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

Modeling Teacher Use of Virtual Reality Simulations in Nursing Education Using Epistemic Network Analysis
Mamta Shah(1), Amanda L Siebert-Evenstone(2), Brendan R Eagan(2), Roxanne Holthaus(1)
1: Elsevier; 2: University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Simulations are widely adopted in undergraduate nursing education because they offer low-risk, experiential ways to expose pre-licensure students to clinical environments, and to situate the development of requisite knowledge and skills for patient care. Virtual reality (VR) simulations present novel opportunities for clinical education; as such, research in this area is burgeoning around questions related to perception, adoption, and outcomes. In this paper, we demonstrate the application of epistemic network analysis, a quantitative ethnography technique, to model how one nursing educator facilitated clinical judgment and nurtured quality and safety education for nurses’ competencies through the use of Simulation Learning System with Virtual Reality (SLS with VR). We modeled the discourse obtained from three simulation sessions in October and November 2020, all involving a fundamental scenario requiring second-year nursing students to practice basic assessment and care management. Our work aims to advance research in medical and health education, particularly nursing education, using immersive learning environments by way of applying theory-backed learning analytic techniques.


CureQuest: A Digital Game for New Drug Discovery
Ben Chang, Shawn Lawson, Kathleen Ruiz, Mei Si
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, United States of America
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CureQuest is an educational adventure game about Clinical Translational Therapeutics, the process of discovery and development of new medical treatments, drugs, devices, and therapies. The game is being developed through a collaboration between faculty and students from a game design program and those from a medical school, with the goal of raising awareness and improving collaboration in the "bench to bedside" process. CureQuest aims to address this gap, first with medical students and ultimately for a general audience, with a game that instills wonder and inspires players with the challenges of drug discovery. In addition to the impact of the game when completed, the development process itself presents a novel case study in integrating the interdisciplinary fields of game development and “team science”. We present the current version of the game in development; the unique design challenges presented by the project; and the evolution of our collaborative process.

Presentations
 
An Academic Conference In Virtual Reality? – Evaluation Of A SocialVR Conference
Miriam Mulders(1), Raphael Zender(2)
1: University of Duisburg Essen, Germany; 2: University of Potsdam, Germany
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One of the first academic conferences in head-mounted display (HMD)-based Social Virtual Reality (SocialVR) was realized. The conference aims to support knowledge acquisition and informal exchange regarding the technology SocialVR itself and the use of Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies (VR/AR) in vocational education. The paper presents results of an explorative study of 75 conference participants. Results indicate that SocialVR is generally suited to host an academic conference. In some areas, it seems inferior or equivalent to other digital formats or face-to-face events. In other areas, it offers added value. Further research is needed to take advantage of these positive effects.
 
 
Evaluation Design Methodology for an AR App for English Literacy Skills
Jennifer Tiede(1), Farzin Matin(2), Rita Treacy(3), Silke Grafe(1), Eleni Mangina(2)
1: University of Würzburg, Germany; 2: University College Dublin, Ireland; 3: Wordsworthlearning, Ireland
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Augmented Reality (AR) is a powerful tool for supporting students’ learning processes, but sound research findings regarding the systematic evaluation of AR-enhanced teaching and learning processes are scarce especially with regards to literacy attainment. Hence, against the background of a systematic literature review the evaluation approach in the European H2020 ARETE project is introduced. The effects of Augmented Reality (AR) on fourth to sixth grade primary school students’ literacy skills acquisition are assessed. The evaluation approach has been designed systematically to respond to important research desiderata such as the development of multimethod and multi-perspective evaluation approaches combining different target groups and measurements. The aim of this paper is the design clarification and the provision of the research desideratum of evaluation design and metrics that are suitable for systematically assessing students’ literacy attainment when utilising AR.
 
 
Using Support Vector Machine on EEG Signals for College Students' Immersive Learning Evaluation
Boxin Wan(1,2), Wenshan Huang(1), Ludi Bai(1,2), Junqi Guo(1,2)
1: School of Artificial Intelligence,Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; 2: Center for Big Data Mining & Knowledge Engineering,Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Conventional methods such as questionnaires and scales to evaluate learners’ learning immersion are influenced by individuals’ subjective factors. The non-synchronism between the learning state and after-learning investigation also reduces the accuracy. We propose a new method to evaluate learners’ learning immersion based on electroencephalogram (EEG) and support vector machine (SVM). We construct 2 learning scenarios to induce immersive senses: VR video learning for high-level immersion and online English word learning for low-level immersion. To distinguish two immersion levels, students' EEGs are collected. After entering their attention score, relaxation score, the synchronization rate between the 2 scores, high alpha and low beta wave into SVM model, the precision accuracy reaches 87.80%. Taken the classified results and the participants’ self-reports together, we find VR devices can create a more immersive environment which improves learners’ learning effect. Our findings provide evidence supporting the feasibility of predicting learning immersion levels by physiological recordings.

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.

