9,544 research outputs found
Editorial
āWelcome to Columbus College. Is this all your gear?ā
āItās all I was allowed without paying excess.ā
Victoria arrives at the University of Space, Jupiter Moon
āYou're right, Johnny. You know, there are a lot of other kids who feel just the same way you do. They're confused and afraid, but they don't have to be. The problem isn't that other
kids don't like you, it's that they don't understand you, but we do. You're special. You're a latent telepath about to come into full bloom.ā
āMy Johnny, a telepath?ā
āProbably, but to be sure, take him down to the PsiāCorps Testing Centre first thing tomorrow.ā
āHow do I find them?ā
āWe're everywhere, for your convenience.ā
Psi Corps Advertisement, Babylon 5
Victoria was joining the Ilea ā a science station in geostationary orbit above a human colony on Callisto, the outermost of the Galilean moons of Jupiter. Jupiter Moon, which aired in the 1990s, followed the lives of the crew of the space station and the students and staff of the Columbus College of the University of Space. As a drama serial, it combined elaborate science with the mundanity of baggage allowances and spacedāup newāromantic fashion. At around
the same time, the visually and conceptually much more sophisticated Babylon 5 took us further into the future in a fiveāmileālong Babylon 5 space station, a centre for trade and
diplomacy between colonies in the Earth Alliance and beyond, with the Psi Corps responsible for the wellbeing and also the control of telepathic individuals by whom those without extraordinary psychic powers are identified as āmundanesā.
The same term was used recently in a study, publicized in Times Higher Education, of the benefits of technology identified by students, citing one of the coāauthors of the study as saying that there was āconsiderable evidenceā that technology was aiding learning but that it was not always āthe cutting edge or headline use of technologies but often the more prosaic or mundaneā uses associated with the organization and management of study time and place
(Parr 2015). The findings echo those of Francis (2010), whose ethnographic study also finds that studentsā technology use focuses on forming and maintaining context ā physical as well as online. But Francisās conclusions are farāreaching. He describes the university as ādecentredā by
this shift towards learner appropriation of technology toolsets and collaborative networks to the shape and use of which they, and not we, are central. Nothing mundane about that, either for pedagogy or for institutional strategy. How did we not notice it happening
Recommended from our members
Navigation and wayfinding in learning spaces in 3D virtual worlds
There is a lack of published research on the design guidelines of learning spaces in virtual worlds. Therefore, when institutions aspire to create learning spaces in Second Life, there are few studies or guidelines to inform them except for individual case studies. The Design of Learning Spaces in 3D Virtual Environments (DELVE) project, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee in the UK, was one of the first initiatives that identified through empirical investigations the usability problems associated with learning spaces in virtual worlds and the potential impact on student experience. The findings of the DELVE project revealed that applying architectural principles of real-world designs to virtual worlds may not be sufficient. In fact, design principles from urban planning, HumanāComputer Interaction (HCI), web usability, geography, and psychology influence the design of learning spaces in virtual worlds.
In DELVE, the researchers derived several usability guidelines: form should follow function, that is, that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose; use real-world metaphors such as mailboxes for students to leave messages, or search pods similar to real-world information kiosks; consider realism for familiarity and comfort; design for storytelling; or design to orient the user at the landing point, etc. However, the investigations in DELVE identified that the key usability problems experienced by users in 3D learning spaces are related to navigation and wayfinding.
In this chapter, we report on the Navigation and Wayfinding (NAVY) project which builds on the findings of the DELVE project. As the most commonly used virtual world for education, Second Life was the logical choice for conducting the NAVY project research. Based upon empirical investigations of a number of islands in Second Life (an island is a space which is analogous to a website ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼in a 2D environment) involving user-based studies, heuristic evaluations, and iterative reviews of the heuristics by usability experts, we have derived over 200 guidelines for the design of learning spaces in virtual worlds.ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼ļæ¼
Teaching and learning in virtual worlds: is it worth the effort?
