Virtual Interactive Tablet to Support Vocational Training in Immersive Environment

International audienceThis paper presents a tool designed to assist a virtual reality learner in a vocational training context. The benefits of VR are spreading outside the video-games and research field, leading the vocational education institutions to consider using this technology for training purposes. By simulating emblematic professional situations, teachers can train students in good conditions regarding safety, logistics and financial resources. In the French vocational training system, VR is just at its beginnings and the lack of experiments with this training context highlighted the need for new tools allowing teachers to use VR with their students. The work presented in this paper is part of a global project aiming to create, design and assess new VR tools and methodologies for this specific context. In order to guide, inform and assist the user, we are presenting a generic tool that can ease VR sessions by proposing embedded tools within easy reach of the immersed user, such as a camera, an inventory, a printer or stock management. This tool is a virtual tablet that can be grabbed by the immersed user allowing her/him to interact efficiently with the virtual environment

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

The potential of extended reality in Rural Education’s future – perspectives from rural educators

Technology-enhanced education can potentially enhance teaching and learning outcomes for rural educators since they face limited educational resources and low job satisfaction. Recently, there has been a surge in extended reality (XR) as an immersive learning technology to improve teaching and learning in rural areas, but without focusing on rural educators’ perspectives. This study aims to bridge this gap by investigating rural educators’ interactions with XR educational applications and exhibiting their insights on using XR education to improve education quality in rural areas. After educators’ hands-on experiences in a pre-designed XR education workshop, qualitative data was collected from their discussions in focus groups. As a result, educators believed that XR could transform traditional educational practices and create opportunities for new patterns of rural education (e.g., public engagement with rurality and rural vocational education). Limitations include a lack of school infrastructure to apply XR and an absence of well-structured curriculum design to use XR in the classroom setting. We suggest that future studies explore the integration of effective XR practices into primary and elementary education in those areas with limited educational resources

Making the Abstract Straightforward: A Pilot of Immersive VR in an Allied Health Program of Study

[EN] Emerging technologies in education are offering new tools for teaching and learner engagement. Today’s study and practice can include use of digital technologies far beyond looking at a flat screen: virtual reality, augmented reality, interactive 3D objects and 360 video can provide immersive and impactful teaching and learning. There are a variety of definitions for these “realities” but the overarching impact is one of powerful, immersive, visual learning. Immersive virtual reality in a learner-centric environment can provide more presence and engagement for students, enabling the possibility of enhanced learning experiences relative to conventional classroom practices. This paper presents early results of a pilot study leveraging the possibilities of VR technology in service to an existing program of study in allied health services:graduates surveyed report high degrees of confidence in course materials learned by means of the custom VR components developed, reporting the adjunct course materials substantially helped learners in understanding otherwise difficult to grasp concepts of the course.This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act.Colegrove, P.; Westergard, T. (2021). Making the Abstract Straightforward: A Pilot of Immersive VR in an Allied Health Program of Study. En 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 527-534. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd21.2021.13163OCS52753

Augmented Reality and Its Application

Augmented Reality (AR) is a discipline that includes the interactive experience of a real-world environment, in which real-world objects and elements are enhanced using computer perceptual information. It has many potential applications in education, medicine, and engineering, among other fields. This book explores these potential uses, presenting case studies and investigations of AR for vocational training, emergency response, interior design, architecture, and much more

