iLRN2021 7th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network

Greetings!  We will meet briefly at the Welcome Area and then head to Circle of Scholars Assembly Hall.

Heather will demonstration the presentation capabilities of the Virtual Campus, customized to the presentation needs of the audience.

Shh...don't tell anyone that this is actual immersive learning.  

Greetings! We will meet briefly at the Welcome Area and then head to Circle of Scholars Assembly Hall.

Heather will demonstration the presentation capabilities of the Virtual Campus, customized to the presentation needs of the audience.

Shh...don't tell anyone that this is actual immersive learning.

Presentations

Virtual Reality Applications For The Treatment Of Anxiety And Psychiatric Disorders
Saeed Safikhani, Johanna Pirker, Selina Wriessnegger
TU Graz, Austria
​Watch the presentation video​​​

Virtual Reality (VR) environments are computer-generated mediums that try to provide the user a sense of presence. The use of VR term in science has a long history, but an increasing number of commercial cost-effective VR devices are creating new possibilities and applications for it. Regardless of entertainment, as the most widespread market for VR, the application of VR in medicine is attracting great attention in the scientific field. VR can be used as a tool for public healthcare, as a teaching environment for medical students or to improve the skills of experts, together with a well-accepted method for physical rehabilitation and mental therapies. The focus of this review paper is on the use of VR for psychiatric and anxiety disorders. Several empirical studies show the effectiveness of VR in improving the conditions of patients in a manner comparable to traditional methods and with long-lasting effects in their daily lives. However, a small number of case studies or the lack of a detailed comparison between VR and conventional methods is the shortcoming of current studies. In this paper, we review different VR applications focusing on the identification of the technologies used, the evaluation methods applied, and the results of the studies.

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
​Watch the presentation video​​​

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.

With apologies, I've had to shorten this rehearsal to 30 minutes due to a technical limitation.

Family Approach VR: How To Get Consent For Organ Donation
Luis Villarejo
Immersium Studio, Spain

Family Approach VR is a training developed for the Donation and Transplant Institute as part of program offered to international healthcare professionals. Its main pedagogical objective is to teach healthcare professionals how to assertively communicate the death of a relative and how to successfully get their consent for organ donation.
A clinical case will be presented at the beginning of the experience: Alfred, a 42-year-old man, has suffered subarachnoid hemorrhage, and brain death has been declared. His relatives are at the waiting room. Each relative is thought to play a specific psychological role, thus enhancing the emotional range the user has to deal with.
The user must explain the “brain death” concept to the family (a difficult concept due to its medical complexity) and communicate Alfred’s death. He/she will learn how to adapt the tone and medical jargon, since this is one of the main communication problems that healthcare professionals face in real life.
The user must proceed requesting organ donation, developing a communication strategy and adapting his/her speech and decisions to each moment and family member.
If the user gets the consent, he/she must make a last effort by asking one of the family members to answer a mandatory by law survey that contains intimate questions about the deceased relative, so it requires high empathy in its formulation. Again, a challenge that puts emotional skills into practice in the most delicate moments.
The experience is enriched with multiple assessment methods and a huge variety of immersive interaction forms as voice, role-switching, or complex branching scenarios.
Each decision will affect the course of the experience. This decision-making generates monitorable information that is of great help to teachers and to students themselves for the identification and understanding of their learning process.

Gamification in Mixed-Reality Exergames for Older Adult Patients in a Mobile Immersive Diagnostic Center: A Pilot Study in the BewARe Project.
Ilona Buchem(1), Susan Vorwerg(2), Oskar Stamm(2), Kristian Hildebrand(1), Yvonne Bialek(3)
1: Beuth Hochschule für Technik Berlin, Germany; 2: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; 3: ART+COM, Germany
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This paper describes the gamification design of mixed-reality mini-exergames for older adult patients with hypertension and reports on results from a pilot study with 22 older adult users in the BewARe project dedicated to the development of an intelligent system for physical training enhanced by wearable sensors and immersive technologies. For the purpose of this paper, the gamification design was decomposed following the MDA framework. The objective of the research presented in this paper was to validate the gamification design of mini-exergames focused on endurance training and to explore the emotional responses of the older adult users to this type of immersive training. The pilot study applied a mixed methods approach and collected quantitative and qualitative data. The results show that gamified exergames are positively evaluated by older adult users, who enjoy and value the hedonic quality over the pragmatic quality. Research presented in this paper has revealed some interesting tendencies, such as gender-specific preferences, importance of interaction with the virtual trainer and the familiarity effect.

