Virtual Reality: A Tool for Improving the Teaching and Learning of Technology Education

This work dealt with technology education, its expectations and present state, especially in developing countries. It looked at virtual reality: its development, types, uses and how it can be applied to improve teaching and learning. It also looked at different works that compared virtual reality, and other educational technology tools were reviewed. Advantages of virtual reality were highlighted; these will include both social and academic issues. Immersive and non-immersive virtual reality for education were briefly discussed, looking at the applicability of each to teaching and learning, ease of use, cost-effectiveness and health implications

Analyzing the Semantic Relatedness of Paper Abstracts: An Application to the Educational Research Field

International audienceEach domain, along with its knowledge base, changes over time and every timeframe is centered on specific topics that emerge from different ongoing research projects. As searching for relevant resources is a time-consuming process, the automatic extraction of the most important and relevant articles from a domain becomes essential in supporting researchers in their day-today activities. The proposed analysis extends other previous researches focused on extracting co-citations between the papers, with the purpose of comparing their overall importance within the domain from a semantic perspective. Our method focuses on the semantic analysis of paper abstracts by using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques such as Latent Semantic Analysis, Latent Dirichlet Allocation or specific ontology distances, i.e., WordNet. Moreover, the defined mechanisms are enforced on two different subdomains from the corpora generated around the keywords " e-learning " and " computer ". Graph visual representations are used to highlight the keywords of each subdomain, links among concepts and between articles, as well as specific document similarity views, or scores reflecting the keyword-abstract overlaps. In the end, conclusions and future improvements are presented, emphasizing nevertheless the key elements of our research support framework

Estudio preliminar sobre el potencial de la Terapia de Realidad Virtual para reducir la ansiedad al hablar en público

This study probes on the potentials of Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT) to overcome glossophobia in the context of online classes. To achieve the objective, this study employs experimental design in which students who are enrolled in an online public speaking course were grouped into two: Experimental and control group. The experimental group experienced three sessions of VRT throughout the semester whereas the control group did not. After the end of the course, the descriptive analysis findings suggest that the rate of change for the experimental group was -17% in comparison with the control group -4%. This indicates that the experimental group had decreased their public speaking anxiety four times more than the control group; hence suggesting that VRT has helped to reduce the anxiety in public speaking. All in all, this study foreshadows the great potential of VRT in the education and communication field. Keywords: Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA); Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT); online classes; technology in education.Este estudio investiga los potenciales de la Terapia de Realidad Virtual (VRT) para superar la glosofobia en el contexto de las clases en línea. Para lograr el objetivo, este estudio emplea un diseño experimental en el que los estudiantes que están inscritos en un curso de oratoria en línea se agruparon en dos: Grupo experimental y grupo de control. El grupo experimental experimentó tres sesiones de VRT a lo largo del semestre, mientras que el grupo de control no. Después del final del curso, los hallazgos del análisis descriptivo sugieren que la tasa de cambio para el grupo experimental fue de -17% en comparación con el grupo de control -4%. Esto indica que el grupo experimental había disminuido su ansiedad por hablar en público cuatro veces más que el grupo de control; lo que sugiere que VRT ha ayudado a reducir la ansiedad al hablar en público. Con todo, este estudio presagia el gran potencial de VRT en el campo de la educación y la comunicación. Palabras clave: Ansiedad de hablar en público (PSA); Terapia de realidad virtual (VRT); clases en línea; tecnología en educación

The Influence of NeoTrie VR’s Immersive Virtual Reality on the Teaching and Learning of Geometry

The use of dynamic, three-dimensional software with virtual reality offers new possibilities for the teaching and learning of geometry. We explore the effects of introducing the immersive virtual reality software NeoTrie VR in real classes. Within a Design Research framework, we present qualitative observational data to report how the collaboration among a software development company, university researchers, and schools produces improvements in the design and updating of the software; the geometrical content, representations, and mathematical activity that students have access to as well as the way teachers conceive and manage the teaching of geometry

Virtual Reality and Its Application in Education

Virtual reality is a set of technologies that enables two-way communication, from computer to user and vice versa. In one direction, technologies are used to synthesize visual, auditory, tactile, and sometimes other sensory experiences in order to provide the illusion that practically non-existent things can be seen, heard, touched, or otherwise felt. In the other direction, technologies are used to adequately record human movements, sounds, or other potential input data that computers can process and use. This book contains six chapters that cover topics including definitions and principles of VR, devices, educational design principles for effective use of VR, technology education, and use of VR in technical and natural sciences

The Comparative Study On The Effects Of Virtual Reality In The Application Of Case-Based Learning Approach While Studying The Human Heart

Nurses need a solid understanding of anatomy knowledge to perform nursing skills, to understand how diseases affect the body, to understand treatment for the patient and help them for documentation. While past research has focused on using virtual learning environments to teach anatomical structures of the human body, there has been limited research on how to teach clinical anatomy by using cases while using Virtual Reality (VR) technology. This quantitative research study aimed to investigate the effects of VR in the application of case-based learning approach on learners\u27 performance. The researcher compared two delivery modes (VR mode and paper-based mode) to analyze the learning gains of the participants. The participants also subjectively rated the mental load they used while studying the material. The researcher recruited twenty-nine nursing students from Midway University. No significant difference in the mean scores of both groups found while studying the anatomical structure of the mitral valve and two clinical cases. Moreover, the results indicated implementing a case study of either VR or paper-based mode was associated with significant gains in achievement which is supported by the other studies on case-based learning approach. Moreover, for both groups, there were no significant differences found in their intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive load while learning the material. The recommendations for further research include a larger sample, long-term retention, and opinions of faculty and students on VR-learning environment while studying clinical cases

The Impact of Virtual Reality-based Learning Environment Design Features on Students' Academic Achievements

Virtual reality-based instruction such as virtual worlds, games, and simulations are becoming very popular in K-12 and higher education. Three manuscripts that report the results of investigations of these increasingly prevalent instructional media were developed for this dissertation. The purpose of the first study, a meta-analysis, was to analyze the instructional effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction when compared to the traditional methods of instruction. In addition, this study also explored selected instructional design features of the virtual learning environment that moderated the relationship between instructional method and the academic achievements. Analyses of 63 experimental or quasi-experimental studies that studied learning outcomes of virtual reality-based instruction in K-12 or higher education settings yielded a mean effect size of g = 0.47 (SE = 0.02) suggesting that virtual reality-based instruction is an effective medium of delivering instruction. Further analyses examined factors that influence its effectiveness. The purpose of the second study was to examine a model of the impact of a 3-D desktop virtual reality environment on the learner characteristics (i.e. perceptual and psychological variables) that can enhance chemistry-related learning achievements in an introductory college chemistry class. A theoretical model of the relationships of features of 3-D virtual reality environments and students' experiences in the environments to outcomes on a chemistry learning test and measures of spatial ability and self-efficacy was tested using structural equation modeling. Usability strongly mediated the relationship between 3-D virtual reality features, spatial orientation, self-efficacy, and presence. Spatial orientation and self-efficacy had a statistically significant, positive impact on the chemistry learning test. The purpose of the third study was to investigate the potential of Second Life (SL), a 3-D virtual world, to enhance undergraduate students? learning of a foundational chemistry concept, spatial ability, and self-efficacy. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was used. A total of 387 participants completed three assignment activities either in Second Life or using 2-D images. The difference between the scores of 3-D virtual environment-based group and the 2-D images-based group was not statistically significant for any of the measures

