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Three-dimensional (3D) immersive virtual worlds have been touted as being capable of facilitating highly interactive, engaging, multimodal learning experiences. Much of the evidence gathered to support these claims has been anecdotal but the potential that these environments hold to solve traditional problems in online and technology-mediated education—primarily learner isolation and student disengagement—has resulted in considerable investments in virtual world platforms like Second Life, OpenSimulator, and Open Wonderland by both professors and institutions. To justify this ongoing and sustained investment, institutions and proponents of simulated learning environments must assemble a robust body of evidence that illustrates the most effective use of this powerful learning tool. In this authoritative collection, a team of international experts outline the emerging trends and developments in the use of 3D virtual worlds for teaching and learning. They explore aspec ts of learner interaction with virtual worlds, such as user wayfinding in Second Life, communication modes and perceived presence, and accessibility issues for elderly or disabled learners. They also examine advanced technologies that hold potential for the enhancement of learner immersion and discuss best practices in the design and implementation of virtual world-based learning interventions and tasks. By evaluating and documenting different methods, approaches, and strategies, the contributors to Learning in Virtual Worlds offer important information and insight to both scholars and practitioners in the field.

Sites for representing music have been classified by the equipollence between their expressive value and transmission value. In this dialectic game, the media have had a determining influence as an intervening space, from music imagined on the radio to its visual representation on a screen to today s multimodal display created through the integration of current existing media that expand music s potential both in terms of production and consumption. An interest in cross-media is the basis for this research which focuses on its most integrated and interactive aspect: immersive worlds. The aim is to classify the environments of immersive worlds through analyzing those most used as spaces for musical representation. Documentary research techniques have been used in order to obtain: a) a census of current immersive musical environments, and b) a functional analysis of important cases. Through this analysis, various proposals are made for uses for immersive worlds, from both a technical perspective as well as from their potential as an interactive medium. In the conclusion, the possibilities for musical representation offered by these metaverses are assessed and possible future scenarios are discussed. Los lugares de representación de la música han estado definidos por la equipolencia entre su valor expresivo y su valor de transmisión. En este juego dialéctico comunicativo, los medios de comunicación han jugado un peso determinante como espacios mediados: desde una ensoñación musical radiofónica a una visualización de la representación de la música en la pantalla hasta llegar a una exposición multimodal merced a la integración de los medios existente en la actualidad en donde la música se ha visto amplificada tanto desde su actividad productiva como de su consumo. Es precisamente en este «cruce de medios» donde surge el interés de esta investigación y, en concreto, en su extensión más integradora e interactiva: los mundos inmersivos. Como objetivo, se pretende realizar la caracterización de los entornos inmersivos musicales a partir del análisis de los más utilizados como espacio de representación. La técnica documental ha sido el método usado con el fin de obtener: a) un registro censal de los espacios inmersivos musicales actuales, y b) un análisis funcional de casos significativos. A partir de este análisis se exponen diversas posibilidades de aplicación de los entornos inmersivos tanto desde un punto de vista técnico como desde su capacidad como medio interactivo. Como conclusión, se lleva a cabo una evaluación acerca de la oportunidad que estos metaversos ofrecen a la representación musical en la que, en forma de discusión, se plantean nuevos escenarios futuros.