Presentations

The Lehigh Gap Story: A Design Partnership for Developing an Immersive Virtual Reality Field Trip
Alec Bodzin(1), Robson Araujo Junior(1)
1: Lehigh University, United States of America
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We established a designed partnership that includes Lehigh University faculty, students, and Lehigh Gap Nature Center staff to design and develop an immersive virtual field trip (iVFT) to enable people to understand the environmental changes that occurred in the Lehigh River Watershed in Pennsylvania during the past two centuries as a result of the zinc smelting plant operation at the Lehigh Gap. A green mountainous ridge became a barren “moonscape” as a result of zinc smelting activities that began in the 1890s. The smelting plant emitted approximately 3,450 pounds of sulfur per hour from 1918 to 1970, along with heavy metals, into the atmosphere. These pollutants produced acid rain and spread over the surrounding landscape. Five years after the smelting plants ceased operations, a comprehensive and laborious revegetation project was initiated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a local community group. The Lehigh Gap is revitalized today through a mixture of warm season grasses that have trapped the heavy metals in the soil. Today, the site includes a 756-acre wildlife refuge and the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, which is used for education, research, and outdoor recreation. Our iVFT tells this story through immersive experiences. Our design includes a virtual hike in the refuge through a series of 360° photospheres, animations, and assets to allow learners of all ages to experience historical events and geographical landmarks that are difficult to access or are no longer readily available. In addition, users learn about the construction and operations of historical transportation systems in the area (railroads and canals along the Lehigh River). Our session presents the iVFT and discusses important considerations for creating effective design partnerships among non-formal educators and university faculty.


Please Remain Seated: Large Classroom Virtual Field Trips with and Without 360° Headsets
Paul Mensink
Western University, Canada
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Field trips are a pedagogical cornerstone of the natural sciences and are particularly effective at developing deep learning skills (e.g., critical thinking). They promote student enjoyment and as such, facilitate long-term knowledge retention. However, field trips require considerable logistical planning, present significant health and safety concerns and are often associated with prohibitive financial costs for students. The concept of “virtual” field trips has emerged as an alternative option to traditional site visits. Virtual field trips can provide a more inclusive experience for students that are financially burdened or physically disadvantaged and can also provide some of the same benefits of field trips themselves. More recently, 360° imagery has gained popularity for virtual tours and educators can use specialized camera equipment (e.g., GoPro Fusion) to record the entire panoramic view of an environment. Inexpensive headsets can be coupled with user smartphones to provide a more immersive experience that responds to a student’s gaze as they journey through virtual tours. Here, I explored student perceptions and opinions about viewing virtual tours using immersive reality headsets (e.g., Google cardboard) versus less immersive technologies (e.g., laptops and projectors) in a controlled study of over 300 environmental science students. Virtual tours were popular with the students and helped provide context to learning material; however, when immersive reality headsets were used students reported a significant decrease in their understanding of the course content. The potential causes for this decrease along with recommendations for the appropriate use of both virtual tours and immersive headsets will be discussed in the presentation.

Presentations
 
Place-Based Learning through a Proxy – Variations in the Perceived Benefits of a Virtual Tour
Jan Oliver Wallgrün(1), Eric Knapp(2), Alan Taylor(3), Alexander Klippel(3), Jiayan Zhao(3), Pejman Sajjadi(3)
1: Independent Researcher; 2: US Forest Service; 3: Penn State University
​Watch the presentation video​​​

Place-based and fieldwork learning play a key role in higher education in environmental sciences and other geo-spatial disciplines. We report on a study in which we evaluated a web-based virtual tour application for teaching natural resource management in fire-prone western forests in two undergraduate classes. The virtual tour uses 360°-image-based virtual scenes and pre-recorded audio commentary by a domain expert to lead participants through the Stanislaus-Tuolumne Experimental Forest where forest treatments were implemented to reduce fire hazard. We present results from assessing students’ overall perception of the virtual tour, their views towards its application in undergraduate education, and their feedback for improving the design of future virtual tours. Furthermore, we discuss the collected data from the perspective of gender differences and differences in familiarity with the topic of the tour.
 
