Mitul Shukla

How Do Students `Reallyź Interact with Virtual Worlds?

Our ongoing research focuses on the ways that interactions affect learner engagement with a virtual world and, consequently, the educational activities that take place within it when a hybrid learning approach is used. It aims to form a complete taxonomy of the types of interactions that can lead to the development of engaging and interactive learning experiences. In this paper, we examine the impact that the orientation (induction) process has on learner engagement by observing a cohort of postgraduate students while using an OpenSim-based institutionally hosted virtual world. The results of our study highlight that educators and instructors need to plan their in-world learning activities very carefully and with a focus on interactions if engaging activities are what they want to offer their students. Additionally, it seems that student interactions with the content of the virtual world and the in-class student-to-student interactions have stronger impact on student engagement when hybrid methods are used. We confirm and further enhance our hypothesis investigating student feelings and thoughts about the interaction taking place within a virtual world when that is used in higher education.Our ongoing research focuses on the ways that interactions affect learner engagement with a virtual world and, consequently, the educational activities that take place within it when a hybrid learning approach is used. It aims to form a complete taxonomy of the types of interactions that can lead to the development of engaging and interactive learning experiences. In this paper, we examine the impact that the orientation (induction) process has on learner engagement by observing a cohort of postgraduate students while using an OpenSim-based institutionally hosted virtual world. The results of our study highlight that educators and instructors need to plan their in-world learning activities very carefully and with a focus on interactions if engaging activities are what they want to offer their students. Additionally, it seems that student interactions with the content of the virtual world and the in-class student-to-student interactions have stronger impact on student engagement when hybrid methods are used. We confirm and further enhance our hypothesis investigating student feelings and thoughts about the interaction taking place within a virtual world when that is used in higher education.

Objects, worlds, and students: virtual interaction in education

The main aim of this study is to form a complete taxonomy of the types of interactions that relate to the use of a virtual world for engaging learning experiences, when blended and hybrid learning methods are to be used. In order to investigate this topic more accurately and effectively, we distinguish four dimensions of interactions based on the context in which these occur, and the involved parts: in-world and in-class, user-to-user and user-to-world interactions. In order to conduct investigation into this topic and form a view of the interactions as clear as possible, we observed a cohort of 15 undergraduate Computer Science students while using an OpenSim-based institutionally hosted virtual world. Moreover, we ran a survey where 50 students were asked to indicate their opinion and feelings about their in-world experience. The results of our study highlight that educators and instructors need to plan their in-world learning activities very carefully and with a focus on interactions if engaging activities are what they want to offer their students. Additionally, it seems that student interactions with the content of the virtual world and the in-class student-to-student interactions, have stronger impact on students’ engagement when hybrid methods are used.

Interaction with Educational Games in Hybrid Virtual Worlds.

This research links learner engagement with interactions when Hybrid Virtual Learning models are used. Various aspects have been considered, such as learners’ prior experiences related to virtual worlds, their preconceptions regarding their use as a learning tool, and the impact that instructional designers’ choices have on enhancing the opportunities for interactions. In this article, the impact that educational and leisure games have on university students’ engagement is examined. The findings suggest that the use of game-like content can contribute positively to students’ engagement, without, however, having a spectacular impact on the learning process.

Sharing experiences with using next generation knowledge portals for advancing web communities

In this article, we discuss the development of two repositories of shared knowledge using intra- and inter-tagging functionality. The functionality enables web user communities to upload, search, navigate through and tag multiple documents in multiple ways at a macro and micro level. Users can tag the whole document as well as parts there-in, as they deem appropriate. Our development process employed a unique, specifically designed community user needs approach (CUNA) to allow elicitation of diverse user communities needs. This included an iterative, rapid application development approach, which in turn, allowed lessons learned from the testing phase to be implemented in the following building phase. Results from in-house testing and an independent consultancy suggest that the web communities perceive the portals as beneficial not just during the project lifecycle but quite likely in future ventures.

Implementing Learning Models in Virtual Worlds - From Theory to (Virtual) Reality.

