Virtual Environments for Collaborative Innovation and Learning

Retalis, S., & Sloep, P. B. (2011). Virtual Environments for Collaborative Innovation and Learning. Journal of Universal Computer Science (J.UCS), 17(12), 1634-1637.Networked technologies, especially social software applications, provide new affordances that facilitate collaborative creativity among staff members of organizations. This editorial paper gives an overview of the scope of this special issue which focuses on the design of virtual environments for collaborative innovation and learning

Architecture for Collaborative Learning Activities in Hybrid Learning Environments

3D virtual worlds are recognized as collaborative learning environments. However, the underlying technology is not sufficiently mature and the virtual worlds look cartoonish, unlinked to reality. Thus, it is important to enrich them with elements from the real world to enhance student engagement in learning activities. Our approach is to build learning environments where participants can either be in the real world or in its mirror world while sharing the same hybrid space in a collaborative learning experience. This paper focuses on the system architecture and a usability study of a proof-of-concept for these hybrid learning environments. The architecture allows the integration of the real world and its 3D virtual mirror; the exchange and geolocalization of multimodal information, and also the orchestration of learning activities. The results of the usability evaluation show positive engagement effects on participants in the mirror world and, to a lesser extent, on those in the real world.This research has been partially supported by the following projects: “España Virtual” within the Ingenio 2010 program, subcontracted by Elecnor Deimos, "EEE" (TIN2011-28308-C03-01) funded by the Spanish National Plan of Research, Development and Innovation, and "eMadrid", S2009/TIC-1650 “Investigación y Desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid” funded by the Region of Madrid.Publicad

From ‘hands up’ to ‘hands on’: harnessing the kinaesthetic potential of educational gaming

Traditional approaches to distance learning and the student learning journey have focused on closing the gap between the experience of off-campus students and their on-campus peers. While many initiatives have sought to embed a sense of community, create virtual learning environments and even build collaborative spaces for team-based assessment and presentations, they are limited by technological innovation in terms of the types of learning styles they support and develop. Mainstream gaming development – such as with the Xbox Kinect and Nintendo Wii – have a strong element of kinaesthetic learning from early attempts to simulate impact, recoil, velocity and other environmental factors to the more sophisticated movement-based games which create a sense of almost total immersion and allow untethered (in a technical sense) interaction with the games’ objects, characters and other players. Likewise, gamification of learning has become a critical focus for the engagement of learners and its commercialisation, especially through products such as the Wii Fit. As this technology matures, there are strong opportunities for universities to utilise gaming consoles to embed levels of kinaesthetic learning into the student experience – a learning style which has been largely neglected in the distance education sector. This paper will explore the potential impact of these technologies, to broadly imagine the possibilities for future innovation in higher education

NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION AND SOCIETY - BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

New technologies, like artificial intelligence and virtual collaborative environments, are in our daily lives and are becoming part of the fabric of human interactions and thought processes. They are powerful tools to improve our well-being and development that also challenge and create risks to our known processes and ways of being in the world. In Education, and in other areas, several projects, initiatives, research and general use offer material for critical analysis and planning of future avenues. As in other complex challenges, networked discussions, learning from each other and creating community is an important part of the solutions to be charted. Partners in the European University for Customised Education (EUNICE) have combined efforts to organise the event Seminar New Technologies in Education and Society (NTES), allowing deep discussions based on real and/or research-based uses and cases across different countries and contexts. This 3-day seminar, featuring plenary sessions, discussions, and poster sessions, will dive into the exploration and discourse surrounding new technologies in education and society. The plenary sessions will showcase new technologies utilized in education, while also serving broader social needs. Attendees will gain insight into the innovative concept of the EUNICE Virtual Lab, explore the opportunities and challenges posed by the Metaverse, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and blended real/virtual teaching approaches. Attendees will also have the unique opportunity to experience the virtual world first-hand through the use of VR headsets. This seminar aligns with the EUNICE4U project, which aims to develop a shared system of support for pedagogical innovation. One of the primary goals of EUNICE activities is to improve student learning through continuous pedagogical innovation, including effective integration of learning technologies, interdisciplinary teaching methodologies, and challenge-based learning approaches. EUNICE strives to harness the potential of immersive learning, particularly through virtual collaborative environments, as a promising method for delivering distance academic programmes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Innovation Gaming: An Immersive Experience Environment Enabling Co-creation