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

Great Paintings in Fully Immersive Virtual Reality
Hubert Cecotti
California State University, Fresno, United States of America
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Large collections of paintings have been digitized by museums (e.g. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York, USA) and companies such as Google. These resources can be provided to a wide audience through virtual reality as an instructional means to fully convey the size and the magnificence of these paintings. Accessing these resources in an immersive virtual environment can be beneficial to all the students who live far away from museums. In addition, making these resources available to a wide audience answers a current need related to the closure of many museums, because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper provides a description of a fully immersive virtual reality museum where paintings can be accessed in two modes: individually (one painting per room), or in galleries (multiple paintings in a room) that are generated procedurally. More importantly, the proposed application provides a means for museums and art instructors to insert their own collections of paintings. Such an approach aims at improving the transition of high resolution images of paintings into art galleries in virtual reality. The application has been deployed on the Steam platform, is available for free, and has been evaluated by users, suggesting a high interest for such an application.


Alternative Design For An Interactive Exhibit Learning In Museums: How Does User Experience Differ Across Different Technologies-VR, Tangible, And Gesture
Pornphan Phichai(1), Julie Williamson(2), Matthew Barr(3)
1: School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom; 2: School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom; 3: School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
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This paper investigates three types of user interfaces: VR, Gesture-based interface, and Tangible-based interface. We examine how user experience differs across different technology and what are the factors that make the experience difference. To find the answer we conduct an empirical study, in which we create three different interactive exhibits that apply these technologies to deliver the same scientific content about biotoxin in nature. The study uses a mixed-method, qualitative and quantitative, and measures two factors. First, user experience is measured by six dimensions of user experience: attractiveness, perspicuity, efficiency, dependability, simulation, and novelty. Second, attention holding power is measured by playing time. The study uses the semi-structured interview to emphasize the issue and learning media of each interface. Thirty-one subjects joined the study. The statistical results shows that there are significantly different user experiences when using a different type of interface. There are difference across five user experience dimensions, only novelty is relatively unchanged. Difference are primarily between VR and Gesture, and Tangible and Gesture. There is no significant difference in holding power between the three types of interface. The statistical analysis of result and interview feedback from participants suggest six aspects to focus on when choosing an alternative interface to create a new interactive exhibit: the novelty, user-friendly, precision of the input device, task and device design, multimodal of feedback, and quality of text in VR.


Communal Spaces As Ludic Resources Of Learning With Augmented Reality And Board Games
Kenneth Y. T. Lim(1), Yuk Yi Wong(2), Ahmed Hazyl Hilmy(1)
1: National Institute of Education, Singapore; 2: St Joseph's Institution, Singapore
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This paper describes a learning activity using Augmented Reality (AR) which seeks to take advantage of the potential for learning about history and culture through exploration. This is represented by a garden in a university campus that affords visitors a scaffolded experience comprising a game-driven narrative in which visitors to the garden may assume the roles of different protagonists. In addition, we also sought to design a paper-based board-game for visitors who are not yet able to visit the garden in person. Both aspects of the learning activity – namely, the game-driven narratives in the actual garden as well as in the board-game equivalent – were piloted in December 2020. The study suggests that a combination of Augmented Reality, storyline and role-play could increase the probability of encounters with spontaneous elements in learners’ local environments that encourage learning.

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

VERITAS: Mind-mapping in Virtual Reality
Robert Sims, Abhijit Karnik
Lancaster University, United Kingdom
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Inquiry based learning is a modern and innovative learning strategy that aims to stimulate students’ interest in a topic and target Bloom’s higher order cognitive process. Reflective tasks, such as mind mapping, support inquiry-based learning. Virtual Reality (VR) presents novel opportunities to help scaffold reflective tasks in inquiry-based learning by supporting use of the 3D space which is not available via existing 2D mind mapping applications. In this paper we present VERITAS, a VR application for mind-mapping based reflective tasks operating on the low-cost Oculus Go device. We discuss the interaction design for the mind-mapping task and evaluate the system from a usability perspective. Our results show that novice participants are able to learn how to use the interactions quickly and utilize them effectively to build mind-maps in 3D. VERITAS establishes the usability of VR and essential interactions to successfully perform abstract and complex reflective tasks like mind-mapping.


Space, a Central Frontier – The Role of Spatial Abilities When Learning the Structure of 3D AR Objects
Jule Marleen Krüger, Daniel Bodemer
University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
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Learning about three-dimensional (3D) objects is the focus of many augmented reality (AR) applications. Although this underlines the importance of spatiality in AR experiences, learners’ spatial abilities should be considered in this context. While spatial abilities may compensate for the lack of spatial information in 2D representations (ability-as-compensator hypothesis), they may also be necessary for learning with 3D representations in the first place (ability-as-enhancer hypothesis). In the current study, we examine the role 3D spatial visualization abilities and 2D spatial memory abilities may play when learning with 3D AR objects. Both variables were measured in an exploratory pilot study in which N = 33 participants learned about the spatial structure of the modules of the International Space Station (ISS) with either an AR or a non-AR mobile application. We found that spatial abilities indeed had moderating effects on achievement in the learning task and knowledge test, although the results are inconclusive concerning an ability-as-enhancer or compensator hypothesis. We discuss the results and conclude that it is necessary that researchers take a closer look at the role of learners’ spatial abilities when learning with 3D representations in AR. With additional insights, practitioners can then make informed decisions on using AR applications.


