An approach to develop intelligent learning environments by means of immersive virtual worlds

Merging Immersive Virtual Environments, Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence techniques provides a number of advantages to develop Intelligent Environments for multiple applications. This paper is focused on the application of these technologies to develop intelligent learning environments. Education is one of the most interesting applications of immersive virtual environments, as their flexibility can be exploited in order to create heterogeneous groups from all over the world who can collaborate synchronously in different virtual spaces. We highlight the potential of virtual worlds as an educative tool and propose a model to create learning environments within Second Life or OpenSimulator combining the Moodle learning management system, embodied conversational metabots, and programmable 3D objects. Our proposal has been applied in several subjects of the Computer Science degree in the Carlos III University of Madrid. The results of the evaluation show that developed learning environment fosters engagement and collaboration and helps students to better understand complex concepts.This work was supported in part by Projects MINECO TEC2012-37832-C02-01, CICYT TEC2011-28626-C02-02, CAM CONTEXTS (S2009/TIC-1485).Publicad

An approach to develop intelligent learning environments by means of immersive virtual worlds

Merging Immersive Virtual Environments, Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence techniques provides a number of advantages to develop Intelligent Environments for multiple applications. This paper is focused on the application of these technologies to develop intelligent learning environments. Education is one of the most interesting applications of immersive virtual environments, as their flexibility can be exploited in order to create heterogeneous groups from all over the world who can collaborate synchronously in different virtual spaces. We highlight the potential of virtual worlds as an educative tool and propose a model to create learning environments within Second Life or OpenSimulator combining the Moodle learning management system, embodied conversational metabots, and programmable 3D objects. Our proposal has been applied in several subjects of the Computer Science degree in the Carlos III University of Madrid. The results of the evaluation show that developed learning environment fosters engagement and collaboration and helps students to better understand complex concepts.Spanish Government TEC2012-37832-C02-01Consejo Interinstitucional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CICYT) TEC2011-28626-C02-02Project CAM CONTEXTS S2009/TIC-148

ENGAJAMENTO DE USUÁRIOS EM MUNDOS VIRTUAIS: UMA ANÁLISE TEÓRICA-PRÁTIC

Com o advento das Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação em meio ao âmbito educacional, tornou-se imprescindível uma reflexão sobre os aspectos relacionados às interações dos usuários com os mundos virtuais voltados a educação e seus materiais pedagógicos. Neste sentido, a fim de colaborar com uma melhora na motivação destes usuários durante a navegação nestes ambientes, buscando evidenciar as características que os atraem e os satisfazem quando imersos nestes mundos virtuais, esse artigo tem como objetivo principal investigar os aspectos relacionados ao engajamento dos usuários em um laboratório virtual de física desenvolvido no OpenSimulator, sendo apresentado como resultado final um estudo de caso com uma pesquisa composta de uma análise teórica e prática das características de engajamento relevantes para ambientes virtuais imersivos

Artificial Intelligence and the Disruption of Higher Education: Strategies for Integrations across Disciplines

Artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on society have received a great deal of attention in the past five years since the first Stanford AI100 report. AI already globally impacts individuals in critical and personal ways, and many industries will continue to experience disruptions as the full algorithmic effects are understood. Higher education is one of the industries that will be greatly impacted; consequently, many institutions have begun accelerating its adoption across disciplines to address the fast-approaching market shift. Recent advances with the technology are especially promising for its potential to create and scale personalized learning for students, to optimize strategies for learning outcomes, and to increase access to a more diverse populations. In the US alone, colleges are predicted to witness a 48% growth in AI market between 2018-2022. Research has confirmed that the current use of AI in education (AIEd) leads to positive outcomes, including improved learning outcomes for students, along with increased access, increased retention, lower cost of education, and decreased time to completion. Future uses of AI will include the following: enabling engaging and interactive education anytime and anywhere; personalized AI mentors that will help students identify and reach their goals; and mass-personalization that will allow AI to be tailored to each student’s learning style, level, and needs. Yet with all the potential benefits that AI and machine learning (ML) may provide students, there remains a general reticence to adopt this technology because of misconceptions and perceptions that faculty will need to retool since their current teaching strategies will be outmoded. This study provides an overview for those in higher education of what AI is and is not, and how it may be used in various disciplines. Considerations of becoming an AI institution include the following: 1) curricular planning and oversight from academic affairs to identify appropriate use cases for AI in various disciplines, and 2) coordination with IT and technology infrastructure to develop ML to support student services in general

Desenvolvimento e avaliação do laboratório imersivo de aprendizagem em saúde e enfermagem : LIASE : monitoramento da aprendizagem pelo eletroencefalograma e inventário de motivação intrínseca

