The design of learning spaces shapes social interaction and engagement with instructional materials in those spaces. Again, an activity theory model is useful for conceptualizing the relationships between mediating technologies, learning objectives and social contexts/relationships. If learning is expected to be individualistic, then social interactions will be limited to those among the learner, the space and its artifacts (and indirectly with the designers and educators through those artifacts). Decor, color, animation, the juxtapositioning of artifacts in complex relations, all can be used to convey meaning and to highlight the significance of certain objects or activities. The aesthetic sense of a space can be disturbing, disorienting, comfortable or exhilarating for the individual and can foster different types of learning experiences.

If collaboration or cooperation are objectives of the learning experience, space can facilitate such interactions by providing appropriate work spaces, tools and means of communication. The number of participants or the space for interaction can be restricted to foster more effective communication. If mentoring or individualized coaching is needed, appropriate spaces can facilitate mentoring that occurs tangentially to larger group activities. If a conversational style of engagement is desired, avatars can sit at a circular rather than rectangular table. Teleporting, in particular, can be used for various pedagogical purposes—as links to related sites or opportunities for more advanced educational experiences as a form of scaffolded learning. Space and decor should be seriously evaluated in terms of the relationships they enable; however, such an emphasis contrasts with the preoccupation in many virtual environments with the creation and manipulation of objects (and their geometrical relations) independently of the social relationships those objects mediate.