%0 Conference Paper %B 5th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, Koahsiung, Taiwan %D 2005 %T Designing Virtual Spaces to Support Learning Communities and e - Collaboration %A Christos Bouras %A Thrasivoulos Tsiatsos %A Eleftheria Giannaka %X In this paper, we present the design principles for virtual spaces and two different tools as solutions for supporting e-collaboration and multi-user communication in web-based learning communities. The first solution, called Virtual Conference, is designed and implemented in the framework of the VirRAD European project. It is a two-dimensional space where participants represented by their photos can use various e-collaboration tools. The second solution, called EVE Training Area, is a threedimensional space where participants, represented by 3D humanoid avatars, can use a variety of ecollaboration tools. This paper describes the functionality provided by both tools, compares them, and proposes cases for exploiting each solution. %B 5th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, Koahsiung, Taiwan %P 328 - 332 %8 5 - 8 July %G eng