Virtual reality finds increasingly more place in education, especially through the three-dimensional environments. Although different experiments were performed with 3D virtual learning environments we believe that research in this area is still in its infancy and the perspective are high due to continuous technological advances. Our learning module allows students to more easily understand, by 3D visualizations and animations, the internal structure of the human body, living cells in the human body, bone structure or hearth sections. The 3D experience is completed with a wide range of multimedia elements like text, voice or digital image with animation. The module offers a collaborative learning environment, which contributes to the socialization of the participants. Their immersion in the virtual space, by means of avatars, improves also the attractiveness of the lesson. When a student is on-line in the virtual world, he has several options for learning about any found object and synchronizes this interaction with the teacher. Such options are YouTube, Wikipedia, Power point presentation, Videos, Hyperlinks. The paper presents the results of an experiment with our learning module, which was conducted with a group of 20 students from the ninth grade at a school in Jordan. The experiment aimed to make a comparison between the traditional method of teaching and learning and the virtual environment-based method offered by our module. Students appreciated the immersion in the virtual space, flying through the human body cells. They enjoyed the lesson, also, because they were able to communicate with colleagues during the lesson, each hidden behind an avatar. Last but not least, the lesson in virtual environment does not require their presence in the real class in a fixed schedule.
Many methods and tools used to teach traditional chemistry in laboratories no longer meets the educational needs of students, in terms of scale and intensity of practice. There is a need to develop efficient learning tools and methods, making the best use of modern technologies. In this paper we present our initial work in prototyping a 3D virtual chemistry laboratory and studying the students' interaction with it. The virtual chemistry lab was created using OpenSim. Any student can enter the virtual laboratory in the form of an avatar; he can then interact with different objects (chemical materials, recipients, periodic table, equations, etc.) from the 3D environment in order to perform the learning tasks, for example to make chemical reactions. Besides the pure 3D objects and actions, rich multimedia information (e.g. videos) is also embedded in the 3D environment. Our virtual laboratory resembles traditional chemistry laboratory with all its contents such as chemical materials, but offers more sources of information and live interactions. Chemical experiments are presented in a fun and exciting way, making the learning process enjoyable. We conducted an experiment with the prototype with a group of 20 students. The way that they interacted with the system was observed and, at the end, they filled several questionnaires regarding their experience in using the system. Both students and teachers reacted favorably to the virtual chemistry laboratory, showing interest, excitement and enjoyment in using this environment. Several important observations regarding the design of the 3D space for optimal interactions were made during the experiments, which are indicated at the end of this paper and set the directions for our future work.
Virtual, immersive and multiuser virtual environments are already accepted as a powerful and efficient solution of e-Learning. However, we are still far from the moment when they will be easy to create, considering the average competencies of educators, and until their nature will be well understood and optimized for the learning purposes. This article describes the creation and refining of a complex 3D MMO virtual environment dedicated to chemistry, which combined content and pedagogy to explore new possibilities for modern, immersive and game based learning. We used our experience from previous experiments in designing the layout of the 3D environment and the details of the user interactions, with the purpose of maximizing the immersivity and the involvement of the student in the learning process. The solution combines rich information related to the chemistry topics, embedded in the 3D space which can be freely explored by the user, with a serious of mini-games useful both for fixing the information and for the evaluation process. Particular attention was given to the synchronous multi-user nature of the interaction, which presents distinct advantages in terms of collaboration during learning, but also challenges regarding the design of the games to ensure consistency and efficiency. The first prototype of our system was tested with a selected group of target students and their feedback was used to refine the details of the 3D layout and user interaction. Then, the resulted improved prototype was tested on a larger audience and complex feedback was gathered. In this paper we describe in detail the development process, the solution - both at user level and technical level - and the experimental results, highlighting the advantages of our approach towards creating efficient 3D MMO learning environments.
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