Um dos maiores desafios para professores é auxiliar na aprendizagem dos alunos, e com este intuito desenvolvem, aplicam e avaliam novas metodologias e ferramentas educacionais. O uso de tecnologias na educação mediando o processo de aprendizagem sempre foi uma questão amplamente debatida, principalmente, nos cursos de formação em saúde, devido à complexidade do processo de formação de múltiplas competências, desenvolvidas em ambientes educacionais prioritariamente presenciais. Nos últimos dois anos e meio, a pandemia global em curso mostrou a necessidade de criar soluções que continuassem promovendo a aprendizagem, apesar das restrições sanitárias, abrindo caminho para soluções educacionais que privilegiassem a informática na educação. Os objetivos deste estudo foram desenvolver o Laboratório Imersivo de Aprendizagem em Saúde e Enfermagem – LIASE, elencado nas principais temáticas de biossegurança em saúde, e avaliar o processo de aprendizagem dos alunos do curso de graduação em enfermagem de uma universidade pública federal por meio de Eletroencefalograma (EEG) portátil Emotiv Insight 2.0, observação e Inventário de Motivação Intrínseca. É um estudo qualitativoquantitativo, de cunho exploratório e experimental, de um laboratório virtual piloto, desenvolvido no Mundo Virtual Imersivo – MVI, que para este estudo foi o Second Life - SL. A amostra foi constituída por 17 alunos que atendiam aos critérios de inclusão e, destes, nove tiveram o sinal de EEG estável. Os alunos foram observados durante o monitoramento da atividade cerebral pelo EEG, em tempo real, e, ao finalizarem a rota de aprendizado proposta, preencheram o Inventário de Motivação Intrínseca (IMI). Os resultados foram obtidos por meio da triangulação dos diferentes instrumentos de coleta e das variáveis Estresse, Entusiasmo/Excitação, Engajamento, Foco/Atenção e Relaxamento, mensuradas e verificadas pela análise das ondas cerebrais do algoritmo do Emotiv e que correspondem às métricas de desempenho cerebral. O LIASE teve como base teórica a teoria da Epistemologia Genética de Piaget e a Teoria Experiencial de Kolb. Como resultados obtidos, foi desenvolvido e avaliado o LIASE. Também foram alcançados resultados promissores por meio da análise das métricas de desempenho individuais, que demonstraram que o processo de aprendizagem ocorreu, corroborando os resultados do EEG e do IMI, respondido pelos participantes do estudo e confirmando as hipóteses levantadas, abrindo a possibilidade do aprendizado em laboratórios virtuais em saúde.One of the biggest challenges for teachers is to help students learn, and with this purpose they develop, apply and evaluate new methodologies and educational tools. The use of technology in education, mediating the learning process, has always been a widely debated issue, especially in health training courses, due to the complexity of the formation process of multiple competencies, developed in educational environments that are primarily classroombased. In the last two and a half years, the ongoing global pandemic has shown the need to create solutions that would continue to promote learning, despite health restrictions, opening the way for educational solutions that privilege informatics in education. The objectives of this study were to develop the Laboratory of Immersive Learning in Health and Nursing - LIASE, based on the main themes of biosafety in health, and to evaluate the learning process of undergraduate nursing students from a public federal university through portable Electroencephalogram (EEG) Emotiv Insight 2.0, observation and Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. This is a qualitative-quantitative, exploratory and experimental study, of a pilot virtual laboratory, developed in the Immersive Virtual World-MVI, which for this study was Second Life - SL. The sample consisted of 17 students who met all inclusion criteria of the study, and of these, 9 had stable EEG signal. The students were observed during the monitoring of brain activity by the EEG, and at the end of the proposed learning pathway, they filled out the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI). The results were obtained through triangulation of the different collection instruments and the variables- Stress, Enthusiasm/Excitement, Engagement, Focus/attention, and Relaxation, measured and verified by the Emotiv algorithm's brain wave analysis, which algorithm and which correspond to the metrics of brain performance. LIASE was theoretically based on Piaget's theory of Genetic Epistemology and Kolb's Experiential Theory. As results obtained, the LIASE was developed and evaluated. Promising results were also achieved through the analysis of individual performance metrics that showed that the learning process occurred, corroborating the EEG and IMI results, answered by the study participants and confirming the hypotheses raised, opening the possibility of learning in virtual laboratories in healthcare

Cognição e aprendizagem em mundo virtual imersivo

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Investigando o senso de presença na educação a distância

