iLRN2021 7th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network

Posters

Integrated Reading Assistance in an Immersive Environment
Kojiro Yano
Osaka Institute of Technology, Japan

Relationship between Perceptions and Experiences on the Performance of Students in a Serious Game
Chioma Udeozor
Newcastle University, United Kingdom
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Virtual Learning for Virtual Times across the SUNY System
Roberta Sullivan(1), Alyssa Indelicato(2), Eileen O'Connor(3), Nicole Simon(5), Cynthia Tysick(6)
1: University at Buffalo, United States of America; 2: SUNY Upstate Medical University, United States of America; 3: Empire State College, United States of America; 5: Nassau Community College, United States of America; 6: University at Buffalo, United States of America
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Developing a Portfolio of Tools for Teaching Digital Logic
Harry Keith Edwards
University of Hawaii at Hilo, United States of America
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Game Design Informed by Learning Progressions for Science Practices
Shari Metcalf(1), Amanda Sommi(1), Sima Haddadin(1), Jennifer Scianna(2), David Gagnon(2)
1: Harvard University; 2: University of Wisconsin

Design and Evaluation of Mixed Reality Based Cybersecurity Curriculum for Middle School Students
Yan-Ming Chiou, Chrystalla Mouza, Teomara Rutherford, Chien-Chung Shen
University of Delaware, United States of America

Plant Cell Biology Education Using Advanced 3D Technologies for K-12 Students
Sayuri Tanabashi
The University of Tokyo, Japan

Virtual Geoscience Field Trip for Improved Physical Accessibility and Spatio-Temporal Reasoning
Matthew Donnelly(1), Adaobi Nebuwa(2), Jaclyn Baughman(1), Stacy Doore(2)
1: Bowdoin College, United States of America; 2: Colby College, United States of America
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Design Method of a Real-time Monitoring System for ICT Evaluation Process in Education Based on CesiumJS 3D Visualization
Chen Wu(1), Meng Chen(1), Di Wu(1), Jiman Ma(1), Jian Xu(1), Binbin Ma(2)
1: Central China Normal University, China, People's Republic of China; 2: South-Central University for Nationalities, China, People's Republic of China
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Language, Culture, and Heritage: The VR experience The Book of Distance and teaching the Family Folklore Project
Charles Willam MacQuarrie, Rachel Rebecca Tatro-Duarte
California State University Bakersfield, United States of America

Specific Heat of Water Experiment: Augmented Reality Chemistry Lab
Ryan Wirjadi, Alex Vuong, Frank Liu, Robert LiKamWa
Arizona State University, United States of America
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Building WaterWays: Investigating AR for Environmental Education
Corinne Brenner, Jessica Ochoa Hendrix, Mande Holford
Killer Snails, United States of America

Watershed Explorers: Designing a Virtual Reality Game to Promote Local Watershed Literacy
Robson Araujo-Junior(1), Alec Bodzin(1), Thomas Hammond(1), David Anastasio(1), Beigie Lam(1), Jeremy Mack(1), Daphne Mayer(2), Robert Neitz(3), Kathryn Semmens(4), Chad Schwartz(5), Jason Slipp(1)
1: Lehigh University, United States of America; 2: Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor National Canal Museum, United States of America; 3: Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center, United States of America; 4: Nurture Nature Center, United States of America; 5: Lehigh Gap Nature Center, United States of America
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Improve Spatial Learning by Chunking Navigation Instructions in Mixed Reality
Bing Liu(1), Zhicheng Zhan(2)
1: Technical University of Munich, Germany; 2: Ghent University, Belgium

Mathstation: A Grade School Math Supplement Serious Game
Jonathan Borowski, David Plecher
TU Munich, Germany

AR-supported Collaborative Game for Understanding Complex Systems
Man Su
Arizona State University, United States of America

Presentations

COVIDCampus Game: Making Safer Choices
Mina C. Johnson-Glenberg(1), Mehmet Kosa(2), Don Balanzat(2), Ricardo Nieland Zavala(2), Xavier Apostal(2), Jude Rayan(2), Hector Taylor(2), Hannah Bartolomea(2), Kapadia Anoosh(2)
1: Arizona State University and Embodied Games, United States of America; 2: Arizona State University, Tempe, United States of America
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This article highlights several game design choices made during the creation of a browser-based game on mitigation strategies for Covid-19. Additionally, it presents a within group comparison of learning gains and self-reported behavioral changes after playing the game. Results show that the short COVIDCampus game has the potential to change college-age players’ Covid-19 related mitigation behaviors and it significantly increased players’ confidence in asking important health-related questions (Cohen’s d = .27). Some implications are discussed.

A Medical Ontology Informed, User Experience Taxonomy To Support Co-creative Workflows for Authoring Mixed Reality Medical Education Spaces.
Panagiotis E. Antoniou(1), Evaggelos Chondrokostas(2), Charalampos Bratsas(2,3), Panagiotis Filippidis(2), Panagiotis Bamidis(1)
1: Medical Physics Lab, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece; 2: Open Knowledge Foundation Greece; 3: Mathematics Dept, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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Curriculum size constantly challenges healthcare education and training. Technology enhanced, immersive educational content like Virtual, Augmented, or Mixed Reality (VR/AR/MR collectively XR) constantly aims to facilitate knowledge retention and skills acquisition in the healthcare sector. Core challenge in this effort is the increasing costs, in time and resources, required for designing and developing XR immersive educational content. An approach to address this challenge is participatory design methods. Co-creation approaches distribute the burden of content development amongst the educators’ community and facilitate decentralized bottoms-up content creation. This approach requires data modeling approaches that facilitate digital asset discoverability, reusability and consumption through visual authoring tools. This work describes the conceptualization and implementation of a UX taxonomy for annotating immersive AR/VR/MR content at the asset level for maximum repurposing capacity. A brainstorming session between educational and technology experts was conducted and conceptual details of the terms of the taxonomy were described. The Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) vocabulary was utilized to organize this devised taxonomy and link it with existing medical ontology terms, formulating an RDF endpoint of the nominated ENTICE ontology. This ontology was able to link medical terms with UX and educational properties in a data structure that can annotate and contextually encapsulate any XR digital asset. An example such term is described and presented as proof of application. The semantic modelling implemented in this work is directly applicable to a previously proposed visual data structure and subsequent authoring environment that could facilitate XR resource design and authoring from non-technical experts.

Presentations

Engagement in In-Game Questionnaires - Perspectives from Users and Experts
Alexander Steinmaurer, Martin Sackl, Christian Gütl
Graz University of Technology, Austria
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Questionnaires are important instruments to gather information from people in a wide range of application scenarios, such as analyzing the responses for evaluations, collecting preferences, or retrieving self-estimations in learning settings. However, based on the setting and design of a questionnaire participating can be boring or frustrating and consequently have a negative impact on results or disengage users. Literature reports negative findings in immersive simulations and learning games, where assessment and questionnaires are provided outside the learning experience. In this paper, we introduce an approach to integrate questionnaires into a game environment. Thereby, we want to provide learners with an engaging way to answer questions. To encourage them in participating, they receive rewards for completing questions. We performed two evaluations, an A/B study with 22 participants and an evaluation with 14 experts in subject-related fields. We could show that learners are more engaged in the in-game questionnaire and integrated questions make them more likely to respond. We could also identify strategies to obtain more reliable responses such as asking questions right after a task or including gamification elements. Findings can contribute to design more engaging applications or learning environments where evaluation and feedback have significance for both educators and learners.

Presentations
 
Supporting Teachers' SRL Beliefs and Practices with Immersive Learning Environments: Evidence from a Unique Simulations-Based Program
Orna Heaysman, Bracha Kramarski
Bar Ilan University, Israel
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Empirical evidence indicates that, as a result of teachers' belief systems and the absence of an SRL development for teaching practice, teachers are challenged by the adoption of SRL in learning and teaching. This study explored a support program for SRL through quasi-experimental design to encourage aspects of SRL (planning, monitoring, evaluation) stimulated in a unique immersive simulation learning environment. Participants were 72 primary school teachers assigned to experimental or control groups. Results show that the teachers from the experimental group have shifted their beliefs towards autonomous learning and used more SRL in lesson planning and teaching reflections
 
 
Exploring the Real-Time Touchless Hand Interaction and Intelligent Agents in Augmented Reality Learning Applications
Muhammad Zahid Iqbal(1), Eleni Mangina(2), ‪Abraham G. Campbell(3)
1: School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Ireland; 2: School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Ireland; 3: School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Ireland
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During the last decade, there has been a surge in research studies exploring the adoption of Augmented Reality (AR) in educational settings. Within these multiple research studies, AR's capability to extend the teaching and learning environment with augmented 3D learning objects with enhanced interactive capabilities have been demonstrated. This new technology has not been widely adopted in the mainstream but with the recent unprecedented circumstances of COVID-19, there has been an increasing societal willingness to adopt these technologies. AR has been a desirable technology due to its inherent touchless nature which facilitates social distancing at this time but AR applications crucially offer so much more. They can provide interactive functionality through augmentation of the teaching and learning environment within an immersive user experience including 3D interactions with learning objects, gestures, hand interaction, tangible and multi-modal interaction.
This paper presents the results of a review of touchless interaction studies in educational applications and proposes the implementation of real-time touchless hand interaction within kinesthetic learning and utilization of machine learning agents. The architecture of two AR applications with real-time hand interaction and machine learning agents are demonstrated within this paper enabling engaged kinesthetic learning as an alternative learning interface.

Visualizing The Collaborative Problem Solving Process In An Immersive Cross Platform Game
Meredith Thompson, Cigdem Uz Bilgin, Rik Eberhart, Lucy Cho, Melat Anteneh, Eric Klopfer
MIT, United States of America
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This study explores how players engage in problem solving during a cross-platform collaborative game. Players took on one of two roles: an Explorer in virtual reality head mounted display and a Navigator using a tablet. Videos of 40 minute game play sessions for 8 pairs of players were transcribed and examined for patterns of game play based on stages of collaborative problem solving (CPS) developed by Fiore et al (2017). Players’ discussion during gameplay was analyzed and visualized through Epistemic Network Analysis. Results suggested that players engaged in two way communication using biology terms throughout the game, and that communication styles were linked to roles. After initial orientation, players moved through multiple cycles of cluefinding and discussion that followed similar patterns even in groups with different knowledge levels. These results suggest that collaborative problem solving can be initiated through roles in a serious game and documented through participants’ conversation during a serious game. Future research will focus on whether the game can be used to learn, practice, and improve players’ CPS skills

Presentations

Pangaea Minds: A global approach to K-12 Education
Peta Estens
Pangaea Minds, Australia
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Our special presenting examines how the education system struggles to support students to develop 21st century skills, global awareness, teamwork, communication and collaboration. Schools operate as silos- Global borders were closed for schools long before the pandemic. Exchanges too have ceased. Teachers and students are suffering Moodle and Zoom fatigue. Globally, many students and teachers don’t have access to quality training and support. There is a disparity in the standard of education delivery. Innovation is paralysed by governing bureaucratic systems. Education needs to reframe the curriculum to empower students to thrive in the Web 4.0 and Society 5.0 age. Pangaea Minds is engaged with global organisations such as the OECD, UNESCO and Amnesty International’s urgent appeal for education reform and we are a pathway for schools to respond. We are the how to reform at the grass-roots level. We are committed to supporting schools to evolve and be relevant for the future. We provide a pathway for schools to network globally through immersive virtual worlds to collaboratively deliver identified 21st century skills. Pangaea Minds affiliated schools combat zoom fatigue through using avatars for activity-based problem-solving and play. We offer K-12 students ongoing cross-cultural experiences, eSports teams and global team-teaching and project-based learning. Pangaea Minds support teacher-training to equip the next generation with the attitude and aptitude for true global citizenship. Pangaea Minds is excited to be facilitating the 2021 International Youth Research Competition, an action-research project whereby global teams of students will respond to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Our Practitioner special session will share the findings of this unique and forward-thinking project and invite K-12 Educators to join the Pangaea Minds venture.


Global Commemorations through FRAME VR
Nely Daher, Hamish Oates
Knox Gramar Preparatory School, Australia
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The Year 3 cohort at Knox Grammar Preparatory School have transitioned their inquiry learning process of Global Commemorations into an interactive virtual environment through the use of FRAME VR. Whilst maintaining our focus on inquiry learning and facilitating student development across the Australian Curriculum (ACARA) general capabilities, we have been able to extend our students critical and creative thinking by providing new and exciting means to enhance their reasoning and communication skills whilst increasing the level of positive ICT engagement through an immersive virtual learning experience.
From hand drawn posters and written essays to powerpoint presentations accompanied by a two minute oral presentation, our Year 3 students are now uploading inquiry research tasks designed on Google Slides, to a VR environment created collaboratively on FRAME VR. Students are immersed in a virtual learning space where they walk through moments in time, revisiting rich history where they can integrate their research into these environments. Utilising FRAME VR, we are able to provide equal opportunities for students to create a spatial presentation for their work, with the freedom to display it in differentiated forms. Oral presentations, video recordings and 3D models can be consolidated into one space.
Virtual learning environments are shared with the parent community at the closure of a particular unit of inquiry. By sharing a safe link, parents are granted easy access to their child’s virtual learning world. Our vision is to create an ongoing e-portfolio of individual student work using this platform. It will grow as presentations are added and stored onto customised virtual FRAME’s in a child safe and non-invasive manner. By nurturing the inquiry learning process, we are collectively instilling a creative outlook in students through an extended reality environment that will be utilised to engage the whole school community.

Presentations
 
Immersive Technology in the Public School Classroom: When a Class Meets
Samuel Williams(1), Rowena Enatsky(2), Holly Gillcash(2), James Murphy(2), Denis Gracanin(1)
1: Virginia Tech, United States of America; 2: CLS STEM+, United States of America
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Recent research suggests that students feel disconnected in distance educational environments. There is an immediate and sustained need for innovative approaches that provide personalized and interactive instruction, digital equity, and scale-up remote teaching. Shared, collaborative virtual spaces, such as Mozilla Hubs, can provide new learning modalities for educators and students, especially during the pandemic. We describe our experience with using Mozilla Hubs in formal and informal educational settings. We conducted several user studies to collect qualitative feedback from the participants. These studies include an educator workshop, a girl scout meeting, and a class gathering. The findings provide an insight how practical, useful, and entertaining such virtual spaces are to the participants.
 
 
Project Learn&Play: Piloting A Game-based Instruction For Students In Comparison To An Engineering Lecture
Anna Seidel, Franziska Weidle, Claudia Börner
Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany
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Challenges stemming from change processes such as the climate crisis are ubiquitous. To address these challenges, highly skilled specialists are needed. However, engineering courses show a decrease in enrolment numbers and high drop-out rates. Furthermore, engineering students represent a rather homogeneous group. Since diverse groups are more innovative and effective in addressing future problems, it is desirable to increase not only the quantity but also the diversity of enrolments. Therefore, the project x utilises a game-based instruction to raise interest in engineering. To examine the effects of the game as well as differences in contrast to conventional instructions, a study in a within-subject-design was conducted. Regarding motivational variables, the self-concept of ability and cognition, only a main effect of cognition and an interaction effect for cognition and gender could be detected. Furthermore, recorded gameplay sessions gave useful insights into the engagement process as well as influential effects.

Presentations

Interactive Game-based Exploration of an Underwater Paleontological Site
Corly Huang, Qiming Chen, Vid Petrovic, Dominique Rissolo, Leanne Chukoskie
University of California, San Diego, United States of America
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The Yucatan Peninsula contains many cenotes, some of which contain promising opportunities for archeological and paleontological research in the Americas. Here we describe the transdisciplinary research efforts as part of documenting and studying the artifacts at Hoyo Negro. We translate these efforts into a video game that represents the digital twin of Hoyo Negro for the public to explore. Through this game we seek to excite middle school children about opportunities in science through the rich content at Hoyo Negro and employing next generation science standards so that the game can be tested with middle school students and used as part of science curricula.

Why is VR so hard to coordinate for classrooms and trainings? How do you teach with standalone VR if you can't see what your students are doing? How do you actively engage teachers in the VR learning process?
 
In this talk, Sean Strong, CEO & Co-Founder of Grove XR, will go over the lessons learned implementing and improving VR in learning contexts. This talk will cover how Grove XR's suite of experience guiding tools — including remote launching, screen streaming, and content curation — make VR easier to use for teachers, trainers, and groups.

Synapse VR: Catalyzing Collaboration through Immersive Learning
Cat Flynn, Seth Corrigan, Faby Gagne
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Please pardon our dust as we replaced this one Sched session with 29 individual sessions.  Please visit the booths in the Expo Hall!

Presentations

Pandemic pirouettes: AR Ballet Exploring Data Ethics for the Computing Classroom
Genevieve Smith-Nunes(1), Alex Shaw(2)
1: University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; 2: Glaston Bridge Software
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This Doctoral Colloquium paper explores the pivot from in-person to virtual and digital means in developing an Augment Reality (AR) classical ballet experience due to Covid-19. This work-in-progress explores novel teaching and learning approaches to the computing concepts of data transmission, signal processing, and therefore necessarily data ethics through classical ballet and bio-metric data the body and brain waves as data artefacts, the data ethics implications of bio-metrics. Innovative approaches to subject knowledge, programming competency, and probing engender thinking of the field of computing if any. This study uses the emergent methodology of AgileDBR, a hybrid of design-based research (DBR) and Agile developed as part of author one's Ph.D.

Designing VR Environments For Distance Learning
Richard Ngu Leubou(1,2), Benoit Crespin(1), Marc Trestini(2)
1: XLIM UMR CNRS 7252, University of Limoges, France; 2: LISEC UR 2310, University of Strasbourg, France
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Virtual reality takes learner participation to a higher level of interaction, offering a real experience and a new way to acquire real-world in a distance learning device. Designing VR environments for distance learning leads to an examination of the technical and methodological choices to ensure a useful, usable and efficient tool. Our work is based on the design approaches and recommendations from existing works related to VR and/or distance learning, in order to formalize the design of collaborative VR environments specifically dedicated to distance learning.

A Qualitative Study to Explore the Use of Augmented Reality as Performance Support in Industries
Yao Huang
Florida State University, United States of America
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When augmented reality (AR) technology is used in the learning and development field, it is often viewed from a training perspective. Human Performance Technology (HPT) professionals start to explore the potential of adopting AR on mobile devices as a performance support tool to help field workers across industries. This paper captures the adoption of how mobile AR is used in organizations to address performance issues. The study will use the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) to interview ten organizations. The purpose is to uncover the critical events on why mobile AR is considered an appropriate intervention, what benefits and challenges the organizations encounter, what processes are followed when designing and implementing mobile AR, and what types and functions of mobile AR are used to assist job performance.

Immersive Media in Remote Schooling: “I was surprised at how engaged I was”
Eileen McGivney
Harvard University, United States of America
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With protracted school closures forcing young people to learn remotely, schools are in urgent need of innovative approaches that can keep students engaged in their education and support their learning. Immersive technologies like virtual reality (VR) and 360-degree videos have been shown to increase motivation to learn and student focus, but little is known about their effectiveness in a remote schooling model. This paper reports preliminary results of a mixed methods case study using 360-videos and Google Cardboard viewers in remote high school engineering classes. The students’ surveys and interviews indicate they find online learning difficult, but that 360-videos are more engaging than other instructional media and may be particularly useful for facilitating observational learning.

VeRdict: Imbuing VR Language Learning Applications with Dictionary Functionality
Louis Lecailliez, Noel H. Vincent
Kyoto University, Japan
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As VR hardware becomes increasingly performant and accessible, interest has grown among researchers regarding how to leverage its immersive qualities in an educational context. Immersion, however, often comes at the expense of multitasking functionality and use of supplementary learning resources. This presents an issue for language learners, who upon encountering an unfamiliar word in VR, may have to remove their goggles or switch applications to consult a dictionary. Thus, in order to make dictionary use more immersive and convenient for learners, we present VeRdict, a dictionary extension for VR learning applications that enables dictionary searches from directly within an application using motion controls. Its client-server architecture allows for the delivery of lexicographic content augmented with optional 3D object data, which can be used to display dictionary entries and accompanying 3D visuals. The dictionary can be used to perform manual vocabulary searches using a virtual keyboard, or be used through labels applied to elements within the virtual scene. Additionally, 3D objects loaded from the dictionary server can be used as virtual `props'—unlocking new gesture-based communicative possibilities.

The second DC session will be used for open discussion and networking - if you are a (PhD) student taking part in the conference, please come and visit, even if you do not have a talk in the DC!

During this session, participants will work through a series of activities which will demonstrate how to integrate augmented reality into Writing lessons. Through hands-on experiences, participants will explore the use of augmented reality to bring students writing, personally composed music and artworks alive creating an immersive experience for learners in the classroom. 

This is a unit of work focused on bringing together a range of key learning areas allowing for students to interact with learning in a range of different ways. It is expected that by the end of the session, participants will have developed their own story cube which can be used as a work sample if they choose to integrate this unit in their classroom 

This presentation is important and relevant as it allows for educators to understand how they can help students explore a range of skills including coding and content creation within augmented reality. By integrating these skills within writing, allows for an authentic exploration by redefining the task and increasing motivation and the development of future skills needed by students.

This workshop will take participants through step by step instructions on how to teach this unit in the classroom including composing music, creating digital artwork and creating an augmented reality experience. 

Participants will need to sign up for a free CoSpaces account to access using a trial code and download and print a Merge Cube. 

Presentations
 
Fostering Religion Learning Through Immersive Experiences: A Pilot Study
Verena Wetzel, Andreas Dengel
University of Würzburg, Germany
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The corona pandemic is forcing all educational institutions to use numerous digitalized forms of teaching due to strict contact restrictions. Since students grow up in an environment already shaped by technology, the assumption arises that such virtual teaching methods, especially those integrating immersive technology, could enhance the learning process of the learners. Especially in the subject Religion, abstract, often intangible and topics without immediate relation to the students’ everyday lives are addressed, resulting in students lack’ of motivation and interest. As several theories and studies have already shown that digitized forms of learning have a supporting effect on factors relevant for students’ learning, an immersive learning environment for learning the topic “Professions in Jerusalem” of the subject Religion was developed, which is a market place in Bethlehem in the time of Jesus. As a time-traveling journalist, the player has the task of interviewing the various profession groups in order to write a newspaper article as the final product. To support the assumption that this immersive experience can foster learning in Religion classrooms, a small sample of ten students was used to evaluate the experience. The results of a pre-/post-test comparison give first indicators that factors influencing learning processes in the Religion classroom can be increased through immersive teaching settings. To address some of the occurred issues during the study, the promotion and expansion of digitization seems to be of great priority in order to realize immersive teaching settings without major problems in the future.
 
 
Learning Organology in Virtual Reality: A Pilot Study for Music Education
Marie Haferkamp, Andreas Dengel
University of Würzburg, Germany
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A method for teaching institutionally that started to rise in the past few years is immersive learning. This article considers the learning success of children on the subject of organology. The question involved is, if a virtual reality environment on the tale “Peter and the Wolf” has a positive effect on the knowledge retention of primary school students relating to various instruments’ sound, appearance, hearing impression and groups. In a first pilot study for evaluating this educational virtual environment, eight children filled out a questionnaire before playing the virtual reality environment and after the learning experience. The findings indicate that the environment on the topic of “Peter and the Wolf” could have a positive effect on knowledge retention for fundamental aspects of organology. These first findings for using virtual environments in Music Education encourage the further investigation of using immersive media for teaching and learning in the subject Music.
 
 
Catching Up With The Future: Language Learning With Extended Reality (XR) & Game-Based Learning (GBL)
Stephanie Woessner
Landesmedienzentrum Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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Education in the 21st century requires rethinking and transforming learning, which in turn requires well-trained educators who do no longer see their primary purpose in transferring factual knowledge to children but whose mission it is to make the world a better place by allowing students to be active learners so they will be able to help shape the future as world citizens. This involves 21st century skills as well as the ability to, for instance, communicate in intercultural settings. Before they can help students develop these skills, however, educators need to master, live and breathe them themselves.
Particularly innovative approaches integrating Extended Reality and game-based learning can help us rethink education. My presentation will focus on different projects my students have worked on since 2012. The projects are all rooted in a mindset that aspires to make intercultural foreign language learning an experience.
The projects will be
- a virtual exchange simulation from 2012-2016 that was an inspiration for further projects when Extended Reality became accessible
- a project where students recreated a novel in a foreign language in VR
- a project focusing on binational creative collaboration and cooperation in VR
- a project idea allowing students to learn about historic events in an approach that combines storytelling, rap music and AR, MR and VR
- an immersive escape game for language learning
- ideas how to use Minetest for learning languages
These projects can all be adapted to different purposes and groups of learners. They can all be implemented by using tools that are easily accessible for all teachers

Presentations
 
A Taxonomy for Immersive Experience Design
J. J. Ruscella(1), Mohammad F. Obeid(2)
1: AccessVR, Winchester, VA, USA; 2: Division of Applied Technology, Shenandoah University, Winchester, USA, VA
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Immersive technology platforms such as virtual reality (VR) are used by many to create experiences that allow for efficient training, visceral encounters, and faithful reproduction of places and times. This work investigates the various elements that contribute to the design of an effective immersive experience and proposes a taxonomy that establishes levels (ranks) for each of these elements.
 
 
A Longitudinal Study Of Students’ Perceptions Of Immersive Virtual Reality Teaching Interventions
Tanya Hill, Hanneke du Preez
University of Pretoria, South Africa
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A series of virtual reality (VR) sessions was developed to explore students’ perceptions of the use of VR as a teaching intervention during lectures in an undergraduate taxation module. The study was based on the theoretical framework of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Educational Framework for immersive Learning (EFiL) and made use of a longitudinal multi-method research design approach. Data was gathered from 566 students over the academic year using three questionnaires which were statistically analyzed. Written reflections were also collected from students and these reflections were thematically analyzed.
The results show that students were positive about participating in a VR teaching intervention before they had been exposed to VR in the classroom and that they remained positive throughout the academic year as the VR interventions were rolled out on three different occasions. Students’ reflections were also overwhelmingly positive, and students believe that VR is an effective and innovative way to enhance learning.
The contribution of this research can be found in its use of a longitudinal study to provide understanding of the perceptions of undergraduate taxation students of the use of VR.
 
 
Integrating a Teaching Concept for the Use of Virtual Reality in University Teaching
Adrian Henrich(1), Tobias Schultze(1), Anette Weisbecker(1), Oliver Riedel(2)
1: IAT University of Stuttgart, Institute of Human Factors and Technology Management, Germany; 2: Fraunhofer IAO, Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering
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As many of the common mistakes made by engineering students are based on weak spatial imagination, the use of virtual reality could help to enhance those skills in undergraduate teaching. As part of a university lecture in product development that covers methods of product development and technical design, the use of virtual reality was integrated into an engineering exercise. Supplementing the usual technical tools like CAD, half of the 14 student groups were allowed to use a dedicated VR-application to review their machine designs in virtual reality. While the objective performance of those groups was not better in comparison to the “non-VR” groups, most of the student groups were able to identify design issues or mistakes through the use of VR, which they couldn’t find using only CAD. According to interviews, 69.7% of the VR-users reported that they were only able to experience and realize “the true spatial dimensions” through the use of VR.

Presentations

Logibot: Promoting Engagement through Visual Programming in Virtual Reality
Robert Matthew Sims, Nathan Rutherford, Prashanthy Sukumaran, Nikola Yotov, Thomas Smith
Lancaster University, United Kingdom
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In this study we assess the effects of teaching fundamental programming concepts through a virtual reality (VR) visual block-based programming application and its impact on engagement. As a comparison study, participants played an existing desktop-based game (Lightbot) and the developed VR game (Logibot) covering similar gameplay mechanics and block-based programming. Initial results indicate that traditional desktop applications are currently more engaging than VR for teaching programming. We thus identify the need for careful design of interaction methods to support ease of use and reward factors to promote engagement in VR-based learning applications beyond the initial wow-factor.


Influence of HMD Type and Spatial Ability on Experiences and Learning in Place-based Education
Pejman Sajjadi, Jiayan Zhao, Jan Oliver Wallgrun, Peter La Femina, Alexander Klippel
The Pennsylvania State University, United States of America
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With the emergence of different types of Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs), researchers and educators must make informed decisions on what HMDs best support their needs. When performing experiments with relatively large populations, these decisions are largely affected by the sensing-scaling tradeoff between high-end tethered HMDs and lower-end standalone systems. Higher sensing affords a richer experience, but it is also associated with higher costs in terms of the HMD itself and the need for VR-ready computers. These limitations often impede instructors from using high-end HMDs in an efficient way with larger populations. We report on the results of a study in the context of place-based immersive VR (iVR) Geoscience education that compares the experiences and learning of 45 students after going through an immersive virtual field trip, using either a lower-sensing but scalable Oculus Quest or a higher-sensing but tethered HTC Vive Pro. Our results indicate that students who used the Quest reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction but also more simulator sickness (although still a very low number on average) compared to those who used an HTC Vive Pro. Our findings suggest that with content design considerations, standalone HMDs can be a viable replacement for high-end systems in large-scale studies. Furthermore, our results also suggest that in the context of place-based iVR education, the spatial abilities of students (i.e., sense-of-direction) can be a determining factor in their experiences and learning, and therefore an important topic of study for designing effective place-based iVR experiences.

Presentations

Failure and Success in Using Mozilla Hubs for Online Teaching in a Movie Production Course
Thommy Eriksson
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
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In the autumn 2020 the course Digital Movie Making was given in a fully online mode, due to the restrictions and lockdowns related to the covid-19 pandemic. With the intention of avoiding Zoom fatigue and provide a more creative and engaging online teaching environment, the social VR platform Mozilla Hubs was chosen for all the lectures, seminars and supervision. The two main reasons for choosing Mozilla Hubs were the openness of the platform, providing wide opportunities for creating and setting up your own virtual space, as well as the option to access the platform via a web browser. However, Mozilla Hubs have a number of usability and technical flaws, making it clumsy to use, and the initial course introduction and guest lecture suffered severe technical issues when all 25 students attended simultaneously. A decision was made to only use Mozilla Hubs for supervision, and this meetings with few students turned out successful. Based on the observations from these learning activities, a number of advantages and disadvantages with VR in general and Mozilla Hubs specifically is presented and discussed.


The Effect of Spatial Design on User Memory Performance Using the Method of Loci in Virtual Reality
Pierre-François Gerard, Frederic Fol Leymarie, William Latham
Goldsmiths, United Kingdom
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Based on the Method of Loci, the following experiment compares the effect of two different virtual environments on participants' memory performance. The primary task consists of remembering a sequence of random playing cards. Each virtual environment is based on a different architectural style with a different layout. One is inspired by a Palladian style architecture, and the other by a Modern curved architecture.


