Download - Virtual Teal World
Master’s Thesis
The Virtual TEAL World An Interactive and Collaborative Virtual World Environment
for Physics Education
Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media (IICM)
Faculty of Informatics – Graz University of Technology, Austria
Johanna Pirker
Version 14th March, 2013
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Cooperation TUG & MIT
Proof of Concept
Refinement Showcase
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Agenda
• Introduction
• Background and Motivation
• Technology-Enables Active Learning (TEAL) support Physics Education
• Virtual TEAL Environment
• Future Work
Physics Education (1)
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Still in A Serious Man (2009)
Physics Education (2)
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“I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.”
Confucius
Technology-Enabled Active Learning
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• Approach
• Collaborative Learning
• Mini lectures
• Hands-on experiments
• Simulations & Visualizations
• Quizzes and discussions
• Special Designed Classroom
• Small working groups
• Shared Computers
• Desktop Experiments
• $ 1.5 Mio / classroom
http://mit.edu/jbelcher/www/categories/education/index.htm
Technology-Enabled Active Learning
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TEALsim
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“Make the unseen seen”
Belcher
• Open Source Simulation Framework (Java)
• Development, Presentation, Control of Physical Concepts
• Create new simulations with limited programming skills (physics instructor)
Virtual TEAL World - Motivation
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• Motivation • On-campus extension to Prepare, re-visit, reflect
• Affordable Environment (TEAL classroom $1.5 MIO each)
• Distance learning experience for
• Geographically dispersed learning groups
• Part-time students
• Handicapped
• MOOC (Massive open online course) extension as Social motivator and Collaboration possibilities
• Design • Focus on advantages of VWs in comparison to conventional
E-Learning Systems
• 3D, Immersion, Collaboration, Presence, Active Participation,…
• Reduce issues of VWs by good Design
• Technical demands, Technical know-how, User Acceptance
Advantages of Virtual Worlds
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• Provision of different communication channels (both verbal and non-verbal) for improved understanding
• Activity-based interactions support the motivation and autonomy of the users
• Increased social awareness
• Feeling of presence in the virtual environment
• Awareness of other avatars and the environment
• Belonging to a social community that creates a virtual social space and can positively impact learning outcomes
• Facilitated collaboration through different tools
• Visualizations and simulations of learning content via 2d and 3d artifacts
• Personal motivation through active participation and co-creation of the world
(De Lucia, Francese, Passero, & Genoveffa Tortora, 2008) (Gütl & Pirker, 2011) (Gütl, 2011)
Workflow
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Virtual TEAL Model
Implementation of the required components
Preparation & Evaluation of a
pilot environment
Raise the acceptance
• Interactivity
• Collaboration
• Assessability
Avoid steep learning curves
• Usability
• Adaptation and improvement of the existing TEALsim-Module
• Creation of the Concept Question-Module
• Creation of a Web-Interface as link to the Concept Question-Module
• Faraday’s Law course
• Two experiments with two stakeholder groups
Virtual TEAL World - Model
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Comparison of Virtual Worlds
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Open Wonderland (OWL)
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• Collaboration and Communication Tools
(Whiteboard, Sticky Notes, Drag-and-drop existing content,.. )
• Extensibility
Java-based modules and components
• Shared Desktop Applications
Open Office, Firefox, Netbeans, VNC,..
“Open Wonderland is a 100%
Java open source toolkit for
creating collaborative 3D virtual
worlds.”
Virtual TEAL World
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Conceptual Overview
Concept Question-Module
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TEALsim-Module
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Demo Web-Interface
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Virtual TEAL World – Faraday’s Law
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Virtual TEAL World (VTW)
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Evaluation (1/3)
Objectives • Usability of VTW and in-world tools
• Learning progress within the Faraday‘s Law scenario and it‘s assessability
• Motivational aspects of students, such as interactivity and collaboration
Setup • 2 experiments with 2 stakeholder groups
• 2 physics experts with pedagogical background
• 8 students
• Pre-questionnaire with demographical data
• Experiment (Learning roundtrip)
• Post-questionnaire • Experience, usability (SUS), motivation (CES),..
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Evaluation (2/3)
Learning Progress • Experiment: Students learned through discussion and
learning content
• Self-assessment: Faraday‘s law (M=1.625 SD=0.86); 7/8 learned something new
Assessability • Both SHGs were satisfied with the assessability (M=2.5;
SD=0.92) „It is similar to real life group assignments. You never know who contributed to the assignment“
Interactivity • M=1.6 (SD=0.66) „Such a playful animation can motivate
also students, which are not really interested in the topic“
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Evaluation (3/3)
Collaborative activities • Students likes „solving questions with other people“
• 3/8 students changes their answer after the discussion
Usability • 8/10 SUS score 70+; Avg 73.89 (SD=22.81)
• TEALsim-Module M=2. (SD=0.5)
Motivation • According to CES
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Future of Virtual Worlds
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Conclusion & Future Work
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Current and future Work
• Further improvements (Performance, Usability, Interactivity,… )
• Integration to LMS such as Moodle
• Integration of a game-based approach
• Further user studies
Conclusions
• Motivational and acceptance issues
can be minimized
• Technical issues will
remain the next years
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2124315
Publications
Pirker, J., Berger, S., Gütl, C., Belcher, J., & Bailey, P. H. (2012). Understanding Physical Concepts using an Immersive Virtual Learning Environment. European Immersive Education Summit. Paris.
Pirker, J. & Gütl, C., (2013). Design and Evaluation of a Learner-Centric Immersive Virtual Learning Environment for Physics Education. SouthChi Conference. Maribor.
Pirker, J. (2013). Master’s Thesis - The Virtual TEAL World – An Interactive and Collaborative Virtual World Environment for Physics Education, Supervisor: Univ. Doz. Dipl. Ing. Dr. techn. Christian Gütl (Graz University of Technology) & Professor John Belcher (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
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Questions & Contact Information
Thank you for your Attention!
Questions are welcome!
Further Information:
Johanna Pirker
www.jpirker.com