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DESIGN:
PEDAGOGIC
Multi-user
VRML Environment for Teaching VRML:
Immersive
Collaborative Learning
Vladimir
Geroimenko and Mike Phillips
School
of Computing, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth,
Devon PL4 8AA, UK
vladg@soc.plym.ac.uk
mikep@soc.plym.ac.uk
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.
1: Introduction
Distributed
Virtual Environments can be used very effectively for teaching
a variety of online courses and for supporting collaborative work
[1, 2]. The main goal of our project was and is 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 (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. The project
will ultimately deliver a number of on-line VRML spaces/places
and software tools that will allow participants to collaboratively
create their own 'haptic' learning sub-environments within the
overall architecture of the project.
2: The
architecture of the virtual environment
This
learning environment is a Web Site made up of pages which consist
of the following three frames: a VRML browser frame for navigating
through 3D virtual environments, a chat frame for text-based communication
and a reference frame for representing VRML specifications and
codes. Currently, we are developing three slightly different prototypes
of the multi-user collaborative environment based on VNet, Sony
and Blaxxun software. These software are different in terms of
the quality of rendering, the availability of cross-platform versions,
the richness of communication and navigation such as pre-programmed
avatar gestures or text-to-speech chat window options, and so
on. It is very difficult to say at this moment, which of the above
versions will be preferred by students. Therefore, we have decided
to make a usability test after all the working prototypes will
be completed to choose the most appropriate version on the base
of real-life practice.
The
'hub' of the OnLine Multi-user Learning Environment is inspired
by and based on Bentham's architecture for the Panopticon. Jeremy
Bentham's (1748-1832) 'Panopticon; or the Inspection House' (circa
1791, see [5]) was never build to serve its intended function.
Within this virtual environment the 'fluid architecture' of the
'Panopticon' becomes the perfect form to support a social learning
interaction where the surveyors co-operatively survey themselves.
At each level or module or the structure, each 'cell' in this
Panopticon is a gateway to another 'place' where work can be done.
Each layer of the building houses a module. Access to the modules
is provided through the 'Core' which runs up through the centre
of the 'building'. Here participants can register for a particular
module, and have access to that layer of the building.
From
the pedagogical and also technological point of view, there are
two distinguishing areas within the 3D environment. The first
area is a chain of spaces in which a variety of VRML nodes, scripts
and other elements are represented and also grouped according
to the similarity of their content into several tutorials. In
other words, this space a unique 3D version of the VRML specifications
where students can learn the basics of the language as well as
they can come back to this session any time for reference. The
second space offers opportunities for students to present their
own VRML objects and environments. This part of the virtual world
is highly changeable offering a flexible environment with significant
creative potential.
3: 3D
and 2D representation of the contents
The
3D representation of the VRML specification is one of the most
difficult issues. It is quite obvious that there are no simple
ways of translating this document from 2D format into 3D. Firstly,
it is hardly possible to create a complete 3D version of the VRML
specification because of a great deal of its logical and other
"non-spatial" details. Secondly, a 3D space has its own logic.
Therefore, to represent the VRML content adequately, one needs
to create 3D objects, environments, animations and other spatial
structures. It is impossible to do this just by coping the structure
and logic of the appropriate text of the VRML specifications.
Of
course, it depends on the logical complicity of the part of the
VRML specification being converted into a 3D form. For example,
the standard VRML building blocks, such as primitive shapes (box,
cone, cylinder and sphere), are very easy to represent both in
the 3D environment and in the 2D reference frame. To create a
3D model that would show how a specific type of sensors, interpolators
or lights works is a more difficult task. This task is complicated
mostly from a pedagogical (not technological) point of view: how
to present 2D content in a 3D way that would show the essence
of the subject matter in a clear visual form.
The
pedagogical effectiveness of using the VRML environment depends
on the extent to which the contents of the 3D environment and
the 2D reference frame are mutually supplementary. That is, they
must help students to understand each other's material represented
through contrasting forms.
4: Immersive
collaborative learning
This
3D online environment may be used in three ways. A teacher can
use the environment to deliver real-time lectures and workshops
that are, in terms of teacher-student communication, very similar
to standard sessions in real-life classrooms. Secondly, a group
of students can meet in this environment, without a teacher, to
learn VRML together and to discuss some VRML related questions.
Thirdly, any student can use this environment to teach himself
or herself VRML.
Navigating
through the virtual environment, students can experience most
of the VRML nodes and samples as virtual objects and interact
with them. For example, a group of students (represented by their
avatars) can gather around a red cube, click on it to see its
behaviour (rotation and changing colour), learn the appropriate
VRML codes in the frame nearby and then discuss this sample with
the teacher and/or each other.
In
order to make our environment accessible from any ordinary computer,
we have created it as Web-Based Desktop Virtual Reality. Of course,
the sense of immersion in Desktop VR is not as strong that offered
by head-mounted displays, but nevertheless it exists in a limited
form [3, 4]. Students can feel themselves as part of a virtual
environment (the sense of "being there") because of their
active behaviour within the environment. When one navigates through
the virtual space, to interact with virtual objects and to communicate
with the avatars of other participants using familiar 'real world'
processes (i.e. worrying constantly about your position in the
space and synchronising your action with other people) a specific
sense of immersion is developed. Our research shows that by being
within the same world as interactive VRML objects, students are
able to learn VRML materials much quicker and deeper than in a
non-virtual learning situation.
5: Conclusions
We have found
that the use of a specially created VRML environment to teach
the VRML specifications provides students with the unique experience
of immersive collaborative learning and significantly increases
the efficiency of the learning process. The main problems connected
with designing and creating such an environment are locating appropriate
'architectural' forms of space and representing information in
a hybrid 3D/2D form.
6: References
[1] Frécon,
E. and Nöu, A. Building distributed virtual environments
to support collaborative work. VRST '98. Proceedings of the
ACM Symposium on Virtual reality software and technology 1998,
pp. 105-113.
[2] Neal,
L. Virtual Classrooms and Communities. GROUP '97. Proceedings
of the international ACM SIGGROUP conference on Supporting group
work: the integration challenge, 1997, pp. 81 - 90.
[3] Robertson,
G., Czerwinski, M. & van Dantzich, M. Immersion in Desktop
Virtual Reality. UIST '97. Proceedings of the 10th annual ACM
symposium on User interface software and technology, 1997,
pp. 11-19.
[4] Steinke,
G. Preparing Students to Communicate in a Virtual Environment.
SIGCPR '97. Proceedings of the 1997 conference on Computer
personnel research, p. 249.
[5] Bentham,
J., Works, ed. Browning, IV, 1834 (The Bentham Collection
University College London).
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