headquarters london uk area served global online services online english training number of employees 80 website immerselearning.com immerse learning formerly called languagelab.com is an english school based in an online virtual world . it is the first school that teaches exclusively online in a virtual environment ; students and teachers use avatars to navigate the environment and take part in lessons . lessons are also completely contextual which is in direct contradiction to the traditional classroom system . contents 1 history 2 methodology 2.1 english city 3 references history edit immerse learning was founded in 2005 as languagelab.com in london by david kaskel and shiv rajendran . 1 having been amazed at how quickly foreign players had picked up language skills in mmorpgs kaskel began to look into how learning took place in video games . to date languagelab.com has 80 employees based in 14 different countries and caters to about 1000 students 2011 . 2 3 languagelab.com raised 1 million usd in funding in 2011 from investors in the uk and saudi arabia . 4 5 languagelab.com teaches english to students from more than seventy countries . 6 in 2011 languagelab.com announced a partnership with pearson education to produce a virtual world product for business english . the product is called market leader live and contains content from the financial times . 7 8 in february 2014 languagelab.com relaunched as immerse learning with a proprietary immersive learning platform designed specifically for corporate and higher education programmes . methodology edit languagelab.com s current methods based on an internal research and development program led by rajendran spanning from 2005 to 2008 involving testing a range of models of teaching with students from more than 50 countries . 9 based on immersive learning the idea that all lessons should be taught contextually and uses virtual environments to recreate the scenarios where interactions would take place in the real world . experts believe that virtual worlds and immersive learning are far more effective for studying higher order cognitive lessons generative learning than the traditional classroom based system which is taught in abstraction . 10 modern research suggests this method of learning is more effective than traditional methodology in which new words are introduced gradually through abstraction . 11 12 13 14 this method is similar to situated cognition . all teaching is done in real time by real teachers . 15 languagelab employ a mix of teachers and actors who appear as avatars to help guide learners through a range of simulated real life situations . students can develop communication skills by working as a team on such tasks as tackling an oil rig explosion and the resulting environmental catastrophes or more conventional courses . 16 17 languagelab.com has developed adaptive learning algorithms and on demand class creation practices that provide each student a tailored program to meet their needs . 18 english city edit english city is a virtual city created on second life where all the language classes take place . it seeks to mimic the learning process that gamers undergo in video games . the premise is that in video games players learn how to play through participation and are taught new skills in situ . players also receive instant feedback from their actions throughout the game ; the penalty for failure is minimal as the player gets the chance to immediately try the mission again . these qualities allow game players to learn far quicker than if they were given a class on the subject . 19 english city contains an airport cafes hotels museums and galleries and even clubs and bars numerous settings for students to practice english in both classes and in their own time . the city is also populated by english speaking actors who are there for the students to practice their english . 20 students who visit english city pictured a language teaching program can chat to passers by as they wander through the streets meet their tutors avatars in virtual caf s and order snacks from pebbles an aspiring actress played by a teacher 21 references edit http nwn.blogs.com nwn 2011 03 language lab developer million funding.html chattering classes . the economist . 9 june 2011 . fair trade solution to learning a new language . bbc news . 17 september 2010 . http www.kirstenwinkler.com languagelab secures 1 million funding for english city on second life http nwn.blogs.com nwn 2011 03 language lab developer million funding.html gift of gab gives real world opportunity via second life cnn ireport . cnn . http www.americantesol.com tesol video feed5.html http bigthink.com ideas 37891 http www.sramanamitra.com 2012 07 07 british startup teaching english shiv rajendran co founder of languagelab london part 3 http www.metanomics.net show learning in 3d immersive environments in training and education http www.edweek.org ew articles 2011 06 08 33eureka.h30.html tkn wozfmifddys % 2bu0v % 2biv % 2fafygvxlrl3elhxnvn & cmp enl eu news2 http www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk research wordlab articles horst samuelson inpress.pdf http www.media.mit.edu cogmac projects hsp.html http www.pnas.org cgi doi 10.1073 pnas .1105040108 1m for virtual learning el gazette 337 3 2011 peachey nik 5 july 2011 . online alternatives to language classrooms open up to students . the guardian . london . chattering classes . the economist . 9 june 2011 . http www.sramanamitra.com 2012 07 08 british startup teaching english shiv rajendran co founder of languagelab london part 4 http www.troymedia.com 2009 06 06 higher education takes lead in using virtual reality http issuu.com rolemag docs rolemagazine dec08 95 chattering classes . the economist . 9 june 2011 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title immerse learning & oldid 674499379 categories social networking language education websitespersistent worldsenglish language educationvirtual realityeducational institutions established in 2005 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 4 august 2015 at 09 51 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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