Virtual Heritage: new technologies for edutainment

Cultural heritage represents an enormous amount of information and knowledge. Accessing this treasure chest allows not only to discover the legacy of physical and intangible attributes of the past but also to provide a better understanding of the present. Museums and cultural institutions have to face the problem of providing access to and communicating these cultural contents to a wide and assorted audience, meeting the expectations and interests of the reference end-users and relying on the most appropriate tools available. Given the large amount of existing tangible and intangible heritage, artistic, historical and cultural contents, what can be done to preserve and properly disseminate their heritage significance? How can these items be disseminated in the proper way to the public, taking into account their enormous heterogeneity? Answering this question requires to deal as well with another aspect of the problem: the evolution of culture, literacy and society during the last decades of 20th century. To reflect such transformations, this period witnessed a shift in the museum’s focus from the aesthetic value of museum artifacts to the historical and artistic information they encompass, and a change into the museums’ role from a mere "container" of cultural objects to a "narrative space" able to explain, describe, and revive the historical material in order to attract and entertain visitors. These developments require creating novel exhibits, able to tell stories about the objects and enabling visitors to construct semantic meanings around them. The objective that museums presently pursue is reflected by the concept of Edutainment, Education + Entertainment. Nowadays, visitors are not satisfied with ‘learning something’, but would rather engage in an ‘experience of learning’, or ‘learning for fun’, being active actors and players in their own cultural experience. As a result, institutions are faced with several new problems, like the need to communicate with people from different age groups and different cultural backgrounds, the change in people attitude due to the massive and unexpected diffusion of technology into everyday life, the need to design the visit by a personal point of view, leading to a high level of customization that allows visitors to shape their path according to their characteristics and interests. In order to cope with these issues, I investigated several approaches. In particular, I focused on Virtual Learning Environments (VLE): real-time interactive virtual environments where visitors can experience a journey through time and space, being immersed into the original historical, cultural and artistic context of the work of arts on display. VLE can strongly help archivists and exhibit designers, allowing to create new interesting and captivating ways to present cultural materials. In this dissertation I will tackle many of the different dimensions related to the creation of a cultural virtual experience. During my research project, the entire pipeline involved into the development and deployment of VLE has been investigated. The approach followed was to analyze in details the main sub-problems to face, in order to better focus on specific issues. Therefore, I first analyzed different approaches to an effective recreation of the historical and cultural context of heritage contents, which is ultimately aimed at an effective transfer of knowledge to the end-users. In particular, I identified the enhancement of the users’ sense of presence in VLE as one of the main tools to reach this objective. Presence is generally expressed as the perception of 'being there', i.e. the subjective belief of users that they are in a certain place, even if they know that the experience is mediated by the computer. Presence is related to the number of senses involved by the VLE and to the quality of the sensorial stimuli. But in a cultural scenario, this is not sufficient as the cultural presence plays a relevant role. Cultural presence is not just a feeling of 'being there' but of being - not only physically, but also socially, culturally - 'there and then'. In other words, the VLE must be able to transfer not only the appearance, but also all the significance and characteristics of the context that makes it a place and both the environment and the context become tools capable of transferring the cultural significance of a historic place. The attention that users pay to the mediated environment is another aspect that contributes to presence. Attention is related to users’ focalization and concentration and to their interests. Thus, in order to improve the involvement and capture the attention of users, I investigated in my work the adoption of narratives and storytelling experiences, which can help people making sense of history and culture, and of gamification approaches, which explore the use of game thinking and game mechanics in cultural contexts, thus engaging users while disseminating cultural contents and, why not?, letting them have fun during this process. Another dimension related to the effectiveness of any VLE is also the quality of the user experience (UX). User interaction, with both the virtual environment and its digital contents, is one of the main elements affecting UX. With respect to this I focused on one of the most recent and promising approaches: the natural interaction, which is based on the idea that persons need to interact with technology in the same way they are used to interact with the real world in everyday life. Then, I focused on the problem of presenting, displaying and communicating contents. VLE represent an ideal presentation layer, being multiplatform hypermedia applications where users are free to interact with the virtual reconstructions by choosing their own visiting path. Cultural items, embedded into the environment, can be accessed by users according to their own curiosity and interests, with the support of narrative structures, which can guide them through the exploration of the virtual spaces, and conceptual maps, which help building meaningful connections between cultural items. Thus, VLE environments can even be seen as visual interfaces to DBs of cultural contents. Users can navigate the VE as if they were browsing the DB contents, exploiting both text-based queries and visual-based queries, provided by the re-contextualization of the objects into their original spaces, whose virtual exploration can provide new insights on specific elements and improve the awareness of relationships between objects in the database. Finally, I have explored the mobile dimension, which became absolutely relevant in the last period. Nowadays, off-the-shelf consumer devices as smartphones and tablets guarantees amazing computing capabilities, support for rich multimedia contents, geo-localization and high network bandwidth. Thus, mobile devices can support users in mobility and detect the user context, thus allowing to develop a plethora of location-based services, from way-finding to the contextualized communication of cultural contents, aimed at providing a meaningful exploration of exhibits and cultural or tourist sites according to visitors’ personal interest and curiosity

A framework for inclusive digital storytelling for cultural tourism in Thailand

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThailand has been extremely successful in promoting itself as a cultural country, with tourism being the country’s primary source of income. However, cultural tourism for Thai people is considered to be a niche market, and little attention has been paid to the topic, compared to mass tourism. Moreover, Thai visitors have little motivation to visit actual historical sites and read the story displayed as part of exhibitions. This research aims to create, detail and evaluate a framework for inclusive digital storytelling to increase diversity and motivation for cultural tourism in Thailand.To broaden and increase the potential tourism market, this PhD research applies inclusive design principles as ‘understanding and designing for diversity’ by identifying potential Thai customers into five diverse groups (youth, older adults, disabled people, non-cultural tourists, and cultural tourists), and presents reports regarding the barriers and drivers for achieving this. To increase the motivation of Thai tourists, this PhD research adopts digital storytelling as ‘the guideline for creating storytelling’ to increase motivation among the five diverse groups, and illustrates how this was done in the second study. However, an issue arises if Thai people (particularly older adults and disabled people) cannot access or understand how to use this type of digital technology. These problems can in turn create opportunities for applying inclusive designs to digital technology in an effort to understand users’ behavioural needs; this is presented in the third study. Finally, the fourth study evaluates the framework detailed from the previous three studies in order to answer the primary research question: “How could inclusive design and digital storytelling principles be applied to facilitate cultural tourism in Thailand?” This PhD research can suggest and establish links between three key areas and devise and detail a new framework to increase diversity and motivation for cultural tourism for Thai visitors in Thailand which is original and interdisciplinary.Office of the Higher Education Commission, Thailan