N² heads are better than one: Collaborative learning, utilizing an integrated knowledge repository, facilitated through a massively multiplayer online gaming (MMOG) paradigm

A Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) framework will be utilized to enhance learning in a distributed collaborative learning environment (CLE). The goal is to create a single interconnected learning environment that spans multiple courses. These online courses will share a reusable knowledge repository that contains information relevant to a field of study. We have selected four interrelated network security courses; computer networks, computer security, computer forensics and emergency management to create a self-sustaining interconnected learning environment. This model can then be utilized in other disciplines. A five- level MMOG game will be developed that requires the collaborative skills of students in multiple courses to engage in problem solving scenarios. As the students' knowledge progresses they will be assigned to increasingly higher levels of problem- solving complexity, incorporated into an engaging 3D gaming framework. It is our hypothesis that students will learn faster and develop more complex interdisciplinary skills utilizing an MMOG than the current method of teaching individual separate courses.