Educators have been quick to spot the enormous potential afforded by virtual worlds for situated and authentic learning, practising tasks with potentially serious consequences in the real world and for bringing geographically dispersed faculty and students together in the same space (Gee, 2007; Johnson and Levine, 2008). Though this potential has largely been realised, it generally isnāt without cost in terms of lack of institutional buy-in, steep learning curves for all participants, and lack of a sound theoretical framework to
support learning activities (Campbell, 2009; Cheal, 2007; Kluge & Riley, 2008). This symposium will explore the affordances and issues associated with teaching and learning in virtual worlds, all the time considering the
question: is it worth the effort
Transforming pre-service teacher curriculum: observation through a TPACK lens
This paper will discuss an international online collaborative learning experience through the lens of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. The teacher knowledge required to effectively provide transformative learning experiences for 21st century learners in a digital world is complex, situated and changing. The discussion looks beyond the opportunity for knowledge development of content, pedagogy and technology as components of TPACK towards the interaction between those three components. Implications for practice are also discussed. In todayās technology infused classrooms it is within the realms of teacher educators, practising teaching and pre-service teachers explore and address effective practices using technology to enhance learning
A 3D Visual Interface for Critiquing-based Recommenders: Architecture and Interaction
Nowadays e-commerce websites offer users such a huge amount of products, which far from facilitating the buying process, actually make it more difficult. Hence, recommenders, which learn from users' preferences, are consolidating as valuable instruments to enhance the buying process in the 2D Web. Indeed, 3D virtual environments are an alternative interface for recommenders. They provide the user with an immersive 3D social experience, enabling a richer visualisation and increasing the interaction possibilities with other users and with the recommender. In this paper, we focus on a novel framework to tightly integrate interactive recommendation systems in a 3D virtual environment. Specifically, we propose to integrate a Collaborative Conversational Recommender (CCR) in a 3D social virtual world. Our CCR Framework defines three layers: the user interaction layer (3D Collaborative Space Client), the communication layer (3D Collaborative Space Server), and the recommendation layer (Collaborative Conversational Recommender). Additionally, we evaluate the framework based on several usability criteria such as learnability, perceived efficiency and effectiveness. Results demonstrate that users positively valued the experience
Distributed VR for collaborative design and manufacturing
Virtual Manufacturing (VM) applies Virtual Reality (VR) technology to provide a digital manufacturing solution in both 3D visual and interactive ways. It makes VR no longer a state-of-the art but rather an innovation technology to support modern industry. With the rapid growth of network technology and Web 3D graphics techniques, we propose a cost-effective distributed VM system for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) with limited equipment, funds and technical capabilities. The system enables SMEs to perform collaborative tasks including product design, manufacturing and resources sharing through the World Wide Web (WWW) in lower cost. This paper describes the design and critical integration issues of the system and the use of the Web 3D technology - X3D. It also evaluates the distributed VM system by comparing it to the conventional standalone CAD/CAM system
Exploring AI Tool's Versatile Responses: An In-depth Analysis Across Different Industries and Its Performance Evaluation
AI Tool is a large language model (LLM) designed to generate human-like
responses in natural language conversations. It is trained on a massive corpus
of text from the internet, which allows it to leverage a broad understanding of
language, general knowledge, and various domains. AI Tool can provide
information, engage in conversations, assist with tasks, and even offer
creative suggestions. The underlying technology behind AI Tool is a transformer
neural network. Transformers excel at capturing long-range dependencies in
text, making them well-suited for language-related tasks. AI Tool has 175
billion parameters, making it one of the largest and most powerful LLMs to
date. This work presents an overview of AI Tool's responses on various sectors
of industry. Further, the responses of AI Tool have been cross-verified with
human experts in the corresponding fields. To validate the performance of AI
Tool, a few explicit parameters have been considered and the evaluation has
been done. This study will help the research community and other users to
understand the uses of AI Tool and its interaction pattern. The results of this
study show that AI Tool is able to generate human-like responses that are both
informative and engaging. However, it is important to note that AI Tool can
occasionally produce incorrect or nonsensical answers. It is therefore
important to critically evaluate the information that AI Tool provides and to
verify it from reliable sources when necessary. Overall, this study suggests
that AI Tool is a promising new tool for natural language processing, and that
it has the potential to be used in a wide variety of applications
Hidden Markov Model Deep Learning Architecture for Virtual Reality Assessment to Compute HumanāMachine Interaction-Based Optimization Model
Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that immerses users in a simulated, computer-generated environment. It creates a sense of presence, allowing individuals to interact with and experience virtual worlds. Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) refers to the communication and interaction between humans and machines. Optimization plays a crucial role in Virtual Reality (VR) and Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) to enhance the overall user experience and system performance. This paper proposed an architecture of the Hidden Markov Model with Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) integrated with Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) for the automated Human-Machine Interaction. The proposed architecture is stated as a Hidden Markov model Grey Relational Salp Swarm (HMM_ GRSS). The proposed HMM_GRSS model estimates the feature vector of the variables in the virtual reality platform and compute the feature spaces. The HMM_GRSS architecture aims to estimate the feature vector of variables within the VR platform and compute the feature spaces. Hidden Markov Models are used to model the temporal behavior and dynamics of the system, allowing for predictions and understanding of the interactions. Grey Relational Analysis is employed to evaluate the relationship and relevance between variables, aiding in feature selection and optimization. The SSA helps optimize the feature spaces by simulating the collective behavior of salp swarms, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the HMI system. The proposed HMM_GRSS architecture aims to enhance the automated HMI process in a VR platform, allowing for improved interaction and communication between humans and machines. Simulation analysis provides a significant outcome for the proposed HMM_GRSS model for the estimation Human-Machine Interaction
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