 
Spatial Learning with Extended Reality - A Review of User Studies
Bing Liu(1), Linfang Ding(2), Liqiu Meng(1)
1: Chair of Cartography, Technical University of Munich, Germany; 2: KRDB Research Centre, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
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Spatial learning is a process of acquiring spatial knowledge and the foundation of our daily interactions with the living environment. Extended reality (XR) has been widely used in spatial learning research for decades with two representative types - Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR). VR is often used to understand spatial learning behavior and spatial cognition process, and AR has great potential to assist spatial learning in real world. This short paper reviews the studies on the deployment of VR and AR to evaluate or assist spatial learning. We summarize the devices, technologies and analysis methods used, and identify factors that need to be considered in experimental design. Our work serves as a reference for new researchers who intend to design further user studies on spatial learning with VR and AR technologies.

MADLearn: An Evidence-based Affordance Framework to Assessing Learning Apps
Christothea Herodotou
The Open University UK, United Kingdom
 
Existing recommendations about how to select or design mobile applications (apps) for learning have been heavily relied on customer and teacher reviews, designer descriptions, and educational theories. There is a lack of evaluation frameworks that are informed by research evidence of how different children interact and use apps. The first version of an evidence-based framework, coined as MAD learn, is presented detailing affordances that hinder or help children’s learning, as emerged from relevant studies. To encourage further studies in the field, not only by researchers but also designers and practitioners, a methodological approach to iteratively assess the affordances of mobile apps is also introduced. This is based on (a) visualising the learning design and learning components of a given app and (b) analysing the screen and audio recordings of children’s interactions with apps. The proposed approach has been tested with 17 children 5-6 years old who interacted with a maths app. The analysis captured patterns of actual usage, including time spent on different activities, completion rates, communication instances, and number and type of mistakes. Insights revealed that certain design affordances, including instructions, feedback, and help-on-demand, were differently perceived by children, in some cases helping learning while, in others, hindering it.
 

Narrative-driven Immersion And Students' Perceptions In An Online Software Programming Course
Mario Madureira Fontes(1), Daniela Pedrosa(2), Tânia Araújo(3), Ceres Morais(4), Aline Costa(5), José Cravino(6), Leonel Morgado(7)
1: Universidade Aberta, Coimbra, Portugal and Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo; 2: Universidade de Aveiro, CIDTFF, UTAD; 3: Universidade de Aveiro; 4: INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal and Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte, Mossoró, Brasil; 5: Universidade do Porto e INESC-TEC; 6: CIDTFF, Aveiro, Portugal and University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal; 7: INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal and Universidade Aberta, Coimbra, Portugal
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Learning software programming is challenging for software engineering students. In this paper, students' engagement in learning software engineering programming is considered under the SimProgramming approach using the OC2-RD2 narrative technique to create an immersive learning context. The objectives of this paper are twofold: presenting a narrative-driven immersive learning approach to introduce software engineering concepts and coding techniques to online undergraduate students; and analyzing the students' feedback on this approach. Thematic analysis of the metacognitive tasks was performed on the students' fortnightly reflections about their learning progress. Content analysis was based on interest categories, students’ perceptions, metacognitive challenges, narratives, examples and aspects to be kept or to be improved. Data from the content analysis were organized into categories, subcategories, indicators, and recording units and their categorization was peer-reviewed. The narratives were considered by the students as interesting, appealing, akin to professional reality and promoting interaction. Most students thought the approach was helpful for learning software programming.

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
​Watch the presentation video​​​

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

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.

Greetings! We will meet briefly at the Welcome Area and then head to Circle of Scholars Assembly Hall.

Heather will demonstration the presentation capabilities of the Virtual Campus, customized to the presentation needs of the audience.

Shh...don't tell anyone that this is actual immersive learning.

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
​Watch the presentation video​​​

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.

Greetings! We will meet briefly at the Welcome Area and then head to Circle of Scholars Assembly Hall.

Heather will demonstration the presentation capabilities of the Virtual Campus, customized to the presentation needs of the audience.

Shh...don't tell anyone that this is actual immersive learning.

Digital Sovereignty has become a key phrase in Europe’s approach to the ever-continuing advances in digital technology. There are several goals that are connected with the concept of digital sovereignty:

1. To find a “third way” between the U.S. approach of libertarian data capitalism (or “surveillance capitalism” [1]) and the approach of authoritarian states that seek total control over the actions of their citizens in the digital sphere;
2. To safeguard fundamental rights, principles, and values in a globalized and digitized environment;
3. To strengthen economies and make them competitive in the 21st century;
4. To establish alternatives to established digital services and products, and thus ensure autonomy and freedom of choice;
5. To safeguard personal and professional secrets in the context of digital communication and the use of digital services and products.

