Design of interactive virtual worlds to strengthen the participation of university students in digital educational environments

The purpose of this study was to analyze the conceptions that university students have about the design of interactive virtual worlds as a teaching practice that promotes participation in digital teaching environments. The research was carried out within the qualitative, descriptive-exploratory and empirical approach. The participation was made up of a total of 112 university students from the degrees of Education, Engineering, Business Administration and Social Sciences based on a sampling by intentional criteria. The data were collected from a questionnaire of open questions, discussion groups and observation notes, from a pilot experience of a 3D virtual classroom analyzed from the thematic analysis. The results show how the aspects of immersion, the use of avatars, multimedia resources or collaborative activities encourage motivation, interaction and participation of students in virtual worlds, but also obstacles such as connectivity, dispositive limitations, the learning curve at the beginning of the experience and an excess of visual stimuli. Interactive virtual worlds can achieve university participation but only if there is an academic orientation in their purposes, teaching mediation, technical accessibility and collaborative activities with a pedagogical purpose.