DESIGN:

PEDAGOGIC

Papers compiled by Vladimir Geroimenko and Mike Phillips

Paper1:

Multi-user VRML Environment for Teaching VRML:

Immersive Collaborative Learning

Abstract

VRML-based environments can be used very effectively for teaching a variety of online courses. This paper describes the development of an Internet-based collaborative learning environment in which VRML is not only the means but also the subject of teaching. Such a VRML environment is designed to assist and support employees of the 'New Media' industries enrolled on short courses run by the Interactive Media Group in the School of Computing, University of Plymouth.

This paper focuses on some key issues in the design of the VRML teaching environment and using it for real-time and on-demand course delivery. One of the most interesting issues is the experience of learning and teaching VRML while being within a VRML world. Such an immersive method of learning provides students with unique experiences and significantly increases the efficiency of the learning process.

 

Paper2:

MULTI-USER COLLABORATIVE VRML LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.

A Dream Building: a Diagram of a Mechanism of Learning

This paper describes the development of an OnLine collaborative learning environment that integrates a variety of internet technologies, including RTC, video conferencing, and photo-realistic VR (QTVR and ‘RealVR’), within a multi-user VRML environment or MUSE (Multi User Simulation Environment). This VRML environment is designed to assist and support employees of the ‘New Media’ industries (including; digital TV, Interactive Media developers, electronic publishing, Information Architects, etc) enrolled on short courses run by the Interactive Media Group in the School of Computing, University of Plymouth. Aspects of the project also support the CAiiA-STAR integrated doctoral research platform. The project will ultimately deliver a number of OnLine VRML spaces/places and software tools that will allow participants to create their own ‘haptic’ learning sub-environments within the overall architecture of the project. The paper focuses on the design of the architectural ‘hub’ of the project, the ‘Panopticon’.