Acknowledging the need for digital sovereignty also acknowledges the fact that Europe and other regions have fallen behind in matters of digitization—whether related to industry, services, or education. Achieving the goals that have been outlined above require very different approaches in very different areas—ranging from economic promotion to the enactment of new laws.

One such approach that aims at digital sovereignty at the level of the Internet infrastructure is the establishment of an independent and open web index. A web index plays a fundamental role for the effective use of the Internet. In the western world, the field of Internet search is clearly dominated by Google which operates its own web index. The only alternative web index is maintained by Microsoft for its own search engine Bing. In Russia and China respectively, Yandex and Baidu operate localised web indexes. Breaking a monopoly like Google’s requires alternative search engines. However, in the current environment, such search engines still need to base their operation on one of the existing web indexes. Creating and maintaining a new web index is very costly and thus usually not a valid option for an emerging search provider.

The solution to this dilemma might be an open and collaborative web index, where resources across Europe are pooled to create a web index that can serve as a basis for search engine operators to establish services independently from the existing monopoly and without the need to adhere to pre-dictated terms of use. This idea will serve as an introductory example to this special track on digital sovereignty.

With regard to educational purposes, the need for an independent and objective source of educational resources is evident. Hence it is necessary to establish platforms and educational services that are easy to access and use. In particular, innovative technologies such as immersive environments, XR, etc. are not only drivers and enablers, but usually also associated with business models that do not promote digital sovereignty (on the contrary). Therefore, this topic should be highlighted within the research network for immersive learning, in order to connect the pioneers in education with experts in legal frameworks.

However, ensuring digital sovereignty is by no means limited to technological aspects. Digital sovereignty can also mean to enable the state and its legislators to maintain (or regain) the power of the law to shape social interactions and to provide protection from infringements of fundamental and other rights. This power has significantly been diminished in our modern digitized world.

• Presentation by Adam Gordon, CEO, Plump.one
• Presentation by Christian Geminn ; Managing Director of the Project Group Constitutionally Compatible Technology Design (provet) at University of Kassel
• Panel Discussion with:

• Adam Gordon, CEO, Plump.one
• Christian Geminn,  Managing Director of the Project Group Constitutionally Compatible Technology Design (provet)
• Olivia Tambou, Associate Professor at Paris-Dauphine University
• Daphne Economou, Professor, University of Westminster
• Patrick O’Shea is Professor, Appalachian State University
• Moderation: Kai Erenli, VP Legal iLRN

Greetings! We will meet briefly at the Welcome Area and then head to Circle of Scholars Assembly Hall.

Heather will demonstration the presentation capabilities of the Virtual Campus, customized to the presentation needs of the audience.

Shh...don't tell anyone that this is actual immersive learning.

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.

Presentations

Teaching the Teachers with Immersive Technology: Preparing the Next Generation of Educators at Ithaca College
Brian Moynihan(1), Becky Lane(2), Christine Havens-Hafer(2), Jay Williamson(2), Catherine Fiore(2)
1: Immersive Learning Research Network, United States of America; 2: Ithaca College, United States of America
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This talk explores lessons learned from implementing VR in a pilot at Ithaca College’s Teacher Education Program. The talk includes the perspectives of the instructional technology lead, as well as faculty, student, and commercial perspectives on what makes for a successful immersive learning experience in Higher Education. Using Lenovo’s VR Classroom solution to control headsets and content, Ithaca is deploying Uptale and Mozilla Hubs to create their own materials for a teach the teacher program, and using Veative to practice teaching STEM topics to K-12 learners. By joining this session the audience will learn how and why to use immersive learning in the classroom, and hear real-world lessons learned from this pilot.

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.

Presentations

Gamifying Digital Eleon
Jordan Tynes, Bryan Burns
Wellesley College, United States of America
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In development since 2016, Digital Eleon is a pedagogical virtual reality experience based on the current excavations of the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project (EBAP) at ancient Eleon in central Greece. The goal of Digital Eleon is to immerse users within aspects of the excavation process and make meaningful connections between the various areas of research conducted at the site. Through several phases of development, Digital Eleon users can tour the site, interact with excavated objects, visualize restoration of exposed architecture, and read background information about these various aspects of the project. This VR experience has been integrated into several classroom lesson plans, each time receiving feedback from students and other users, which has then informed the changes to succeeding versions. The lead development team is incorporating aspects of game design to make the experience of Digital Eleon more intuitive for both new and experienced VR users.
This presentation will briefly describe the overarching goals of Digital Eleon, including an overview of ancient Eleon’s settlement and funerary remains, and then focus on each version of the VR experience as it has evolved to address distinct educational objectives. The iterative development process parallels both the improvements to VR technology and our team’s understanding of techniques for enhancing the learning experience for VR users. We will share the ways that Digital Eleon can facilitate intuitive interactivity with data representative of vastly different scales, from large geographic terrain to small fragile objects, and highlight the unique learning opportunity created by this interactive visualization. Finally, we will demonstrate several features of the most recent version of Digital Eleon, which includes a “tutorial area” similar to those found in many popular digital games, offering a method for other developers to borrow insights from game design in their own approach to creating educational VR content.


Studio X: Experience, Explore, Experiment through XR at the University of Rochester
Meaghan Moody, Emily Sherwood
University of Rochester, United States of America
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As the hub for extended reality (XR) at the University of Rochester, Studio X fosters a community of cross-disciplinary collaboration, exploration, and peer-to-peer learning that lowers barriers to entry, inspires experimentation, and drives innovative research and teaching in immersive technologies. User research and needs analysis conducted in 2017 articulated a demand for an interdisciplinary space and program to support the university’s growing XR initiative. Over 60 faculty across 16 academic departments use these technologies in their research and leverage XR to enhance teaching and learning, recreate historical sites, improve virtual reality (VR) optics, and beyond. A central program and space housed in the library will help to facilitate the interdisciplinary collaboration and community that immersive technologies require. Furthermore, Studio X will engage new users of these technologies, introducing XR platforms and tools to students and thereby preparing them for higher-level coursework and potential careers.
In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the planned 3,000-square-foot space slated to open in fall 2021. We will discuss the history of the program and the research undertaken to develop Studio X. We will outline the different spaces available for collaboration, learning, and inspiration within Studio X as well as describe the expertise, technologies, and programming that will support users and foster a community of practice for XR.

​​​​Presentations

Comparison of Direct and Vicarious VR Learning Experience: A Perspective from Accessibility and Equity
Gege Li, Heng Luo, Shaopeng Hou, Min Zhu
Central China Normal University, China, People's Republic of
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A common challenge for adopting virtual reality (VR) in education is that limited VR devices are often shared among a large group of students. Consequently, there are two types of VR learners: Performers who acquire virtual learning experience through direct engagement in VR and observers who acquire such experience vicariously through observation. To explore the influence of learner type on VR learning, this study conducted a quasi-experiment with 53 elementary school students to examine the difference in VR learning experiences between the performers and the observers. The study results supported the observed VR learning experience as an adequate alternative to direct VR engagement as the observers demonstrated overall comparable learning patterns in reflection, emotion, engagement, and social interaction during the post-VR debriefing, except for the behaviors of recall and interpretation. The research findings can shed light on the issues of accessibility and equity in VR-based instruction and inform the design and implementation of large-scale VR educational programs.

Student Engagement with Reduced Bias in a Virtual Classroom Environment
Ray Freiwirth1, Esther Brandon
1; The Commons XR, United States of America; 2: Brandeis University, United States of America
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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

ActiVaR: XR for Education in Sustainable Development
Jimmy Vainstein, Diego Angel-Urdinola
The World Bank, United States of America

The World Bank started the deployment of VR, AR and immersive tools to support Education institutions in Ecuador to develop, improve, and reinforce students’ skills. The use of the technology aimed to help technical institutes overcome challenges related to imitations in availability of hands-on training, costly equipment or access to proper content and learning situations. Education institutions in developing countries generally lack resources to equip, maintain, and update laboratories, which are an important resource to develop, improve, and reinforce students’ skills. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual reality (VR) technologies have promising potential as tools to develop cost-effective virtual labs. The presentation will showcase the World Bank’s strategy for evaluating the impact of the Active Training Using Augmented and Virtual Reality “ActiVaR” Program, a pilot program that seeks to assess the effectiveness of using Zspace based Virtual Labs to deliver training in auto-mechanics in a selected Technical and Technological Program in Ecuador, in addition to Industrial Risk VR headset-based simulations. The program seeks to improve basic cognitive skills of students after they have been exposed to the basic principles of the operation of internal combustion engines and general industrial safety practices.

Inclusive VR through Inclusive Co-Design with Neurodiverse Learners
Ibrahim Dahlstrom-Hakki(1), Teon Edwards(1), Jamie Larsen(1), Zachary Alstad(1), Gerald Belton(2), Daniel Lougen(2), Daniel Santana(2)
1: TERC; 2: Landmark College
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This paper reports on a fully inclusive co-design process of an informal VR science game intended to be accessible to a broad range of learners. The co-design embraces the 'nothing about us without us' movement by ensuring that stakeholder voices have a prominent role throughout the design process. In the project described in this paper, professional designers and researchers work with a team of neurodiverse stakeholders as peer members of the design team. The design process is described, and the findings based on feedback from all co-design participants is reported. Recommendations for others in the field are provided to help guide those interested in implementing an effective and inclusive co-design process.

Presentations


AI, Robotics, Biomimicry And Inquiry Learning In The Primary And Secondary Classroom
Jason Milner(1), Lauren Heath(2), Brenda Gahan(2)
1: Knox Grammar Preparatory School, Australia; 2: Wahroonga Preparatory School, Australia
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This presentation will be based upon an immersive inquiry unit developed to assist Year Three students in the exploration and transformation of learning when studying concepts based around living things, adaptation and biomimicry. During this session, participants will be taken on the unit’s journey exploring the necessary skillset, toolset and mindset in successfully implementing this unit of work. We will explicitly discuss the pedagogies, use of hardware, software and look at examples of student work and their thinking.
This presentation is important and relevant as it allows educators to see examples of how this approach to learning encourages students to empathise with current issues people are facing through the integration of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 and demonstrates how the necessary skills and background knowledge to create with artificial intelligence can be taught in a relevant, meaningful and engaging manner.
Through the use of a big idea ‘adaptation’ and by using the Kath Murdoch Inquiry Framework and essential questions, this unit demonstrates the vitality of empowering students by creating a rich and real world learning experience. Students are guided through a range of learning activities and scientific experiments to assist them in forming a deep understanding of the content at hand and developing a range of skills in design and production, STEAM, artificial intelligence, robotics and coding. Student’s knowledge is also supported by case studies including Leonardo Da Vinci’s work in flying machines, and more modern uses of biomimicry. Finally, students explore the mechanics and adaptations made by certain animals and insects. Students demonstrate their learning and understandings by completing a challenge, which includes creating an invention which uses biomimicry. They must build a functioning prototype using AI and robotics to solve a target within UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.

Presentations

Look at It This Way: A Comparison of Metaphors for Directing the User's Gaze in eXtended Reality Training Systems
Filippo Gabriele Pratticò, Federico De Lorenzis, Fabrizio Lamberti
Politecnico di Torino, Italy
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Interest is raising around extended reality training systems (XRTSs), which started to be considered as a credible option to train companies' workforce. Even though there is a growing body of literature on best practices and techniques to be adopted for teaching individuals how to perform a variety of operations (e.g., for assembly and maintenance procedures), there are also training situations which have gone mostly unexplored yet. In this paper, we propose and evaluate three different metaphors to face the key challenges associated with training procedures involving parallax-dependent tasks, i.e., tasks in which the instructor needs to make the trainee reach a target observation point and guide his/her attention towards a given point of interest at the same time. Effects observed through a user study that was run in a testbed environment indicated that metaphors based on 3D avatars and frustum visualization can provide important advantages over video-based techniques.


Asymmetrical Game Design Approaches Solve Didactic Problems in VR Engineer Trainings
Ulrike Meyer(1), Jonathan Becker(1), Thomas Müller(2), André Jeworutzki(1), Susanne Draheim(1), Kai von Luck(1)
1: University of Applied Sciences Hamburg, Germany; 2: EnBW
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The use of VR in training groups for wind turbine engineers can cause didactic and practical problems. Integrating the whole group into the lesson and retaining attention and motivation while only one or two trainees wear a VR head mounted display (HMD) can be challenging for the trainer. Whereas VR HMDs isolate the users, engineering on wind turbines is a group effort. The problem is exacerbated when trainees need to use remote access to participate in the lesson, as can be the case under pandemic restrictions. We propose to use methods from asymmetrical game design and constructivist didactics to integrate participants without VR headsets into VR trainings for engineers.


Immersive Virtual Soft Skills Learning and Training of Employees: A Scoping Review
Tone Lise Dahl
SINTEF AS, Norway
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Soft skills training is considered important for employees to be successful at work. Several companies are offering immersive virtual soft skills training with head-mounted displays. The main contribution of this paper is to provide an overview of the research literature within the field of using immersive virtual soft skills learning and training of employees. The results of this preliminary scoping review show that there is a lack of research literature and empirical studies within this topic.

