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Jan 15, 2001
In-Service
This page is designed specifically with the new-to-technology educator in mind. Please feel free to reproduce this page for use in your teacher training sessions or other staff development efforts.
MUVE, MUD, MOO, MUSE - What?
By Jefrey Branzburg
Have you ever played a computer adventure game? From the earliest computer games to the latest role-playing shoot-'em-ups, these offerings share a common element-a virtual environment that players explore to encounter people and objects. While the first offerings were designed with just one player in mind, the most recent are meant to involve interaction in a virtual world with people from around the globe. What's all this to do with education? In a few words, MUVE, MUD, MOO, and MUSE.
A MUVE, or Multiuser Virtual Environment, is an online area where teachers and students can collaborate on projects, hold conferences, attend sessions hosted by experts, and build virtual learning environments. Other names for this environment are MUD (Multiuser Domain), MOO (MUD, Object Oriented), and MUSE (Multiuser Simulated Environment).
Because of its online status, a MUVE overcomes limitations of time and distance, allowing users to participate anywhere, anytime. TAPPED IN (www.tappedin.org), an online workplace for education professionals, touts MUVEs for their ability to support distributed communities and overcome many of the problems of access and scale that limit conventional collaborative efforts.
Logging In to a MUVE
Typically, participants enter a user name and password, which brings them into a virtual world to explore. If the world is graphics-oriented, they may need to first download and install special software from the MUVE (as is the case with the Active Worlds Educational Universe at www.activeworlds.com/edu/awedu.html), or they may need to use a Java-enabled browser. While exploring, they can see who else is online, enter and leave rooms, talk and interact with others, work collaboratively on projects, and more.
MUVEs in the Classroom
MUVEs can enhance learning in many disciplines and educational situations by allowing students to make connections to curriculum content. One example is MOOSE Crossing (www.cc.gatech.edu/elc/moose-crossing/), developed by Professor Amy Bruckman. It is a place where students (most under 13 years old) learn computer programming and improve their reading and writing by working on projects in a self-motivated, peer-supported fashion. Students create objects (from magic carpets to virtual pets), build virtual rooms and cities, and meet and interact with other students from around the world. Bruckman finds this type of community essential to children's learning experiences, as it offers role models, project models, technical support, and an appreciative audience for their work.
Another example is a Civil Rights Forum that took place in TAPPED IN's Student Activity Center. Sixty high school students from three different states considered difficult issues via group collaboration in the classroom and in online "rooms," exploring the varied points of view of students from a range of environments and backgrounds.
MUVEs and Professional Development
A MUVE can provide numerous professional development resources for educators, such as global interactive forums and discussion groups, links to Web sites, and resource libraries from every country in the world.
Education MUVE Resources
In addition to TAPPED IN and MOOSE Crossing, you may want to take a look at these resources.
- Education Development Center , Inc. (edc.techleaders.org/emerging99/MUVEarchive/readings.htm) additional_muve_resources.htm) has a Web page containing links to MUVE resources, such as Diversity University's Online Learning Environments Compared and the MOO Teacher's Tip Sheet.
- Rachel's Super MOO List of Educational MOOs (cinemaspace.berkeley.edu/~rachel/moolist/) has links to numerous MOOs, such as one about Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and one that is run by students at LBJ High School in Austin, Texas.
Reprinted with permission from Technology & Learning (www.techLearning.com)
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