Additionally, VEs allow students to ascend to the top rung of the SAMR model, which is a redefinition of student performance. Students can visit virtual environments to view, analyze, evaluate and create content, which are higher-order actions in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Let’s focus on several of the qualities that make virtual environments such a rich backdrop for learning: They promote higher-order thinking. Learning management systems, such as Moodle, Google Classroom, Schoology, etc., are sometimes labeled as virtual environments, but for our purposes and definitions, they are not! The amazing benefits of virtual environments When someone enters Minecraft: EE, they can choose survival mode (gaming) or building mode (virtual environment). A good example of this is Minecraft: Education Edition. Originally, there was a fine line between games and virtual environments, but over time they have blended together. They are primarily tools for creation and communication. Virtual environments don’t need any of those. Perhaps more succinctly: Games have points, scores and levels. They don’t have rules, and therefore are not games. Virtual environments (VEs) can contain games for diversion or amusement, but most VEs weren’t designed to be games. So what is a virtual environment, really? Is it a game? Well, sometimes. The case for virtual environments in education Now that teachers have learned an amazing number of new tech skills and strategies to engage their students, perhaps it's the perfect time to revisit virtual environments for education. Even though there are many virtual world options available to effectively engage students in this way, many of them were left on the shelf. What was glaringly absent from these remote learning technologies was a way to immerse students in content within different landscapes. Staring at a screen for long periods of time watching mostly a lecture style presentation became tiring and led to pervasive student (and teacher) disengagement. While harnessing these powerful and useful technologies, however, we discovered some glaring weaknesses of these platforms: Namely, people grew weary of virtual meetings. Across the education spectrum, educators and learners used tools like Zoom, Webex, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and others to communicate, plan and collaborate. The COVID 19 pandemic ushered a new era in remote and hybrid learning technologies that gave us renewed perspective on edtech best practices.