© FORMATEX 2006 Use of 3-D virtual environments to support the learning of pro- gramming Ricardo Antunes *,1 , Benjamim Fonseca 2 , Paulo Martins 2 and Leonel Morgado 2 1 Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Leiria, Morro do Lena-Alto do Vieiro, Apartado 4163, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal 2 Departamento de Engenharias, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Apartado 1013, 5001- 801 Vila Real, Portugal The research and development of approaches to help students overcome the difficulties of acquiring good programming skills is a concern common to many institutions and researchers worldwide. One such ap- proach is the use of virtual learning environments that allow students to freely explore several contextual- ized learning activities provided to them. We propose the use of scriptable 3D collaborative virtual envi- ronments in particular, as a way to provide support and context for collaborative programming activities. One of the main problems regarding the use of such virtual environments in a formal educational envi- ronment is that of connection between real-world goals stemming from collaboration, and their execution in virtual environments. The coordination of efforts typically follows methods of communication amongst participants that are supplied by traditional systems, external to the environments where interactions are taking place. Here we analyze this problem and a pathway to its study. Keywords collaborative virtual environments; learning of programming; collaborative programming. 1. Introduction The concept of inserting a person in a computer-generated world or environment was introduced by Ivan Sutherland in 1965 [1], and implemented in 1968 using a head-mounted stereoscopic display [2]. Since then, various systems providing virtual worlds/environments have been developed, leveraging progress in computing power and graphics technology, and extending the concept to simultaneous hosting of several different users. However, there are many interpretations for the expression “virtual environment”. Some authors are very restrictive, defining virtual environments as “three-dimensional, multi-sensorial, immersive, real time, and interactive simulations of a space that can be experienced by users via three-dimensional input and output devices” [3], while others define them simply as “a computer representation of a space” [ibid.]. Thus we need to clarify what we mean by “virtual environment”: we are considering a 3D virtual world, with users being represented as avatars (3D virtual embodiments) able to interact with virtual objects. When virtual environments are designed to support synchronous multi-user access to it, i.e., the users share the same virtual space and virtual objects, we refer to them as “collaborative virtual environments” (CVE) [16]. In CVEs, any modifications made to the virtual space by one user are automatically re- flected in the world view of others, allowing collaborative activities among groups of users. If one looks at the specific area of learning activities, however, the most common use of the concept “virtual environment” is found at the opposite end of the spectrum from this 3D perspective: today’s educational institutions are using systems like Moodle or WebCT, commonly referred to as “virtual learning environments” (VLE), to support teaching and learning. They commonly support features like discussion forums, synchronous chat rooms, multiple-choice questionnaires, and document repositories, provided not by a 3D virtual world interface, but in the style of a Web site. In order to provide a general description of such systems, we can say, in an abstract way, that a VLE is a collection of integrated tools * Corresponding author: Ricardo Antunes, e-mail: antunes@estg.ipleiria.pt, Phone: +351 962655828 Current Developments in Technology-Assisted Education (2006) 689