10 May,2010 11:11 AM IST | | Lindsay Pereira
In 1987, while the concept of an 'Internet' connecting internal computer systems was still being discussed in Europe, British businessman John Bittleston and industrial psychologist Eliza Quek published a book for children titled The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks. Met with reasonable success, it prompted them to create a series.
Two decades later, in a world now accustomed to terms like Tweeple and ROTFL, they used those stories to create a virtual world; one we now have the option of stepping into. The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World (wiglingtonandwenks.com) has, in the few months it's been online, managed to divert a fair number of the world's childrenu00a0-- more specifically, those between 7 and 14u00a0-- from sites involving a certain big-eared rodent.
The idea, apparently, was to use maps in the stories as a means to discover the world. While this seems simple enough on paper, anyone involved in the creation of a User Interface will recognise how massive the task becomes when attempted online. Luckily for Bittleston and Quek then, they found the right creative partnersu00a0-- Aldric Chang and Ngo Chee Yong, take a bowu00a0-- to work with.
Among the first things one notices, after signing up for a mission online, is that TWW refuses to let you jump in and play. Children are pushed, gently, into understanding a mission set before them. They then have the means to explore real and imagined locations (from any time in our past, present or future), meet famous folk, try out traditional costumes, solve age-old mysteries and, in short, learn about our world in a way many of us simply couldn't back when MTV didn't exist and phones had a five-year waiting list.
TWW has an interesting approach to learning, one presumably based on constructivist teaching techniques. According to this theory, a student will build upon knowledge already acquired. When actively engaged in learning as opposed to passive reception (also known as the Indian education system), the lessons are more effective. For instance, giving children a virtual bank account and letting them figure out the interest earned on 'game money' beats an hour-long class on basic arithmetic hands down.
Like the real world, membershipu00a0-- subscription rates range from Rs 130 to Rs 2,700 in USDu00a0-- gives one access to premium features, and possibly a better-decorated virtual game room to play in. Consider what coaching classes now tend to charge though, and do the math.
--u00a0Lindsay Pereira is Editor, MiD Day Online
