[UCI-Calit2] Learning in Virtual Worlds for Children - Seminar Tuesday August 3

[Stuart Ross]

SURF-IT SEMINAR SERIES

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Information Technology

Tuesday, August 3    Calit2 Building, Room 3008

A light lunch will be available at 11:45 AM; the seminar will begin at 12:00.

“Literacy and Learning in Virtual Worlds for Children”

by Rebecca W. Black

In recent years there has been an explosion of virtual worlds intended for early childhood populations; however, because the majority of research on games and such worlds has focused on adults and adolescents, we know very little about these spaces.  This presentation attempts to address this gap by exploring the affordances that two popular online environments, Webkinz World and Club Penguin, offer for children’s learning and development.  Analyses suggest that the sites provide unique opportunities for immersion in literacy-rich contexts and academically-oriented practices that may enhance those that are readily available in many children’s daily lives.  However, looking beyond the discrete linguistic and technical aspects of learning in these spaces reveals a designed culture with limitations on learning and a constrained set of social messages that warrant further critical exploration.  These findings also bring to mind questions about the role that educational and developmental theory should play in the design of virtual play spaces for young children.  

Rebecca Black is an assistant professor in the Department of Education.  Her research is on the literacy and socialization practices of children and adolescents from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds who are writing and participating in online, popular culture-inspired environments.  She is the author of a 2008 book exploring how English language learning youth represent their cultural and linguistic identities through fan fiction texts.  

The SURF-IT Fellow working with Dr. Black this summer is Ana Maria Sanchez, a psychology major.

--The SURF-IT program is co-sponsored by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Office.--




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