How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds?

Over the past decade, teaching and learning in virtual worlds has been at the forefront of many higher education institutions around the world. The DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) consisting of Australian and New Zealand higher education academics was formed in 2009. These educators are investigating the role that virtual worlds play in the future of education and actively changing the direction of their own teaching practice and curricula. 47 academics reporting on 28 Australian higher education institutions present an overview of how they have changed directions through the effective use of virtual worlds for diverse teaching and learning activities such as business scenarios and virtual excursions, role-play simulations, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insights into the ways in which institutions are continuing to change directions in their teaching to meet changing demands for innovative teaching, learning and research in virtual worlds. This paper highlights the ways in which the authors are using virtual worlds to create opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would be difficult or not possible to achieve through more traditional approaches

How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds?

Over the past decade, teaching and learning in virtual worlds has been at the forefront of many higher education institutions around the world. The DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) consisting of Australian and New Zealand higher education academics was formed in 2009. These educators are investigating the role that virtual worlds play in the future of education and actively changing the direction of their own teaching practice and curricula. 47 academics reporting on 28 Australian higher education institutions present an overview of how they have changed directions through the effective use of virtual worlds for diverse teaching and learning activities such as business scenarios and virtual excursions, role-play simulations, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insights into the ways in which institutions are continuing to change directions in their teaching to meet changing demands for innovative teaching, learning and research in virtual worlds. This paper highlights the ways in which the authors are using virtual worlds to create opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would be difficult or not possible to achieve through more traditional approaches. © 2011 Brent Gregory, Sue Gregory, Denise Wood, Yvonne Masters, Mathew Hillier, Frederick Stokes-Thompson, Anton Bogdanovych, Des Butler, Lyn Hay, Jay Jay Jegathesan, Kim Flintoff, Stefan Schutt,Dale Linegar, Robyn Alderton, Andrew Cram, Ieva Stupans, Lindy McKeown Orwin, Grant Meredith, Debbie McCormick, Francesca Collins, Jenny Grenfell, Jason Zagami, Allan Ellis, Lisa Jacka, Angela Thomas, Helen Farley, Nona Muldoon, Ali Abbas, Suku Sinnappan, Katrina Neville, Ian Burnett, Ashley Aitken, Simeon Simoff, Sheila Scutter, Xiangyu Wang, Kay Souter, David Ellis, Mandy Salomon, Greg Wadley, Michael Jacobson, Anne Newstead, Gary Hayes, Scott Grant, Alyona Yusupova

Context-Aware Mobile Augmented Reality Visualization in Construction Engineering Education

Recent studies suggest that the number of students pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees has been generally decreasing. An extensive body of research cites the lack of motivation and engagement in the learning process as a major underlying reason of this decline. It has been discussed that if properly implemented, instructional technology can enhance student engagement and the quality of learning. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to implement and assess effectiveness of augmented reality (AR)-based pedagogical tools on student learning. For this purpose, two sets of experiments were designed and implemented in two different construction and civil engineering undergraduate level courses at the University of Central Florida (UCF). The first experiment was designed to systematically assess the effectiveness of a context-aware mobile AR tool (CAM-ART) in real classroom-scale environment. This tool was used to enhance traditional lecture-based instruction and information delivery by augmenting the contents of an ordinary textbook using computer-generated three-dimensional (3D) objects and other virtual multimedia (e.g. sound, video, graphs). The experiment conducted on two separate control and test groups and pre- and post- performance data as well as student perception of using CAM-ART was collected through several feedback questionnaires. In the second experiment, a building design and assembly task competition was designed and conducted using a mobile AR platform. The pedagogical value of mobile AR-based instruction and information delivery to student learning in a large-scale classroom setting was also assessed and investigated. Similar to the first experiment, students in this experiment were divided into two control and test groups. Students\u27 performance data as well as their feedback, suggestions, and workload were systematically collected and analyzed. Data analysis showed that the mobile AR framework had a measurable and positive impact on students\u27 learning. In particular, it was found that students in the test group (who used the AR tool) performed slightly better with respect to certain measures and spent more time on collaboration, communication, and exchanging ideas in both experiments. Overall, students ranked the effectiveness of the AR tool very high and stated that it has a good potential to reform traditional teaching methods

Collaborative geographic visualization

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente, perfil Gestão e Sistemas AmbientaisThe present document is a revision of essential references to take into account when developing ubiquitous Geographical Information Systems (GIS) with collaborative visualization purposes. Its chapters focus, respectively, on general principles of GIS, its multimedia components and ubiquitous practices; geo-referenced information visualization and its graphical components of virtual and augmented reality; collaborative environments, its technological requirements, architectural specificities, and models for collective information management; and some final considerations about the future and challenges of collaborative visualization of GIS in ubiquitous environment

Reality guides for life before death

The rise of the digital game industry has brought along a plethora of game design tools and frameworks. They are likely to be named specifically as design frameworks for games because their creators have been positioned themselves on the field of game research due to their personal interest in games or due to the fast rising game business. There appears often not to be a reason why these tools and frameworks could not be used in any other kind of interaction design too. Furthermore, even the definition of a game is elusive. In effort to be able to consider what is a game and what is not, the concept of Reality Guides was developed. A Reality Guide guides the user in their surrounding reality. By its definition it is not necessarily a game, and a game by its definition is not necessarily a Reality Guide, but it is possible for something to be both. Reality Guides can come in the form of paper booklets, human guides, digital applications, or something else. The focus in this thesis is in guides that are mixed reality digital applications. Looking at Reality Guides through several game design frameworks, a new theoretical model was constructed: The GEM Game Experience Model is a result of Grounded Theory based work to find a single underlaying model behind all the existing ones. Two non-game initiatives have been worked on with the guidance of Reality Guide thinking and GEM thinking: Life Before Death aims at producing services that will help people with premature end of life circumstances to make the best possible out of their remaining life. Reality Guides for the end-of-life. Also, in the initiative of creating a community around Digital Theology a project course was organized using gamer community originated Discord as a central Reality Guide for the course participated by students from four continents

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE IN VIRTUAL REALITY DOES IMMERSION REALLY AID LEARNING?

