Enhancing Virtual City with Collective Memory to Support Urban Design Learning

This research investigates the pedagogical effects of collective memory enhanced virtual city models as an e-learning environment for urban design in an Indonesian university context. In this study, collective memory refers to expressions people made when remembering buildings, spaces and places of the past and present city living. A city's collective memory is either elicited from or produced directly by the city's residents or visitors. The thesis presents the outcomes of designing an experimental collective memory enhanced virtual city (CREATI) platform and applying it to the urban design course at the Department of Architecture, Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University, Indonesia. The Jalan Malioboro area in Yogyakarta was chosen as the case study site for constructing 30 virtual city models and gathering records of collective memory associated with the street and city. Student participants were invited to use CREATI while undertaking the urban design course. The usability and effects of CREATI on the students' learning outcomes are analysed according to the learning experiences reported by the students as well as the urban design proposals they produced for the course. The study finds that students appear more knowledgeable about the urban contextual issues because of accessing and sharing the resources hosted on CREATI. Students also reported that they felt better supported in developing more context­ sensitive design proposals by working with the collective memory enhanced virtual city models

Laying the groundwork for socialisation and knowledge construction within 3D virtual worlds

The paper reports the theoretical underpinnings for the pedagogical role and rationale for adopting 3D virtual worlds for socialisation and knowledge creation in distance education. Socialisation or 'knowing one another' in remote distributed environments can be achieved through synchronous technologies such as instant messaging, audio and video-conferencing. However, a 3D virtual world can provide an immersive experience where there is a visual presence and virtual proximity of the group members in terms of their 3D selves (avatars). We discuss the affordances of a 3D virtual world and its role in providing a platform for pedagogical design that engenders socialisation, synchronous communication and collaboration. We propose the use of a knowledge construction model as a framework for guiding the design of collaborative activities in a 3D virtual world for blended learning environments. We believe that this framework will also be useful for integrating 2D environments such as blogs, wikis and forums with a 3D learning environment. We consider the implications of this in the context of blended learning in distance education. This paper would be of interest to course designers, researchers, teachers, staff developers and policy-makers who are involved in integrating 3D virtual worlds within the curriculum of their programmes and institutions

Moveable worlds/digital scenographies

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ Intellect Ltd 2010.The mixed reality choreographic installation UKIYO explored in this article reflects an interest in scenographic practices that connect physical space to virtual worlds and explore how performers can move between material and immaterial spaces. The spatial design for UKIYO is inspired by Japanese hanamichi and western fashion runways, emphasizing the research production company's commitment to various creative crossovers between movement languages, innovative wearable design for interactive performance, acoustic and electronic sound processing and digital image objects that have a plastic as well as an immaterial/virtual dimension. The work integrates various forms of making art in order to visualize things that are not in themselves visual, or which connect visual and kinaesthetic/tactile/auditory experiences. The ‘Moveable Worlds’ in this essay are also reflections of the narrative spaces, subtexts and auditory relationships in the mutating matrix of an installation-space inviting the audience to move around and follow its sensorial experiences, drawn near to the bodies of the dancers.Brunel University, the British Council, and the Japan Foundation

Identifying immersive environments’ most relevant research topics: an instrument to query researchers and practitioners

This paper provides an instrument for ascertaining researchers’ perspectives on the relative relevance of technological challenges facing immersive environments in view of their adoption in learning contexts, along three dimensions: access, content production, and deployment. It described its theoretical grounding and expert-review process, from a set of previously-identified challenges and expert feedback cycles. The paper details the motivation, setup, and methods employed, as well as the issues detected in the cycles and how they were addressed while developing the instrument. As a research instrument, it aims to be employed across diverse communities of research and practice, helping direct research efforts and hence contribute to wider use of immersive environments in learning, and possibly contribute towards the development of news and more adequate systems.The work presented herein has been partially funded under the European H2020 program H2020-ICT-2015, BEACONING project, grant agreement nr. 687676.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio