iLRN 2018 Main Conference Preface

iLRN 2018. Conferência realizada em Missoula, MT, USA, de 24-29 de junho de 2018.ILRN 2018 was the fourth annual international conference of the Immersive Learning Network. It followed on from the inaugural conference held in Prague in July 2015, the second conference held in Santa Barbara in June 2016, and the third conference held in Coimbra, Portugal, in 2017. In response to the increasingly accessible and powerful range of VR and AR technology, the vision of the iLRN is to develop a comprehensive research and outreach agenda that encompasses the breadth and scope of learning potentialities, affordances, and challenges of immersive learning environments. To achieve this, the iLRN invites and hosts scientists, practitioners, organizations, and innovators across many disciplines to explore, describe, and apply the optimal use of immersive worlds and environments for educational purposes. The annual conference aims to explain and demonstrate how these immersive learning environments best work. In 2018, 21 formal papers were received for the main conference and after a rigorous reviewing process six were selected for this Springer publication (28% acceptance rate). The authors of these papers come from institutions located in Brazil, Germany, the UK, and the USA (Florida, Texas, California). The main conference papers cover a range of interesting topics in some depth, providing useful information for other educators and researchers. Alvarez-Molina et al. report on how video games can help players develop their musical skills and illustrate this by creating and evaluating a music-video game that aims to improve the key skill of pitch recognition. Bakri et al. investigate the subjective perception of the fidelity of 3D cultural heritage artifacts on the Web and how this affects the user experience. De León reports on the promising results of utilizing problem-based learning for bridging theory and practice in teacher preparation programs through the use of immersive, ill-structured problems in a multi-user virtual environment that simulates a real school. Feenan draws upon 10 years of studies into the use of digital game-based learning as the basis of an analysis that recommends a five-pronged approach to the successful use of games to support social resiliency skills for students in a fast-changing world. Johnson and Sullivan describe a pilot study that identifies three key strategies for making students feel more comfortable and productive in an experimental game design class. Queiroz et al. present a literature review of learning outcomes from using fully HMD-based IVE in primary/K-12 education, highlighting relevant studies, identifying gaps, and providing insights for use in further research. This informative and fascinating collection of papers reflects the emerging and valuable possibilities of immersive learning research. We know you will find many points of interest and use in the well-presented reports in this collection. Finally, we strongly encourage you to join ILRN and contribute your own insights and research to the community.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Recomendações na escolha de revistas e conferências para iniciar revisões bibliográficas e publicação: bom senso e necessidade de fugir a editoras predadoras

Este texto destina-se a alunos de mestrado e/ou doutoramento que estejam a iniciar o seu processo de seleção de fontes bibliográficas para elaboração do estado da arte. Visa contribuir para evitar o enviesamento de um estreitamento prematuro das fontes e para cultivar um salutar posicionamento crítico face às mesmas. Dá-se particular atenção à necessidade de avaliar com particular cuidado trabalhos publicados em conferências ou revistas “predadoras”, ou seja, cujo fito seja a aceitação pouco criteriosa com vista ao mero lucro. Primeira versão, concluída a 21 de maio de 2018.info:eu-repo/semantics/draf

Ingress : potencialidades pedagógicas de um jogo georreferenciado de realidade alternativa em rede

Este capítulo proporciona uma narrativa e reflexão sobre as dinâmicas de aprendizagem e contacto com o espaço físico no âmbito de um ano de participação do autor no jogo Ingress, da Google. Como jogo georreferenciado de realidade alternativa, recorre ao espaço físico que nos rodeia, mas reinterpretado com camadas de informação digital. Como jogo mundial de milhares de utilizadores simultâneos, reunidos em apenas duas equipas mundiais, requer coordenação de esforços, estratégias e colaboração. Como jogo que combina ficção científica com mistério, baseado numa narrativa incompleta que vai sendo revelada, combina dados implícitos, explícitos e ocultos, requerendo cruzamento de informações e perspetivas entre jogadores. Como jogo que é desenvolvido tecnicamente ao longo deste período, com alterações constantes de regras e funcionalidades, requer adaptação rápida às consequências e dinâmicas sociais. Pretende-se com esta narrativa e reflexão descortinar o potencial deste tipo de jogos para dinâmicas e atividades de aprendizagem formal ou informal

Immersive learning research

Editorial. Material for the special issue "Immersive Learning Research" of the Journal of Universal Computer Science.Welcome to the Journal of Universal Computer Science (J.UCS) special issue organized by the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) following the 2017 iLRN conference. This issue includes eight papers on the focused topic "Immersive Learning Research", including extended versions of papers presented at iLRN 2017 and articles from the public call for papers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Activity providers for Inven!RA

This report details the operation of Web services for platforms implementing the Inven!RA architecture and the data formats for parameter passing and responses.N/

The influence of traditional authority on voting behavior in Mozambique

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsLocal elites in developing African countries, the so-called Traditional Authorities, still hold considerable power over rural communities, namely they are likely to have a decisive influence on their voting behavior. This study measures this influence using data collected through a field experiment for Aker, Collier and Vicente (2011) during the Mozambican elections of 2009 in 161 locations. The results obtained point to a positive correlation between a set of indicators of the power of Traditional Authorities and both voter turnout and the vote for Frelimo, the incumbent

A Systematic Review of Teacher-Facing Dashboards for Collaborative Learning Activities and Tools in Online Higher Education

Dashboard for online higher education support monitoring and evaluation of students’ interactions, but mostly limited to interaction occurring within learning management systems. In this study, we sought to find which collaborative learning activities and tools in online higher education are included in teaching dashboards. By following Kitchenham’s procedure for systematic reviews, 36 papers were identified according to this focus and analysed. The results identify dashboards supporting collaborative tools, both synchronous and asynchronous, along categories such as learning management systems, communication tools, social media, computer programming code management platforms, project management platforms, and collaborative writing tools. Dashboard support was also found for collaborative activities, grouped under four categories of forum discussion activities, three categories of communication activities and four categories of collaborative editing/sharing activities, though most of the analysed dashboards only provide support for no more than two or three collaborative tools. This represents a need for further research on how to develop dashboards that combine data from a more diverse set of collaborative activities and tools.This work was supported by the TRIO project funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ KA220-ADU – Cooperation partnerships in adult education programme under grant agreement no. KA220-ADU-1B9975F8.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Immersive learning environments: theory and research instruments

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Merged reality for everyone

This article addresses some interesting challenges and business opportunities within the promising merged reality ecosystem, which offers the vision of bringing together virtual, augmented and physical realities, seamlessly. The article also links the current status of this field with exploratory research and development work carried out by Altice Labs.Altice Labsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Can we escape the metaverse?: Should we?

In view of the strong market presence and leverage of major corporations involved in this topic, the most straightforward answer to the questions above is “No”. Nevertheless, multiple perspectives should be considered. Thus, along this article we reflect about the concept of “metaverse”, what parts of it exist today, and what is foreseen that makes this concept a much discussed game changer.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio