To give students an insider's view of representative democracy and help them understand their role as citizens, the Center on Congress is creating a new online learning environment, Virtual Congress.

Virtual Congress — an educational, multiplayer, online role–play game — will function much like the real Congress, with committees, floor action, amendments, back–and–forth discussions, input from constituents, and random events that can influence the legislative agenda.

Students from across the country will assume the roles of Members of the House and Senate, lobbyists, journalists, and constituents. As legislators in this virtual government, they will introduce bills and work to try to move their proposals through the various stages of the legislative process. They will receive opinions and requests from every direction: constituents, colleagues, and members of the press. This will all take place in a three–dimensional world, with re–creations of the House and Senate floors, committee rooms, legislative offices, and public meeting spaces.

Students in Virtual Congress will learn the mechanics of the legislative process, and they also will learn that successful legislating requires listening to different opinions and working out acceptable compromises among multiple viewpoints. Further, they will learn that the essence of a successful representative democracy is communication. Because electronic communication is a primary vehicle for information exchange among students, it is a logical environment for them to practice the tools and rules of American democracy.

To guide the Center in helping students meet the stated learning objectives, we are conferring with experts in social studies education to help us with curriculum integration plans, outreach to underserved populations, standards–based assessment methods, and formative evaluation.

The Center is working with ProtonMedia, of Lansdale, Penn., on the game development component of the project, and with Ark Media, of Brooklyn, N.Y., on a companion video for the project. Other partners and collaborators on Virtual Congress include the public television station WTIU, the National Education Association, the Close Up Foundation, the National Council for Social Studies and the departments of Telecommunications and Learning Sciences at Indiana University.