Teachers as coaches: A teachers' perceptions and actions in a game-based virtual learning environment

Abstract

Identification of how a teacher can facilitate learning within virtual environments is critical if use is to become a valued student learning experience. Through an ethnographic case study, a teacher’s perception of her role and her actions in classrooms and the virtual world along with attributes used to facilitate inquiry were described. Comparisons were also made to determine if transfer of pedagogical techniques from traditional to virtual environments were possible. Understanding how game-based complex virtual worlds work and where knowledge that the student is to acquire exists, as well teacher’s value of virtual environments, were key for facilitation and teacher buy-in.