Attention management in a 'Smart' Classroom
Maria Erofeeva, Nils Oliver Klowait
Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Russian Federation
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Today, technologies like interactive whiteboards, augmented and virtual reality serve as instructional aids to facilitate interactive learning. The aim of this paper is to study how the use of such technologies impacts the dynamics of classroom attention management. Employing a multimodal conversation-analytic framework, we analyze videorecordings of the first encounters with interactive whiteboards, augmented reality and virtual reality across twelve in-person classroom lessons set in four Russian secondary schools. This paper highlights how the teacher, faced with a breakdown of regular channels for managing attention (such as mutually-orientable gaze), uses their voice and body to facilitate the temporal coordination of student contributions, maintain focus on a given classroom activity, and visibly monitor classroom dynamics. The findings suggest means to alleviate tensions between new and old teaching methods, and provide further evidence on the need for a granular vocabulary for the analysis of body-orientation in a classroom context.

Student Engagement with Reduced Bias in a Virtual Classroom Environment
Esther Brandon(1), Raphael Freiwirth(2,3)
1: Brandeis University, United States of America; 2: Miramar College, United States of America; 3: The Commons XR, United States of America
 
To Transcend is critical, but the path must contain a mechanism to both combat dis-engagement and bias in a classroom environment. Why bias and engagement issues as one, because one can create an issue with the other. Not all engagement issues are bias-related, but many are. And not all bias issues may create dis-engagement, but certainly, there are many studies that seem to point that it can. Why not use tools in the classroom that can improve engagement and reduce both explicit and implicit bias? Virtual reality is one such tool if used correctly. Join us to explore the possibilities of a classroom environment that might help out the next generation of students to transcend the norms of today!
 

Presentations

Getting there? Together. Cultural Framing of Augmented and Virtual Reality for Art Education
Regina Maria Bäck(1), Rainer Wenrich(1), Birgit Dorner(2)
1: Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt; 2: Katholische Stiftungshochschule München
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Informal learning contexts of creating and exploring artefacts through Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are increasingly common. Nevertheless, insights on art educators` perspectives on potential for conceptualization and classroom implementation are scarce. In this study, both art educators a artists share their perspectives on a variety of AR/VR applications, from creating in multiplayer mode to exploring artefacts and loci in SocialVR.
Overall, twenty art educators were exploring a selection of AR/VR applications. The data was collected during online workshops with art teachers coming from diverse backgrounds (elementary and secondary school, special education). Interviews were conducted with six media artists, including pioneers of AR/VR art. Grounded Theory Methodology, specifically Situational Analysis as well as Visual Grounded Theory Methodology was applied. Results highlight media cultural perspectives in proximity and distance to AR/VR related "worlds", by classifying different journeys from first encounter to conceptualization and implementation.


Mobile Augmented Reality Applications in Teaching: A Proposed Technology Acceptance Model
George Koutromanos(1), Tassos A. Mikropoulos(2)
1: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece; 2: University of Ioannina, Greece
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This study proposed MARAM, a mobile augmented reality acceptance model that determines the factors that affect teachers’ intention to use AR applications in their teaching. MARAM extends TAM by adding the variables of perceived relative advantage, perceived enjoyment, facilitating conditions, and mobile self – efficacy. MARAM was tested in a pilot empirical study with 127 teachers who used educational mobile AR applications and developed their own ones. The results of regression analysis showed that MARAM can predict a satisfactory percentage of the variance in teachers’ intention, attitude, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Attitude, perceived usefulness, and facilitating conditions affected intention. Both perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment affected attitude. Furthermore, perceived relative advantage and perceived enjoyment affected perceived usefulness. In addition, mobile self-efficacy and facilitating conditions affected perceived ease of use. However, perceived ease of use did not have any effect on attitude and perceived usefulness. MARAM could serve as the basis for future studies on teachers’ acceptance of mobile AR applications and be expanded through the addition of other variables.

Authoring Tools for XR Applications in Education
Stefano Masneri(1), Ana Dominguez(1), Eleni Mangina(2)
1: Vicomtech, Spain; 2: University College Dublin, Ireland
 
In the last few years there has been a steady release of XR-based tools to enhance the learning experience. Until now the focus of researchers has been on the creation of content, but there is currently a lack of tools facilitating the creation of XR experiences for education. The objective of this workshop is to present the work fulfilled in the H2020 ARETE project and to stimulate the discussion around what has been done and what is still left to do to enable researchers and enterprises to easily create XR experiences.