The main advantage of Desktop Virtual Reality is that it enables learners to interact with each other both in the physical classroom and in a 3D environment. Even though, no explicit theories or models have been developed to contextualise Virtual Learning, instructional designers have successfully employed the traditional approaches with positive results on learners’ motivation and engagement. However, there is very little we know when the question comes to the importance of examining and taxonomising the impact of interactions on motivation and engagement as a synergy of learners’ concurrent presence. To evaluate the potential of interactions holistically and not just unilaterally, a series of experiments were conducted in the context of our Hybrid Virtual Learning classes underpinned from the instructional designer’s decisions to increase the incentives for interactions. Learners’ thoughts and preconceptions about the use of virtual worlds as an educational tool were surveyed, whilst, their actions and interactions (in both environments) were observed during their practical sessions. The take away is that the higher the levels of interactivity are, the higher the chances to attract students’ attention and engagement with the process will be.

Increasing student engagement through virtual interactions: How?

Our ongoing research is focusing on identifying and taxonomising the elements and the factors that affect learner engagement with virtual worlds when hybrid virtual learning models are used. Our main hypothesis links learner engagement with interactions, both in the virtual world and in the physical classroom. In order to examine this subject, there is an elaboration on and consideration of aspects such as the learners’ prior experiences in the use of virtual worlds, their preconceptions about using them as a learning tool and the impact that the instructional designers’ choices have on enhancing the opportunities for interactions. In this paper, we examine the impact that the orientation process has on university students who study computer science and have almost no experience in the use of virtual worlds. Our findings suggest that the orientation process contributed positively to students’ smooth induction and that resulted in having meaningful and engaging interactions. Furthermore, students’ simultaneous coexistence in both environments eliminated the drawbacks of each educational approach and broadened the network of interactions.

Co-presence in the Real and the Virtual Space: Interactions Through Orientation

The global aim of this research is to identify, map, and form a taxonomy of the ways, the elements, and the factors that affect learner engagement with virtual worlds when Hybrid Virtual Learning models are used. Thereafter, the more specific objective of the research is to provide clear guidance to educators who are already utilising or are planning to embed this learning model in their educational agenda. For the examination of this topic, a quanti-qualitative research approach is used, as this allows to investigate the subject both from the students’ and the instructional designer’s point of view. The sample of this study consists of both undergraduate and postgraduate university students. Participants are requested to fill in two different questionnaires, one before using the virtual world and one after completing their assignment. That way it is possible not only to fully mirror their thoughts, preconceptions, and opinions towards the use of virtual worlds in Higher Education, but also the impact that the instructional designer’s choices have on enhancing the opportunities for interactions. In addition, a focus group is being observed – both in the physical classroom and in the virtual world – during the course of the assignment. The focus of this experiment was on the impact that the orientation/induction process has on learner engagement. The findings suggest that students’ interactions with the content of the virtual world, and the in-class student-to-student interactions, have stronger impact on student engagement. This is because students’ simultaneous co-existence in both environments eliminated the drawbacks of each educational approach, and broadened the network of interactions.

Between virtual and real: exploring hybrid interaction and communication in virtual worlds

In this paper we aim to explore the potential advantages of interactions on student engagement and provide guidance to educators who seek interactive and immersive learning experiences for their students through the use of hybrid virtual learning approaches. We define as hybrid virtual learning the educational model where students are co-present and interacting simultaneously both within a virtual world and the physical classroom receiving stimuli related to the learning material in the virtual world from both directions. In order to achieve our aim, we categorised interactions in various categories and observed the complex network of interactions which can be developed in a virtual world when groups of people are working together in order to achieve different goals. The findings suggest that students spontaneously tend to use the interaction channels only when it is deemed to be necessary.

Identity Implies Trust in Distributed Systems – A Novel Approach

Distributed software systems comprise a decentralized network topography wherein a collection of autonomous computers communicate with each other by exchanging messages [1]. The internet (Web 2.0) and social networks and immersive virtual worlds (VW) are the focus of our research. Distributed systems embed a variety of applications that seek to disclose, partially or fully obfuscate an individual’s identity ranging from “role play” VW, social networking to various forms of B2C, B2B, on-line auctions (EBay) and ubiquitous B2B e-commerce transaction via electronic payment. Trust and identity management are inherent phenomena of most if not all forms of such distributed web-based systems. This research seeks to investigate how the role of identity impacts upon trust and e-trust in distributed systems.