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Intercultural Competence and Virtual Worlds

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Authentic Virtual World Education

Abstract

A virtual world such as Second Life has its own culture and subcultures, identities, language and social practices. The unpredictable environment and fluid behavioural boundaries can prove destabilising and result in resistance or non-participation. Conversely, the environment provides rich authentic learning experiences to develop intercultural competence to deal with cultural difference. However, putting a student into a rich environment, real or virtual, does not guarantee the development of intercultural competence. It requires intentional development, particularly of the affective and behavioural dimensions. Through case studies of the use of Second Life for developing intercultural competence in a first-year module at a New Zealand university, this chapter evaluates the apparent symbiotic synergies between the affordances of virtual worlds for intercultural competence development and the need for intercultural competence for effective engagement in virtual worlds, for learning to take place.

Alice U-Mackey, retired

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

    Debbie Corder & Alice U-Mackey

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  1. Debbie Corder
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  2. Alice U-Mackey
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Correspondence to Debbie Corder .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia

    Sue Gregory

  2. Central Queensland University, Rockhampton North, Queensland, Australia

    Denise Wood

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Corder, D., U-Mackey, A. (2018). Intercultural Competence and Virtual Worlds. In: Gregory, S., Wood, D. (eds) Authentic Virtual World Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6382-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6382-4_3

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-6382-4

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