A number of existing innovation paradigms and design approaches such as Open Innovation (Chesbrough, 2003), User Experience (Hassenzahl & Tractinsky, 2006) and User-Centred Design (Von Hippel, 2005), as well as User-Centred Open Innovation Ecosystems (Pallot, 2009a) are promoting distributed collaboration among organisations and user communities. However, project stakeholders are mainly trained for improving their individual skills through learning experience (i.e. practical exercises, role playing game) rather than getting a live user experience through immersive environments (e.g. Virtual Reality, Serious Games) that could unleash their creativity potential. This chapter introduces the findings of a study on serious gaming, which discusses various aspects of games and explores a number of issues related to the use of innovation games for enabling user co-creation in the context of collaborative innovation and experiential Living Labs

Formação de e-formadores : estudo de caso no SOLAR - ambiente de aprendizagem online do instituto virtual

Neste texto apresenta-se um estudo no domínio da formação de professores para a Educação a Distância no contexto do Curso de Formação de Tutores do Instituto Virtual da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brasil, orientado para a análise das conceções de utilização, desenvolvimento e inovação pedagógica nos ambientes de educação a distância e e-learning. A análise baseia-se nas abordagens da sociedade em rede, nas conceções de aprendizagem situada e comunidade de prática, nos processo de aprendizagem colaborativa, nas perspetivas cognitivas do conhecimento, nos modelos de gestão e liderança de formação, na globalização das redes de educação e das redes sociais que configuram os espaços de aprendizagens formal e as cenarizações da inovação e sustentabilidade dos modelos de aprendizagem colaborativa. A investigação adotará o Estudo de Caso como opção metodlogócia, focalizando os fenômenos/acontecimentos em estudo no contexto em que ocorrem. O resultado da investigação será a elaboração de referências para as cenarizações da inovação e sustentabilidade dos modelos de aprendizagem colaborativa.We present this study on training of teachers for distance education in the context of the Tutors Training Course of the Virtual Institute of the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil, and aims to analyze the conceptions of use, development and innovation for pedagogical environments of distance education and e-learning in the Digital Society. The analysis is summarized in the approaches of the network society, in designs of situated learning and communities of practice, the process of collaborative learning approaches in the education network, the cognitive perspectives of knowledge management models and leadership training, the globalization of education networks and social networks that configure themselves as places of formal education and scenarios innovation and sustainability of models of collaborative learning. Given the nature and objectives of this study we adopted a qualitative based approach in the context of distance education and e-learning within the training course. The outcome of the investigation will be the preparation of references for scenario innovation and sustainability of collaborative learning models

Fostering Creativity via Technoself Enhanced Learning with Emerging Technologies

Creative and collaborative learning has profound implications for all parts of the system we have built up in our societies — not only the education systems but also the social, economic and cultural systems. Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) research has increasingly focused on emerging technologies, Extended Reality (XR) to improve learner’s engagement in enriched multimodal learning environments. This paper recommends technoself pedagogy and investigates XR for creative learning as a frontier in TEL. In partnership with cultural sectors, we introduce the agile working process in the collaboration with the Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust (AP) and report the project development of two pilot apps based on the proposed methodology. As a result, students as co-creators were engaged in pilot collaborative projects to work on the digital solutions that promote unforgettable stories. The prototypes exploited the latest development of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and game and mobile technology. The pilot pedagogical practice focuses on providing a vibrant collaborative learning environment which fosters innovation and creativity, informed by practice, inspired by TEL research across disciplines. The collaborative learning practices also support cultural sectors to inspire their visitors and to help curators think beyond their current boundaries, providing a new, mixed media and technological approach to raise cultural awareness to wider audiences

Online Scientific Volunteering: the technological immersion for the co-construction of knowledge, employability, entrepreneurship and innovation in a logic of inclusion

“We all have something to learn and something to share” is the motto of this project, through which we aim to assess the impact of a multilingual platform which combines and makes the most of the potentials of digital environments and favours inclusion, in the co-construction of knowledge in learning/practice, in employability, entrepreneurism and innovation. In this article we will introduce an ongoing project which is founded on the principle of openness to the research community. Its philosophy is Online Scientific Volunteering for the co-construction of knowledge about learning best practices. The platform that will emerge from the project will be open access. The academic community, whether national or international, can contribute with content and knowledge to the platform, through interaction and discussions around relevant and emerging topics. The community may also exploit, without encumbrance, the contents of the platform for their own benefit. This way students and scientific expertise can share in a common knowledge space, and together build a comprehensive knowledge base.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio