Online Masters Degree Study |

An increasing number of organizations are adopting learning management systems and online programs for training solutions.

Alongside the growth of organizations seeking online training solutions is the development of LMS technology.

LMS courseware creators are designing online training that seems more game-like in nature, using interactive and engaging tools.

E-learning modules that feel game-like and interactive are growing in popularity in many professional circles.

Some organizations and universities have made plans to integrate, or are already integrating such software into their LMS training systems.

And why not?

EMarketer estimates that 24 percent of the 34.3 million million users under 19 years old participated in a virtual world at least monthly in 2007, a figure that is predicted to jump to 53 percent by 2011.

When young people use virtual worlds for entertainment and grow familiar with virtual world different tools, their experience will be more easily translated into an academic or professional learning system when they are adults.

The idea of using virtual worlds in higher education or company training may at first be dismissed along with the virtual world terminology of guilds, trolls and orcs.

But an increasing number of institutions and organizations worldwide have begun to explore the educational possibilities offered by virtual worlds.

Virtual worlds allow learners to perform tasks that may be difficult or impossible in the real world because of conditions or situations involving personal, geographical or other limitations.

A student using a virtual world can access media such as simulations, videos, and instructional demos provided by an instructor or trainer.

With the use of an avatar, students can perform tasks to reveal understanding of learning material as well as interact with their peers.

“Serious game” virtual worlds are used in professional and academic education to teach everything from frog dissection to filling a cavity.

“Serious games” and LMSs allow trainees to interact with each other and with the content in a way that traditional e-learning or face-to-face training never could provide.

Deploying a versatile LMS, trainers are able to provide trainees video and audio content in the form of demos, simulations, screen recordings, podcasts, and more.

The downside is that the majority of “serious games” on the market are either too pricey for many organizations’ budgets, or have a long way to go in terms of sophistication.

Despite the slow development of virtual worlds for professional use, e-learning software continues to expand in learning management systems and other online tools, as they become more interactive to compete in an increasingly exciting e-learning market.