Towards a Generalised Pedagogical Framework for Creating Mixed-Mode Role-Play in a 3D Virtual Environment

Role-play has proved itself to be an effective teaching method, and role-play within a virtual environment has been found to be more especially so. Thus, there have been many studies concerned with role-play and computer simulation used together; however, up to this point, limitations may still be found with respect to the work which has been done in this area. Some of the major outstanding problems associated with creating virtual environments for learning are: finding the simplest way to model and represent abstract concepts as 3D objects; and implementing the students’ interactions - with each other, with their instructor, and with the represented objects. Also, many projects have focused on only one pedagogical topic. My vision is to introduce a generalized method that facilitates the construction of learning scenarios and renders them as message-passing role-play activities. Then, these activities could be deployed in a virtual environment (VE) in order to help students to become more immersed in the learning process. Each such activity is to be constructed by humanizing a ‘non-human’ object, whereby the students embody and imitate an (often abstract) object which is part of a technological system and which occurs in a virtual world. This can lead to many benefits, such as being able to better support the students’ ability to imagine and visualize such objects, making them more engaged with their learning, enhancing their conceptual understanding, strengthening their reasoning when solving problems related to the topic area, and reinvigorating their interest in learning. This research presents an evaluation of an approach for the creation of a role-play simulation in a role-play supporting virtual environment, which harnesses the advantages of 3D virtual environments in an effective way - in order to benefit the students’ learning in terms of improving their understanding of abstract concepts. Moreover, this approach is generalized and thus extends the previous studies by offering a system that can be applied to a wide range of topics - that involve message-passing role-play scenarios. The approach is presented within a conceptual pedagogical framework that is supported by an analysis of the findings and results from experiments that were conducted in order to validate the framework from both the learning and technical perspectives

Flexible development of location-based mobile augmented reality applications with AREA

Mobile applications have garnered a lot of attention in the last years. The computational capabilities of mobile devices are the mainstay to develop completely new application types. The provision of augmented reality experiences on mobile devices paves one alley in this feld. For example, in the automotive domain, augmented reality applications are used to experience, inter alia, the interior of a car by moving a mobile device around. The device’s camera then detects interior parts and shows additional information to the customer within the camera view. Another application type that is increasingly utilized is related to the combination of serious games with mobile augmented reality functions. Although the latter combination is promising for many scenarios, technically, it is a complex endeavor. In the AREA (Augmented Reality Engine Application) project, a kernel was implemented that enables location-based mobile augmented reality applications. Importantly, this kernel provides a fexible architecture that fosters the development of individual location-based mobile augmented reality applications. The work at hand shows the fexibility of AREA based on a developed serious game. Furthermore, the algorithm framework and major features of it are presented. As the conclusion of this paper, it is shown that mobile augmented reality applications require high development eforts. Therefore, fexible frameworks like AREA are crucial to develop respective applications in a reasonable time

The Application of Augmented Reality (AR) to Language Learning and its Impact on Student Motivation

The recent emergence of digital authoring tools related to Augmented Reality (AR), such as Zooburst, Roar or Aumentaty, has facilitated the integration of this cutting-edge technology in Education. Consequently, different publications have come out to light about the affordances and limitations of integrating technology AR in the EFL/ESL classroom. Thus, this study seeks to analyze and review the recent trends in AR implementation in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom (EFL) and to present the main projects aimed at teaching English with AR-based projects that have been published in the latest years in WOS and Scopus. Following the methodology, the improvement in the performance of the student in different areas of study has been proved while using AR in EFL teaching

The Evolution of First Person Vision Methods: A Survey

The emergence of new wearable technologies such as action cameras and smart-glasses has increased the interest of computer vision scientists in the First Person perspective. Nowadays, this field is attracting attention and investments of companies aiming to develop commercial devices with First Person Vision recording capabilities. Due to this interest, an increasing demand of methods to process these videos, possibly in real-time, is expected. Current approaches present a particular combinations of different image features and quantitative methods to accomplish specific objectives like object detection, activity recognition, user machine interaction and so on. This paper summarizes the evolution of the state of the art in First Person Vision video analysis between 1997 and 2014, highlighting, among others, most commonly used features, methods, challenges and opportunities within the field.Comment: First Person Vision, Egocentric Vision, Wearable Devices, Smart Glasses, Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Human-machine Interactio

Connecting citizens with urban environments through an augmented reality pervasive game

The concept of Playable City situates games in public spaces to create connections between the citizens and the urban environment. To this end, Augmented Reality (AR) and pervasive technologies can provide additional information about urban objects or places and support innovative and engaging experiences to increase the user interest in the surrounding area. Understanding how these experiences affect the user interest is crucial for reaching a well-established connection between the people and the spaces around them. Our contribution is a preliminary framework to evaluate how being engaged in a playful activity improves interest and awareness in a specific urban area. The framework is based on the situated motivational affordances to establish a correlation among the users' motivations, the situation, and the employed technological artifact. We use an AR pervasive game to evaluate a playful historical experience as a technology probe. The results suggest that while playing the game, the citizens started to show a growing interest in the historical facts around them. At the same time, they began to raise concerns about other issues like sustainability, socio-environmental, and socioeconomic development.This work is supported by the project sense2MakeSense grant funded by the Spanish State Agency of Research (PID2019-109388GB-I00) and the Madrid Government (Comunidad de Madrid - Spain) under the Multiannual Agreement with UC3M in the line of Excellence of University Professors (Grant Number: EPUC3M17) context of the V PRICIT (Regional Programme of Research and Technological Innovation

A case study: what attracts teachers to augmented reality

This study aimed to identify the reasons why teachers are interested in augmented reality (AR) technology. AR is a technology that allows simultaneous enrichment of real-world images with virtual objects. AR is used at all levels of education from preschool to graduate school. The teachers who liked the Facebook page were sent the online survey via a message. 205 teachers who responded voluntarily to the questionnaire constituted the study group. Criterion sampling method, which is a purposeful sampling method, was used in the research. Case study design which is one of the qualitative research methods was used in this research. To ensure the reliability of the study, the coding process was conducted by the first researcher and another domain expert, and the codes were cross-checked. The results of the study showed that the reasons teachers are interested in AR were classified under three themes: educational benefit (teaching more effective lessons, attracting students' attention to lessons, enriching the content of the course, facilitating easier understanding of subjects, ensuring more permanent learning, making lessons more fun were attractive for teachers), professional development (follow current educational technologies, develop specialized course materials, share what they know with other teachers, use this information with other subjects) and personal development (learning new things, benefit from academic studies, prepare projects). © 2022, Ozgen Korkmaz. All rights reserved

Teacher Educators Perspectives on The Use of Augmented Reality for Foreign Language

The purpose of this research is to share reflections on Augmented Reality (AR) technology as an upgrade tool for foreign language development. Exploring the short but considerable literature research, this post discusses AR technology for the rise in the philosophy of upgrading, upgrading teacher nursery in position, teachers, pupils, customs, infrastructure, and sustainability, using the framework of activities outlines the suitability of the use of upgrading technology in development programs. For analysis, AR technology has essential benefits for language development; however, it is not suitable for all language types. Not only that, but this information also offers solid recommendations for activities that are enhanced with AR in 4 skills as well as language-specific applications. This information has some relevance for instructors, teachers, researchers, and creators of Augmented reality content