ELLE-ments of Learning: A Framework for Analyzing Multimodal Technical Communication Strategies in an Educational VR Game
Emily Kuzneski Johnson
University of Central Florida, United States of America
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This paper provides a brief overview of technical communication following Peirce’s [2] firstness (aesthetics), secondness (action promotion), and thirdness (explicit explanation), and identifies each of these categories in an educational language learning virtual reality (VR) game created at a university, ELLE-ments of Learning. The framework described here can help game researchers better understand, evaluate, and discuss the ways in which games communicate with players and can also be used by game designers and developers to ensure their games convey important and complicated information to players effectively in each of Peirce’s three categories.

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

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.

Presentations
 
Implementing Decentralized Virtual Time in P2P Collaborative Learning Environment for Web XR
Nikolai Suslov
Krestianstvo.org, Russian Federation
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Virtual worlds and Web XR technologies offer to both programmers and domain experts nearly unlimited capabilities for creating novel computer-based simulated environments just in a web browser. Virtual time is becoming the new crucial concept of collaborative, immersive virtual learning environments (VLE). This paper explores the Croquet software architecture, which is known for its radical synchronization system with the notion of virtual time. It is ideal for developing collaborative serverless apps, but a tiny stateless server named reflector, on which Croquet heavily relies on still prevents doing that today. This paper presents the research, that transforms reflector into a peer-to-peer application Luminary, by implementing decentralized virtual time. The case study describes the prototype of a collaborative Rubik's Cube simulator, backed by three robots for kids. Finally showing how learners can easily experiment with augmenting physical reality, by creating fully synchronized, collaborative robots, operating in a P2P network.
 
 
METAL: Explorations into sharing 3D Educational content across Augmented Reality Headsets and Light Field Displays
Mengya Zheng, Xingyu Pan, Xuanhui Xu, Abraham Campbell
University College Dublin, Ireland
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Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality become increasingly popular in scientific visualization especially for education where they can support collaborative scientific visualization experiences in the classroom. However, the inherent limitations of head-mounted AR and VR tools are stemming the popularization of these existing content-sharing tools. Instead of sharing 3D educational content between AR/VR headsets, this paper proposes a novel prototype Mixed rEaliTy shAring pLatform (METAL) to allow for 3D educational content to be shared between a Microsoft HoloLens 2 and multiple Looking Glass displays which are a type of Light Field (Multi-view Autostereoscopic) display. This platform allows one teacher to use a HoloLens to manipulate and share different 3D contents with multiple student groups via the network, thus each student group can observe the synchronized 3D educational content with autostereoscopic experiences. Therefore, this proposed prototype enables a low-cost one-to-multiple 3D content sharing experience that allows intuitive 3D model interaction and seamless communication between the students and the teacher.
 
 
Design and Development of AR Applications in Online Higher Education A User-Centred Design Approach
Mitch Peters, Laura Calvet Liñan, Antoni Marín Amatller, Laura Porta Simó, Pierre Bourdin Kreitz
Open University of Catalonia, Spain
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The exploration of augmented reality’s (AR) potential in higher education teaching and learning demonstrates an impressive scope of critical inquiry. Online higher education (OHE) represents a transformation in learning practices and educational paradigms on a global scale, with a significant opportunity for the application of AR through e-learning. The overarching goal of the current study is to understand how the presence of AR applications in an OHE multimedia program impacts student learning. The study aims to design and develop a user-centered, AR prototype application that could be used to enhance student learning in STEM education. Implementing a user-centred approach ensures that learners are taken into account from the beginning of the design process and throughout the iterative design lifecycle. The current paper presents the results from the first phase of a multi-stage research project. First, conceptually designed personas, scenario reviews, and user journey mappings were developed based on identified learner needs and AR system requirements previously identified. The results show the design decisions made while revising AR scenarios from the learner’s perspective and exploring design requirements to ensure the feasibility of the AR application. An implication of our study is to demonstrate the value of a range of evaluation techniques presented here using a user-centred design approach, which can be used to design and develop future AR and Xtended reality technologies in educational scenarios.

Presentations

Measuring and Comparing QoE and Simulator Sickness of Hybrid VR Applications under increased network load
Ioannis Doumanis(1), Daphne Economou(2), Lemonia Argyriou(3)
1: University of Central Lanchashire; 2: University of Westminster; 3: National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos
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The elements of presence and interaction have been connected with high quality learning in online learning environments. This can be achieved by offering learning environments and material that can engage the learner throughout the learning experience, allow them to connect with the content, find relevance, construct meaning and critical thinking. Hybrid VR applications offer great potential in engaging learners in environments that accurately capture the world allowing them to make personal connections and find relevance, which coupled with branching narrative, Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) and interactivity can lead to highly engaging learning experiences. Hybrid VR applications though are bandwidth demanding that can impact the learning experience. This paper presents a study comparing the Quality of Experience (QoE) of a hybrid VR application streamed over the standard internet and POINT network under increased network load. The paper presents the project motivations, it described a pilot study and its output and it closes with conclusions about the effect of the QoE and presence in learning and future directions.

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.