for analytics to provide feedback to the teacher about what the student is doing and accomplishing.Teachers cannot watch each student play the game nor do they have time to watch screencasts of each student playing the game，so how will teachers know what students are accomplishing.Of course there is always the possibility of using a test after the game has been concluded to assess what was learned，but this turns the game into a black box forthe teacher and makes feedback other than about the final test score impossible.What is most desirable is for the teacher to “see”the most important discriminators of which students are progressing well and which need help and then be able to give appropriate feedback to each（as well as to the various shades of progressing well that can be found in problem solving activities）.Some of this can be accounted for by simple notifications of when students pass milestones and reach higher levels，but additionally we can envision learning analytics to help us understand patterns of activity so as to know when to make informed guesses about students who may need various types of feedback and support.Just as Amazon.com can know that there are certain types of books that you may find interesting based on your previous choices of books and by reviewing records of readers who purchase books similar to your own choices，our educational games can provide tips to teachers about when students are likely engaging in unproductive behavior or operating on misconceptions.These integrated forms of assessment enabled by activity－based learning while engaging in practices associated with curriculum objectives and coupled with learning analytics offer great promise for a new form of learning material which can take the role of an e－textbook in a number of settings.

4 Summary

As stated in the introduction the purpose of this paper has been to speculate about the possibilities of using3D VLE and educational gaming as forms for envisioning new learning materials，specifically offering options and extensions to our vision of e－Textbooks.As described in this paper 3D VLE and educational gaming offer rich affordances，which fit well with current models of how learners learn.In addition advances in technology are making the affordances more readily available.We have a number of good examples of 3D VLE and educational gaming，such as iSocial，Quest Atlantis，River City and Mission Biotech，but these are really just starting points for taking on the challenges of how to best design and develop these learning systems.This article has also made the case for increased focus on how to make curriculum subjects be the subject of game play，so that gameplay is an authentic representation of the practices we want students to undertake，such as doing science and mathematics.Similarly we have made the case for designing environments and games so that learning is visible and analytics can be used to provide feedback to the teacher and the students.Educators may be fearful that entrusting the education of our youth to what happens inside the black box of a computer is highly risky and that games，even if called educational，may not lead to high quality learning outcomes.However，most educators are most thrilled by seeing their students engaged and taking personal responsibility for learning in a context where the educator is aware of what is being achieved and can manage and support learning.We believe this is the promise of 3D VLE and educational gaming，but recognize that there is much work ahead to understand best approaches.

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