scholarly journals Authenticity, Interactivity, and Collaboration in Virtual Reality Games: Best Practices and Lessons Learned

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Wang ◽  
Meredith Thompson ◽  
Cigdem Uz-Bilgin ◽  
Eric Klopfer
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
User Studies ◽  
Collaborative Problem Solving ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Collaborative Problem ◽  
Motivate Learning

Virtual reality has become an increasingly important topic in the field of education research, going from a tool of interest to a tool of practice. In this paper, we document and summarize the studies associated with our 4-year design project, Collaborative Learning Environments in Virtual Reality (CLEVR). Our goal is to share the lessons we gleaned from the design and development of the game so that others may learn from our experiences as they are designing, developing, and testing VR for learning. We translate “lessons learned” from our user studies into “best practices” when developing authentic, interactive, and collaborative experiences in VR. We learned that authentic representations can enhance learning in virtual environments but come at a cost of increased time and resources in development. Interactive experiences can motivate learning and enable users to understand spatial relationships in ways that two dimensional representations cannot. Collaboration in VR can be used to alleviate some of the cognitive load inherent in VR environments, and VR can serve as a context for collaborative problem solving with the appropriate distribution of roles and resources. The paper concludes with a summation of best practices intended to inform future VR designers and researchers.

A Practical Guide, With Theoretical Underpinnings, for Creating Effective Virtual Reality Learning Environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen A. O’Connor ◽  
Jelia Domingo
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
Cost Reductions ◽  
Productive Research

With the advent of open source virtual environments, the associated cost reductions, and the more flexible options, avatar-based virtual reality environments are within reach of educators. By using and repurposing readily available virtual environments, instructors can bring engaging, community-building, and immersive learning opportunities to students. Based on many years of academic research and development within this environment, the authors suggest educationally productive, research-supported ways to create learning environments that can motivate, engage, and educate participants. Instructors can develop virtual communities as centers for meetings, collaborations, and shared experiences, moving distance experiences beyond the limitations of engagement and collaboration in nonimmersive settings. The authors explain how instructors can develop useful learning interactions, pilot their learning environments, assess learners, and evaluate the environment. Specific experiences, images, and videos from the authors’ work are shared as well as broader application that could suit multiple purposes in guiding an instructor’s development and instructional efforts.

Designing for Group Flow in Collaborative Cross-Platform Learning Experiences

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Thompson ◽  
Laura Zhang ◽  
Mohamed Raouf Seyam ◽  
Jing Fan ◽  
Annie Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Collaborative Problem Solving ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Cellular Biology ◽  
Collaborative Problem ◽  
Individual Knowledge ◽  
Cross Platform ◽  
Group Flow

Technological resources have expanded the goal of education from individual knowledge acquisition to include the development of critical thinking, communication, and collaboration (Griffin, McCaw, Care, 2012; Van Roekel, 2014). This shift requires a reevaluation of what students learn (e.g. content versus skills) and how students learn in formal education settings (Saavedra & Opfer, 2012). Thus, there is a critical need to find ways to create environments that enable embodied, enactive, extended, and embedded learning and develop critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. MIT’s Education Arcade and the MIT Game Lab are exploring ways to meet this need by developing a cross-platform, collaborative educational game with a conceptual focus on cellular biology and a developmental focus on 21st century skills. To this end, we are creating learning environments that incorporate collaborative problem solving that are connected across different contexts.

Evaluating the Learning Effectiveness of Collaborative Problem Solving in Computer-Mediated Settings

2009 ◽  
pp. 151-167
Author(s):  
Ourania Petropoulou ◽  
Georgia Lazakidou ◽  
Symeon Retalis ◽  
Charalambos Vrasidas
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Collaborative Problem Solving ◽  
Learning Effectiveness ◽  
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning ◽  
Collaborative Problem ◽  
Problem Solving Environments ◽  
Computer Mediated

here is a growing need for systematic evaluations of computer-supported collaborative learning environments. The present chapter focuses on the evaluation of the learning effectiveness of the interactions that take place in computer-supported problem solving environments. This chapter emphasizes the need for supporting evaluators of such environments with holistic evaluation conceptual frameworks and tools that can facilitate the analysis of data gathered during the evaluation process. We discuss in detail such a holistic framework which has been tested through a primary education case-study.

scholarly journals Preparing for Industry 4.0 – Testing Collaborative Virtual Learning Environments with Students and Professional Trainers

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Schuster ◽  
Lana Plumanns ◽  
Kerstin Groß ◽  
Rene Vossen ◽  
Anja Richert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Collaborative Problem Solving

In consideration of future employment domains, engineering students should be prepared to meet the demands of society 4.0 and industry 4.0 – resulting from a fourth industrial revolution. Based on the technological concept of cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things, it facilitates – among others - the vision of the smart factory. The vision of “industry 4.0” is characterized by highly individualized and at the same time cross-linked production processes. Physical reality and virtuality increasingly melt together and international teams collaborate across the globe within immersive virtual environments. In this context, a large market arises in the field virtual trainings, which means that professional trainers need to explore the potential of new learning settings. In the context of the development from purely document based management systems to complex virtual learning environments (VLEs), a shift towards more interactive and collaborative components within higher educational e-learning can be noticed, but is still far from being called the state of the art. As a result, engineering education is faced with a large potential field of research, which ranges from the technical development and didactical conception of new VLEs to the investigation of students’ acceptance or the proof of concept of the VLEs in terms of learning efficiency. This paper presents three corresponding qualitative studies: In a series of focus groups, it was investigated which kinds of VLEs students prefer in a higher education context. Building upon the results of the focus groups, a collaborative VLE was created within the open world game Minecraft. In two different studies this VLE was tested, first by students and then by professional trainers. First screenings of the video material of the studies indicate a connection between communicational behavior and successful collaborative problem solving in virtual environments. The majority of the trainers who participated in the second study ascribe the new technological possibilities great potential and would consider using it within their own trainings.

scholarly journals Emerging Trends in Virtual Reality for Gaming: an assessment of best practices from research and development in the gaming industry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Harley ◽  
Jason Nolan ◽  
Anthony Walsh ◽  
Eric McQuiggan
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Simulator Sickness ◽  
Gaming Industry ◽  
Industry Research ◽  
Emerging Trends ◽  
Player Experience

Virtual reality is a new and rapidly changing medium, with best practices still emerging at various locations across the industry. This white paper summarizes industry research and development focusing on player experience and comfort, particularly interventions that seek to mitigate the effects of Simulator Sickness. In order to better collate, evaluate and understand the variety of approaches and practices across the gaming industry, Phantom Compass partnered with the Ryerson’s Responsive Ecologies Lab to develop and playtest three prototypes that employ the current best practices in an effort examine lessons learned and expand current VR design.

Design Process for Accessible Virtual Reality Learning Environments

2020 ◽  
pp. 170-183
Author(s):  
Zeoli Antonio Maldonado
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Design Process ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Education Industry

Virtual reality has captured the attention of people. Since virtual reality has become more realistic, with the evolution of the technology like the innovation of smartphones, it has been more accessible for society, and many industries have begun research on the application of VR for training and for learning about certain specific topics as it allows reducing accidents and maximizes safety. Their use in the education industry has been best seen as a tool to complement certain issues that may be difficult to understand since it can allow one to virtually move to certain areas from safe areas. However, the development virtual environments is not fully specialized to implicitly include and promote learning, much less the consideration of people with disabilities. The main objective of this chapter is the presentation of a design process for the development of virtual learning environments that allows accessibility.

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