Teaching Literature in Virtual Worlds ─ Immersive Learning in English Studies

What are the realities and possibilities of utilizing on-line virtual worlds as teaching tools for specific literary works? Through engaging and surprising stories from classrooms where virtual worlds are in use, this book invites readers to understand and participate in this emerging and valuable pedagogy. It examines the experience of high school and college literature teachers involved in a pioneering project to develop virtual worlds for literary study, detailing how they created, utilized, and researched different immersive and interactive virtual reality environments to support the teaching of a wide range of literary works. Readers see how students role-play as literary characters, extending and altering character conduct in purposeful ways ,and how they explore on-line, interactive literature maps, museums, archives, and game worlds to analyze the impact of historical and cultural setting, language, and dialogue on literary characters and events. This book breaks exciting ground, offering insights, pedagogical suggestions, and ways for readers to consider the future of this innovative approach to teaching literary texts.

Allen Webb is Professor of English Education and Postcolonial Studies at Western Michigan University.

Preface 1. Introduction 2. A Virtual World for Lord of the Flies: Engaging Students and Meeting Common Core Standards 3. Midsummer Madness and Virtual Tempest: Shakespeare as Foolish Role-Play Game 4. From Migrant Labor to High Society: Of Mice and Men and The Great Gatsby in Virtual Worlds 5. Teaching Things Fall Apart in the Village of Umuofia 6. Content Learning in Literary Virtual Worlds: The Village of Umuofia 7. Building a Secondary Brave New World 8. Riffing on the Pied Piper: Combining Research and Creativity 9. Virtual Flanerie: Strolling through Mrs. Dalloway’s London 10. "Virtual Museums: British Literary Works in Historical and Cultural Context" 11. "The Kindness of Strangers": Angels in America in a Virtual World 12. From MUDs to Metaverses: The Past and Future of Immersive Literary Worlds 13. On The Building of Worlds Contributors Bibliography