Interaction in situated learning does not imply immersion: virtual worlds help to engage learners without immersing them

Immersion is a central theme when using virtual worlds; the feeling of 'being there' is generally considered a positive attribute of virtual worlds, in particular when these are used for recreation. However, within educational context it may be debatable how far immersion can be expected or is even desirable: if we want students to be reflective and critical on their assignment task, wouldn't it be more important for them to have a critical distance, rather than being immersed? In this paper, we approach this question by examining and discussing how interactions, learner engagement and immersion are linked together when a virtual world is being used in a Hybrid Virtual Learning scenario. Findings from our experiment seem to suggest that even though this learning approach aids positively the educational process, high levels of immersion do not occur. Nevertheless, more research in that direction is highly recommended to be undertaken