Embora esteja em grande ascensão, observa-se que a modalidade Educação a Distância (EAD) ainda possui uma percepção popular de qualidade de ensino inferior em comparação com o Ensino Presencial. Estima-se que carências como as de relações interpessoais entre estudantes, do uso de tecnologias mais interativas e dinâmicas, e da realização de práticas profissionais contribuam para essa percepção. Buscando atuar nestas potenciais fragilidades, esta tese apresenta o desenvolvimento de um suporte midiático composto por Mundos Virtuais (MVs) e Non-Player Characteres (NPCs), com um destes NPCs integrado à tecnologia de Agente Conversacional, atuando na função de Companheiro Virtual. Como aspecto principal, investiga-se o senso de presença, um construto da dimensão afetiva definido como a sensação de “estar lá” (no virtual). A pesquisa é aplicada, explicativa, de caráter misto e de abordagem quase-experimental, e divide-se em duas fases. Na primeira, foi desenvolvido o ambiente Simulação sobre Matemática Financeira, à luz do modelo pedagógico da Aprendizagem Experiencial e no formato role-playing, sendo realizados três estudos preliminares. Na segunda fase foram conduzidos três estudos finais. Destes seis estudos, cinco abrangeram contextos reais de educação formal ofertada na modalidade EAD. Um total de 132 estudantes realizou uma atividade extracurricular em um de três diferentes grupos (condições): Controle, que utilizou o Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem web tradicional; Experimental, que utilizou o MV; e Real Experimental, que utilizou o MV com o Companheiro Virtual. A pesquisa Como resultado, foram detectados problemas de inclusão digital, dificuldades e resistência ao uso de novas tecnologias pelos estudantes. Por outro lado, descobriu-se que a confiança no uso da tecnologia e o suporte do Companheiro Virtual foram fatores positivos para o senso de presença; que o Companheiro Virtual foi um fator positivo para o engajamento; e que o senso de presença foi um aspecto positivo para o processo de aprendizagem e para a satisfação dos estudantes. Com base nos achados e para responder à questão de pesquisa “Como promover o senso de presença de forma a contribuir com o processo de aprendizagem na EAD?” foi organizada uma estrutura com sete diretrizes de apoio às decisões para o uso de MVs.Although it is on the rise, it is observed that the Distance Education (DE) modality still has a popular perception of lower quality in comparison with on-site or face-to-face teaching. It is estimated that lacks such as interpersonal relationships between students, the use of more interactive and dynamic technologies, and the realization of professional practices contribute to this perception. Seeking to act on these potential weaknesses, this thesis presents the development of a media support composed of Virtual Worlds (VWs) and Non-Player Characters (NPCs), with one of these NPCs integrated to the technology of Conversational Agents, acting in the role of Virtual Companion. As main aspect, the sense of presence is investigated, a construct from the affective dimension defined as the feeling of “being there” (in the virtual). The research is applied, explanatory, of mixed character and quasi-experimental approach, and is divided into two phases. In the first, the Simulation on Financial Mathematics environment was developed, in the light of the pedagogical model of Experiential Learning and in the role-playing format, with three preliminary studies being carried out. In the second phase, three final studies were conducted. From these six studies, five took place in real contexts of formal education offered in DE. A total of 132 students performed an extracurricular activity in one of three different groups (conditions): Control, which used the traditional web Virtual Learning Environment; Experimental, which used the VW; and Real Experimental, which used the VW with the Virtual Companion. As a result, problems of digital inclusion, difficulties and resistance in the use of new technologies by students were detected. On the other hand, it was found that the confidence in the use of technology and the support of the Virtual Companion were positive factors for the sense of presence; that the Virtual Companion was a positive factor for engagement; and that the sense of presence was a positive aspect for the learning process and for student satisfaction. Based on the findings and to answer the research question “How to promote the sense of presence in order to contribute to the learning process in DE?” a structure was organized with seven guidelines to support decisions for the use of VWs

Augmented Reality in Chemistry Higher Education

Augmented reality (AR) has the capacity to afford virtual experiences that obviate the reliance on using two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional phenomena for teaching chemistry higher education, in addition to positioning students as the protagonists of the learning experience. Thus, the subsequent blending of constructivist pedagogical approaches and AR technology is logical, with this paradigm having enormous methodological potential. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative instruments, this research project explored the cognitive and affective impacts of engagement with four developed educational interventions, supported using ChemFord, a developed AR application. Firstly, an AR-supported educational escape activity, based on topics of inorganic stereochemistry was constructed. Reported measures of competency were seen as a positive predictor of intrinsic motivation. However, this was not observed to be a positive predictor of academic performance. Next, a Game-Based Learning activity was developed, based on topics of the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion theory. This activity was facilitated both synchronously and asynchronously, exploring the relationships between students’ attitudes, perceived cognitive load, spatial ability, and academic performance. Participants demonstrated significant improvements in spatial ability over the study period. In addition, a moderate correlation was found between spatial ability and VSEPR conceptual understanding. The third educational intervention, constructed within a framework of Cognitive Load Theory, illustrates how AR-supported worked examples may enhance learning of electrophilic aromatic substitution. The achievement motivation of learners was also explored, and how this may be impacted by the provision of AR technology and worked examples. Measures of challenge and interest were found to correlate positively with reported germane load, whereas reported extraneous load negatively correlated with measures of challenge and interest for students displaying higher prior relevant chemistry experience. Lastly, a peer instruction session, focusing on topics of coordination chemistry was facilitated. Students’ self-efficacy, response switching, and discussions were analysed, in addition to their interactions with the ChemFord application. Students with a lower assessment of their problem solving and science communication abilities were significantly more likely to switch their responses from right-to-wrong than students with a high assessment of those abilities