This study explored whether students benefited from an immersive panoramic display while studying subject matter that is visually complex and information-rich. Specifically, middle-school students learned about ancient Egyptian art and society using an educational learning game, Gates of Horus, which is based on a simplified three dimensional computer model of an Egyptian temple. First, we demonstrated that the game is an effective learning tool by comparing written post-test results from students who played the game and students in a no-treatment control group. Next, we compared the learning results of two groups of students who used the same mechanical controls to navigate through the computer model of the temple and to interact with its features. One of the groups saw the temple on a standard computer desktop monitor while the other-saw it in a visually immersive display (a partial dome) The major difference in the test results between the two groups appeared when the students gave a verbal show-and-tell presentation about the Temple and the facts and concepts related to it. During that exercise, the students had no cognitive scaffolding other than the Virtual Egyptian Temple which was projected on a wall. The student navigated through the temple and described its major features. Students who had used the visually immersive display volunteered notably more than those who had used a computer monitor. The other major tests were questionnaires, which by their nature provide a great deal of scaffolding for the task of recalling the required information. For these tests we believe that this scaffolding aided students' recall to the point where it overwhelmed the differences produced by any difference in the display. We conclude that the immersive display provides better supports for the student's learning activities for this material. To our knowledge, this is the first formal study to show concrete evidence that visual immersion can improve learning for a non-science topic

Actas do 12º Encontro Português de Computação Gráfica

Actas do 12º Encontro Portugês de Computação Gráfica, Porto, 8-10 de Outubro de 2003O Encontro Português de Computação Gráfica teve lugar nesse ano 2003, naquela que foi a sua 12ª edição, no ISEP – Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, entre os 8 a 10 de Outubro. O 12º Encontro Português de Computação Gráfica (12EPCG) veio no seguimento de encontros anteriores realizados anualmente e reuniu investigadores, docentes e profissionais nacionais e estrangeiros, que realizam trabalho ou utilizam a Computação Gráfica, Realidade Virtual e Multimédia, assim como todas as suas áreas afins, no sentido de permitir a divulgação de projectos realizados ou em curso e fomentar a troca de experiências e a discussão de questões relacionadas com a Computação Gráfica em Portugal, entre as comunidades académica,industrial e a de utilizadores finais. Este é o livro de actas do 12EPCG.Fundação Ilídio PinhoFC

Exploring the use of a virtual reality learning environment to support innovation education in Iceland

Innovation Education (IE) in Iceland aims to train students to identify needs and problems in their environment and to find solutions: this is referred to as the process of ideation. The thesis explores the contexts of teaching and learning, incorporating the VRLE with IE to support the students’ work. There is a focus on blended learning, as the VRLE is used in conjunction with conventional classroom-based activity. The work employed the grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) perspective, in order to observe the complex social/educational activity relating to this real-life learning context. It was intended to build understanding (grounded theory), rather than an attempt to establish cause and effect. The author intended to observe, describe and interpret settings as sources of data and the main aim was to gain a greater understanding of the use of the VRLE in supporting students work in conventional Innovation Education classes within Icelandic schools. The overall research question was: ‘How does the use of the VRLE affect teacher’s pedagogy and the students’ work, in conventional Innovation Education in Iceland?’ [Continues.

Designing an engaging learning universe for situated interactions in virtual environments

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Studies related to the Virtual Learning approach are conducted almost exclusively in Distance Learning contexts, and focus on the development of frameworks or taxonomies that classify the different ways of teaching and learning. Researchers may be dealing with the topic of interactivity (avatars and immersion are key components), yet they do so they mainly focusing on the interactions that take place within the virtual world. It is the virtual world that consists the primary medium for communication and interplay. However, the lines are hard to be drawn when it comes to examining and taxonomising the impact of interactions on motivation and engagement as a synergy of learners’ concurrent presence. This study covers this gap and sheds light on this lack—or, at least, inadequacy—of literature and research on the interactions that take place both in the physical and the virtual environment at the same time. In addition, it explores the impact of the instructional design decisions on increasing the learners’ incentives for interplay when trying to make sense of the virtual world, thus leading them to attain higher levels of engagement. To evaluate the potential of interactions holistically and not just unilaterally, a series of experiments were conducted in the context of different Hybrid Virtual Learning units, with the participation of Computer Science & Technology students. One of the goals was to examine the learners’ thoughts and preconceptions regarding the use of virtual worlds as an educational tool. Then, during the practical sessions, the focus was placed on monitoring students’ actions and interactions in both the physical and the virtual environment. Consequently, students were asked as a feedback to report their overall opinion on these actions and interactions undertaken. The study draws a new research direction, beyond the idea of immersion and the development of subject-specific educational interventions. The conclusions provide suggestions and guidelines to educators and instructional designers who wish to offer interactive and engaging learning activities to their students, as well as a taxonomy of the different types of interactions that take place in Hybrid Virtual Learning contexts