Persuasive Technology for Learning in Business Context

"Persuasive Design is a relatively new concept which employs general principles of persuasion that can be implemented in persuasive technology. This concept has been introduced by BJ Fogg in 1998, who since then has further extended it to use computers for changing attitudes and behaviour. Such principles can be applied very well in learning and teaching: in traditional human-led learning, teachers always have employed persuasion as one of the elements of teaching. Persuasive technology moves these principles into the digital domain, by focusing on technology that inherently stimulates learners to learn more quickly and effectively. This is very relevant for the area of Business Management in several aspects: Consumer Behavior, Communications, Human Resource, Marketing & Advertising, Organisational Behavior & Leadership. The persuasive principles identified by BJ Fogg are: reduction, tunnelling, tailoring, suggestion, self-monitoring, surveillance, conditioning, simulation, social signals. Also relevant is the concept of KAIROS, which means the just-in-time, at the right place provision of information/stimulus. In the EuroPLOT project (2010-2013) we have developed persuasive learning objects and tools (PLOTs) in which we have applied persuasive designs and principles. In this context, we have developed a pedagogical framework for active engagement, based on persuasive design in which the principles of persuasive learning have been formalised in a 6-step guide for persuasive learning. These principles have been embedded in two tools – PLOTmaker and PLOTLearner – which have been developed for creating persuasive learning objects. The tools provide specific capability for implementing persuasive principles at the very beginning of the design of learning objects. The feasibility of employing persuasive learning concepts with these tools has been investigated in four different case studies with groups of teachers and learners from realms with distinctly different teaching and learning practices: Business Computing, language learning, museum learning, and chemical substance handling. These case studies have involved the following learner target groups: school children, university students, tertiary students, vocational learners and adult learners. With regards to the learning context, they address archive-based learning, industrial training, and academic teaching. Alltogether, these case studies include participants from Sweden, Africa (Madagascar), Denmark, Czech Republic, and UK. One of the outcomes of this investigation was that one cannot apply a common set of persuasive designs that would be valid for general use in all situations: on the contrary, the persuasive principles are very specific to learning contexts and therefore must be specifically tailored for each situation. Two of these case studies have a direct relevance to education in the realm of Business Management: Business Computing and language learning (for International Business). In this paper we will present the first results from the evaluation of persuasive technology driven learning in these two relevant areas.

Could vocational education benefit from augmented reality and hypervideo technologies? An exploratory interview study

Context: This study investigates the perspective of vocational educators on the possibility of adopting augmented reality (AR) and hypervideo (HV) technologies to support their teaching practice. Vocational education and training (VET) is particularly concerned with the learning of resources (knowledge, skills and attitudes) that are immediately transposable into conduct and procedures in the workplace. AR and HV can provide means to answer this requirement, but both technological solutions are still not so diffused in VET. The purpose of this study is to inquire into the perception of educators on the main advantages and disadvantages of using AR and HV to support teaching-and-learning. Methods: A semi-structured interview protocol has been proposed to 73 teachers, intercompany trainers and in-company trainers in 10 professions (at least two per category within each profession). The interview was organized in two main steps: A need analysis, in which the most important and difficult operative skills are identified for the interviewee\u27s profession; and a discussion of advantages and disadvantages of AR and HV. Content analysis was applied to the interview transcriptions. Results: The results show that the main advantages reported in the literature for the two technologies – such as the ability to switch between 2D and 3D and carry out simulations – are also found in the VET context by educators. For HV the main technical advantages (such as the use of active points, and non-linear navigation of video content) were autonomously recognised, while the potential of the instrument to support reflection has not been clearly identified. Conclusions: AR and HV are considered as tools able to support apprentices\u27 procedural learning especially with regard to the operational skills which were judged by the educators to be most relevant for VET. (DIPF/Orig.

Near Transfer After Direct Instruction: An Experimental Inquiry within Aviation Technician Training

This study put forth two instructional interventions set within a direct instruction (DI) framework specific to an aviation maintenance context. To evaluate the effectiveness of these two training interventions a criterion was established to measure near transfer during a performance evaluation on a live aircraft. Information learned within this study indicates that DI can be highly effective in technical training environments. This study also articulates how VR experiences may be included within these types of training contexts and discusses the factors and affordances that come with utilizing VR in instructional activities. Additionally, this study revealed experiential characteristics of a DI training experience from the learner perspective. Most notable among them was how much emphasis learners placed on the Present phase of the direct instruction framework, oftentimes discussing the quality, usefulness, and preference of the study’s training videos comparative to other forms of instructional media, including even the study’s VR experience itself. Finally, this study leveraged a novel research design for both the instructional context and the study’s unit of measurement in near transfer. This study exemplifies how within-subject repeated measure design may be an ideal framework for researchers looking to address long-standing critiques of experimental research within the field of instructional design