Presentations
 
The Missing Link: Blockchain for Digital Credential Tracking & Reporting
Steven Ring
Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, United States of America
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Blockchain based digital credentialing will be introduced, and demonstrated how it can be used to track the progress of students in career and technical education (CTE). In addition to tracking progress in CTE, blockchain based digital credentialing also has the potential to track standards and help close a gap in school-to-career transition through possible alignment with Department of Labor Apprenticeship Programs. The information in this presentation will be targeted towards those in workforce development, industry training, and CTE. In addition to the requirements for a recorded video presentation, I plan on using the additional time to screen share the presentation and engage in questions and answers with the audience. At the conclusion of the presentation and Q&A session, the audience will have a better understanding of what blockchain is, how it can be used in education and workforce development to track progress, verify authenticity, and be used to target training. Additionally, we will go over benefits such as alignment of standards and authenticity in the credentialing aspect, and demonstrate how this is beneficial to students and future employers through choice, empowerment, and can lead the way towards more equitable outcomes.
 
 
Augmented Reality Supported Quality Assurance Demonstrator For Industry Use Cases
Nischita Sudharsan
Siemens AG, Germany
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The prototype was developed for a pressing plant where personnel need to assess the quality of large pressed parts. This could be, for instance, to check if holes are punched correctly or if special markings are present at the right positions. The prototype was developed on Hololens 2 using Unity 3D.
Challenge: Personnel inspecting the parts for anomalies take 15-20 minutes. 2D reference material slows down the process of inspection as the user needs to go back and forth to understand where to look and check for intricate anomalies. This process is error-prone, especially when there are too many items to be checked in succession on large parts.
Solution: The AR application reduces inspection time to under 5 minutes. The exact overlaying of a 3D model of the pressed part on the physical object, enables identifiers to be positioned over specific areas of interest. This enables the personnel to focus very quickly on check points, rather than remember or refer to external information. This is then followed by an instructional sequence which helps in validating the precision and quality. The app also provides for media shown directly at check points which facilitate reference based checks. With simple and intuitive gestures, the anomalies can be registered, consequently removing the need to “learn” how to use the app. Protocoling of the results, by taking photos/videos or simple UI features, is done directly through the app communicating with a server. The added feature of user management allows for storing of protocols based on the user currently logged in. This can then be revisited by the same or another user.
As part of future research, we aim to optimize the application to include tracking, modification and automation of content within the app.

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

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

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

Talk with the hand: The Language of Gesture in Experiential, Interactive Media
Anna Marie Piersimoni, California State University, Northridge
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Immersive media and its technology are causing major shifts in our self-perception and expression in social relationships, and even, reality itself. This is made manifest through haptic and wearable technology in virtual environments, over distance as well as in a single space, especially that with geo-located interaction. It affects human communication and even language itself, particularly as expressed in gesture, one of the earliest forms of communication. It will include a summary of cultural/linguistic perceptual responses associated to gesture to identify gesture in human communication–as a precursor to language–as seen in primates, infant development, and language acquisition. It will further outline some definitions of gesture and unique properties of haptic technology: elements of touch, gaze, movement, force feedback, physical feedback, telepresence, multitouch, corporeal, gesturo-haptic writing.

Among specific items to explore:
• Identify gestural communication in games and interactive, immersive media
• Human to Machine Haptic Communication
• Human to Human Haptic Communication
• Emojis, Memes, other forms of non-verbal, non-textual communication
• Social Media: Visual modes of expression in groups and collaborative settings
• User Interface and Experience – controllers, head mounted devices, wearables.      

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.

Towards an Immersive Learning Knowledge Tree - a Conceptual Framework for Mapping Knowledge and Tools in the Field
Dennis Beck, Leonel Morgado, Mark J. W. Lee, Christian Gütl, Minjuan Wang, Andreas Dengel, Scott Warren, Jonathan Richter
University of Würzburg, Germany
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The interdisciplinary field of immersive learning research is scattered. Combining efforts for better exploration of this field from the different disciplines requires researchers to communicate and coordinate effectively. We call upon the community of immersive learning researchers for planting the Knowledge Tree of Immersive Learning Research, a proposal for a systematization effort for this field, combining both scholarly and practical knowledge, cultivating a robust and ever-growing knowledge base and methodological toolbox for immersive learning, aimed at promoting evidence-informed practice and guiding future research in the field. This paper contributes with the rationale for three objectives: 1) Developing common scientific terminology amidst the community of researchers; 2) Cultivating a common understanding of methodology, and 3) Advancing common use of theoretical approaches, frameworks, and models.

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.

Presentations

Teaching in VR and Cognitive Load: a Teacher’s Perspective
Sarune Savickaite, Elliot Millington
University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, Scotland
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Technology based learning offers a wide range of opportunities in education. However, technological applications pose additional processing demands on the learners’ cognitive resources (Kalyuga & Liu, 2015). High levels of cognitive load in high-tech situations are generally a result of several modes and sources of information being presented simultaneously. Learners are also required to to deal with the uncertainty and non-linear relationships. Instructions, clear procedures and best practise techniques can reduce cognitive load in high-tech environments. Many such environments allow a high degree of learner control, which is beneficial for advanced user, but increases cognitive load for the novice (Kalyuga & Liu, 2015).
Research on cognitive load in VR is dispersed over many specific areas (i.e., navigation, group processes, social interaction, virtual presence and more) and it has been challenging to determine how positive the effects of VR are. Increased CL in VR has been established (Lai & McMahan, 2020; Huang et al., 2020; Schrader and Bastiaens, 2012; Makransky, Terkildsen & Mayer, 2019; van del Land et al., 2013 to name a few), however, there is no consensus on how it can be reduced just yet. Moreover, majority of the literature examines only the learner’s perspective and does not consider the difficulty teacher face learning, adapting and presenting new material in VR. Further, it has been demonstrated that even experienced teachers encounter cognitive difficulties when asked to teach in novel contexts (Kim and Klassen, 2018).

Learning Through Play
Ryan Rosenthal
Rasmussen University, United States of America

This session will explore the parallels of game design and education. We will discuss the similarities in the experiences of students and gamers and how it can impact the classroom. Ideas on how to leverage expectations, advancements and progression will be presented.

Presentations
 
Exploring Affordances Offered by VR technology in a Language Classroom
Quincy Wang
Simon Fraser University, Canada
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This presentation explores affordances offered by VR technology in the field of language education, and what unique immersive learning experiences that students may have that a traditional classroom lacks. It focuses on embodied language learning, learner agency and immersion as the key added value of VR. The overall goal of this talk is to report how VR technology can make language learning more authentic, engaging, and student-directed. Data from 27 students and one teacher in a grade 7/8 English language learning classroom were collected and analyzed to help understand VR technology’s intervention and pedagogical approaches. Findings demonstrate how VR immersion empowers learning in classrooms and transforms educational experiences, including language fluency, self-confidence, critical thinking, and developing a better understanding of how language works. Importantly, VR is not meant to replace existing teaching methods, materials, and tools; rather, it is intended to be employed to supplement, complement and enhance them.
 
 
How Immersive Virtual Reality Helps Students Retain Information. A Case Study
Lorenzo Santorelli
University of Surrey, United Kingdom
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Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) is a technology used as innovative pedagogical tool in teaching and learning. However, there is limited evidence evaluating its effectiveness on students’ retention of learning and engagement. I present a four-year study exploring the impact of iVR on learning experience with final-year Biosciences undergraduate students at one UK university. Our findings show that students who experienced iVR sessions retained more information compared to traditional techniques. Students found the VR activity engaging and agreed that it helped to consolidate information. These findings suggest iVR can have a positive impact on student knowledge retention and learning experience.
 
 
Beyond the Horizon: Integrating Immersive Learning Environments in the Everyday Classroom
Andreas Dengel(1), Josef Buchner(2), Miriam Mulders(2), Johanna Pirker(3)
1: University of Würzburg, Germany; 2: University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; 3: Graz University of Technology
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As Immersive Learning research gains traction, questions arise about how educational Virtual and Augmented Realities can be transferred from laboratory settings and pilot projects into everyday teaching. This paper analyzes existing pedagogical frameworks to identify influencing factors and challenges relevant to teaching and learning with immersive learning environments. We distinguish Immersive Learning as individual learning processes supported by immersive technology and Immersive Teaching as the process of teaching with immersive technology. We subsume learner-specific influences (micro-level), teacher- and classroom-specific influences (meso-level) and institutional and governmental factors (macro-level) for Immersive Teaching and Learning. We conclude that, while investigating isolated variables is important for basic research, efforts integrating Virtual and Augmented Reality in everyday classrooms raise new challenges and questions for future research on the complex relationship between various factors.

Presentations that miss their time slot may be placed into this time slot.

Poster:
Extracting, Describing, and Representing Spatial Features of a Chemical Reaction Inside a Virtual Reality Learning Environment
Emmanuel Echeverri-Jimenez, Maria Oliver-Hoyo
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