Abstract:
The purposes of this research were: 1) to study related documents and experts opinions about designing situated learning in a virtual world, collaborative creativity, and elements supporting virtual team creativity, 2) to develop virtual world learning model using situated learning to enhance collaborative creativity of pre-service teachers, 3) to examine the effects of the model, and 4) to propose the model. The samples used in the model development consisted of 33 experts, and used in the model experiment consisted of 67 fourth-year pre-service teachers and organized into 14 mixed-ability learning teams. The research instruments consisted of an expert interview form, a model evaluation form, a 3D virtual learning system (Virtual world), and a lesson plan. The data-gathering instruments included an evaluation form of collaborative creativity, a participant observation form, a virtual exhibition evaluation form, and a questionnaire on students opinions. The collected data were analyzed by using mean, standard deviation, and t-test. The findings revealed that the developed model comprised of seven components and three main steps. The seven components were: 1) virtual world, 2) 3D environment management, 3) communicative and collaborative tools, 4) virtual world learning activities, 5) roles of relevant parties, 6) elements supporting virtual team creativity, and 7) evaluation. The three main steps were: 1) provide a face-to-face orientation; 2) join situated learning in the virtual world, which consisted of six learning processes: 2.1) co-study the situation, 2.2) co-analyze the situation, 2.3) co-explore information from learning resources, 2.4) co-propose ideas to solve the situation, 2.5) co-integrate ideas for solving the situation, and 2.6) co-summarize the concept of the situation's solution; and 3) evaluate. The result from using the virtual world learning model indicated that the collaborative creativity of students was at a high level. The final mean score of collaborative creativity was higher than the first-time mean score at .05 level of significance.