31 December 2007
Over several million years, humans have learned from other humans, by speech, action and observation. It can be strongly argued that this is hard-wired into our genes, as the survival advantages of communication and learning from each other are obvious. In the last few decades, a new and fundamentally different form of learning has emerged. The successful electronic delivery of learning material is very hard, much harder than the traditional method. It requires new forms of thought and a great deal of attention to detail such as colors and sounds. Electronic delivery also requires a level of sensory stimulation, such as a combination of visual and audio, which is consistent with traditional modes of learning. This paper intend to prove that also the newest and advanced methods, as Web 3D and Virtual Reality can be accessible for the economic sciences teaching, through a new friendly tools software and interfaces. After briefly presenting the main Web3D technologies, we summarized the pedagogical basis that motivate their exploitation in the context of education and highlighted their interesting features. We outline the main positive results obtained in economic sciences teaching so far, and point out some of the current and futures research directions.