VIRTUAL WORLDS A Developmental Tool for Leadership Education

Games, role-playing, and simulations as developmental tools have been used in education since the 1800s. An emerging form of collaborative game play is virtual worlds; however, the use of virtual worlds in leadership education has not been fully investigated. The purpose of this article is to (a) demonstrate how virtual worlds are a viable venue for leadership education, and (b) present a hierarchy of skills sets that can be developed in virtual world settings. In doing so, this article provides evidence that virtual worlds can be used as a new instructional delivery environment for leadership education as the appeal and intrinsic nature of virtual environments aligns well with the experiential framework of leadership education.