Session 13: WIP Posters (EU Time zone friendly)

Alexander Vanhulsel (Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium)
Carl Boel (Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium)
Lizzy Bleumers (Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium)
Dieter Struyf (Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium)

Towards a University-Wide Implementation of Extended Reality

PRESENTER: Alexander Vanhulsel

ABSTRACT. While university educators worldwide start to see the benefits of using extended reality (XR) in their classes, they often lack a policy framework and support from their management to do so effectively. As a result, various XR initiatives arise throughout universities, leaving all knowledge, expertise and XR learning materials scattered and unexploited by the majority of the other staff. At Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium, we are working towards a framework for a university-wide implementation of XR in learning. To achieve this goal, there are several challenges to overcome: mapping the existing initiatives and needs, inspiring educators, sharing knowledge and expertise, purchasing hardware and related software within a limited budget, and drafting a pedagogical and organizational policy framework. In this work-in-progress paper, we explain how Thomas More addresses these challenges and works towards a university-wide implementation of XR for learning.

Louis Nisiotis (University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus Campus, Cyprus)
Aimilios Hadjiliasi (UCLan Cyprus, Cyprus)

Work-in-Progress: Assessing the Feasibility of Playtesting Video Games Using Immersive Technologies as a Learning Method

PRESENTER: Louis Nisiotis

ABSTRACT. This paper assesses the feasibility of playtesting video games using immersive technologies as a method to support learning games development. It presents a study where university students and professional game developers collaborated in playtesting video games under development as part of the learning outcomes of their course. Data was collected investigating students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of playtesting as a learning method, the immersiveness of the experience, its value to learning, and to their professional awareness. The results of this research indicate that using video games and immersive technologies to support learning has promising potentials when utilised meaningfully and structured accordingly to meet specific learning objectives.

Lidia Yatluk (Independent researcher, Netherlands)
Iuliia Khukalenko (Sydney School of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney., Australia)

Studying the impact of the virtual course “Magnetic field. Electromagnetic induction” on educational

PRESENTER: Lidia Yatluk

ABSTRACT. Spatial immersion is one of the key features of immersive virtual reality, which qualitatively distinguishes it from the desktop virtual reality. The spatial relative position of objects and forces is crucial to understanding the laws and rules in physics studying. Purpose: The special software for the school education program module "Magnetic Field. Electromagnetic induction" for Vive Focus was developed to explore virtual reality learning as an additional tool to study spatial rules. A study was conducted with 61 ninth-grade students from five schools. The results have shown that learning in virtual reality has a positive effect on practical skills in the short term, while in the middle term the effectiveness of VR was not revealed.

Diogo Cardoso (ESMAD, Portugal)
Isabella Bertucci (ESMAD, Portugal)
Bárbara Cleto (uniMAD/ESMAD, Portugal)

The Impact World

PRESENTER: Diogo Cardoso

ABSTRACT. The project described in this article is a work in progress and describes the development process of the Immersive Web Environment, The Impact World, created under the curricular unit of Virtual and Augmented Reality and subordinated to the general theme ECO-SCHOOLS. The aim of this project is to create an educational resource to alert all visitors of the immersive space, for the impact that their daily habits, whether food, as can be seen in the museum, or small actions, often performed in an unconscious way, as can be seen throughout the space surrounding the museum, have on the planet. In this article we describe the immersive environment created, using the A-Frame framework. The project is still in a development phase, so there has not yet been a formal phase of testing with the target audience. However, before starting the formal testing phase, it is intended that this prototype already implemented, be tested with a test group, so that they can contribute to improve the immersive experience and/or graphical interface.

David Fernes (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)
Andreas Dengel (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)
Jonas Maurer (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)
Hai Hoang Pham (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)

Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Advantages of Virtual and Augmented Reality Technology in the Everyday K-12 Classroom

PRESENTER: David Fernes

ABSTRACT. As immersive technologies enter school classrooms, teachers begin to adopt these technologies for their respective subjects. But the potentials and advantages differ between subjects and technologies, which is why it is interesting to investigate how future teachers perceive these advantages. Following the learning affordances from Dalgarno and Lee, the SAMR model of Puentedura, and the visualization forms of representation from Schwan and Buder, we analyzed fictional letters from preservice teachers attending a seminar on immersive teaching and learning according to these categories. This work-in-progress paper presents the results on the following research questions: 1) How do reported a) learning affordances, b) technology integrations, and c) visualization forms differ between virtual reality and augmented reality? and 2) How do reported a) learning affordances, b) technology integrations, and c) visualization forms differ between subjects? Results indicate that VR and AR offer different sets of advantages for learning. Based on these results guidelines for which technology to use under which circumstances can be derived. While there also may be differences between subjects this preliminary study could not offer clear insights in this regard.

Meena Jha (Central Queensland University, Australia)
Anupam Makhija (Central Queensland University, Australia)
Deborah Richards (Macquarie University, Australia)
Ayse Aysin Bilgin (Macquarie University, Australia)

Designing Game-Based Assessments for Programming

PRESENTER: Meena Jha

ABSTRACT. Concern exists regarding the methods used to implement various assessment types and how they affect students' learning and participation. Assessments require a large amount of time to mark and to provide feedback to the student which comes after the task is completed and lacks interaction and engagement of students. Game-based learning has known to enhance the interaction between learner and teacher and is useful in embedding interactive tasks. Game mechanics and principles can be used to develop Game-based assessments (GBAs) to assess a student’s understanding of learning concepts enhancing the use of assessments in classroom settings, albeit GBA is still in its infancy. In order to incorporate assessment tasks for programming courses, this paper offers a basic prototype on how game mechanics, domain knowledge, pedagogy, and learning mechanisms can be linked to design GBAs to align with learning objectives.

Abhinav Mishra (Northumbria University, UK)

Visitor Onboarding Strategies for Mixed Reality Experiences in Museums: Learnings from Curators, Designers, Researchers and Artists.

ABSTRACT. A growing body of research highlights the positive impact of Mixed Reality (MR) experiences in museum settings on visitor engagement. However, MR has not yet seen widespread adoption in museums, and user experience (UX) design of such experiences remains a crucial concern. Moreover, as a relatively new media form, most visitors need to become more familiar with MR and need onboarding assistance. Additionally, museum visitors have a low threshold for investing time in learning new interfaces to experience the narrative. While individual MR projects have tackled this issue, there is a lack of research incorporating professionals’ perspectives in designing and planning MR exhibits in museums. This work-in-progress paper presents findings through thematic coding of semi-structured interviews of professionals who work with MR and identify as curators, designers, researchers, and artists. The results are divided into three parts. The first part looks at the need for onboarding flows in MR experiences in museums. The second part highlights common approaches to effective visitor onboarding for MR exhibits. The findings emphasise the need to create MR experiences that need minimal onboarding. The third part describes the types of MR experiences in museums that require minimal onboarding. The findings indicate a preference for designing experiences that respond to the spatial context, are well embedded in the museum’s physical space, and employ familiar interaction design due to the ability of such experiences to quickly onboard novice visitors.

Manuela Chessa (University of Genoa - DIBRIS, Italy)
Giorgio Delzanno (DIBRIS, Università di Genova, Italy)
Davide Giovannetti (DIBRIS- University of Genova, Italy)
Giovanna Guerrini (DIBRIS- University of Genova, Italy)
Filippo Manini (DIBRIS- University of Genova, Italy)
Davide Miggiano (DIBRIS- University of Genova, Italy)
Marianna Pizzo (DIBRIS- University of Genova, Italy)
Eros Viola (DIBRIS- University of Genova, Italy)

iCoding: Immersive Coding in Unity

PRESENTER: Eros Viola

ABSTRACT. We present a novel application of Virtual Reality and Unity for introductory coding exercises. First of all, we have recreated a game room with arcade custom cabinets in a 3D scenario. Players move in the room and select a cabinet by simply approaching it (i.e. entering its bounding box). The novelty of our application is that each cabinet, besides providing a different arcade game, is equipped with a block editor through which players face different types of computational thinking and coding challenges (e.g. programming the behavior of sprites in the arcade game). Our framework thus enables traditional coding activities (based on visual languages and arcade games) in an immersive experience in a VR scenario. This combination requires additional skills such a rapid adaptation to the passage from 3D to 2D scenarios during the game. In the paper we describe the resulting application and the expected learning potential and outcomes.

Sebastian Egger-Lampl (Mindconsole GmbH, Austria)
Benjamin Roszipal (Mindconsole GmbH, Austria)
Markus Karlseder (Mindconsole GmbH, Austria)
Manuel Kaider (University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten, Austria)

Work-in-Progress — Gamified Experiential Learning of Human Anatomical Structures for Undergraduate Students in eXtended Reality: Experiences, Results and Recommendations

PRESENTER: Sebastian Egger-Lampl

ABSTRACT. eXtended Reality (XR) environments appear to be a promising approach to learning in educational contexts where knowledge regarding spatial location and orientation in relation to a number of different structures has to be acquired. The aim of the presented research project is to report on insights and results gathered throughout the user-centered implementation of gamified experiential learning of human anatomical structures for undergraduate students in eXtended Reality. First, we report on the application design itself and certain design decisions we have taken based on input from the target group and related trainers. Second, we report on results from a preliminary study with 96 students (n=96) and feedback from three experts in the field of education and healthcare. Third, we contextualize these results and the feedback with respect to recommendations for improvements within the next iterations of the application.

Maria Andrei (University of St Andrews, UK)
Alan Miller (University of St Andrews, UK)
Iain Oliver (University of St Andrews, UK)

Work-in-Progress-Visualising the Impacts of Climate Change with Immersive Technology

PRESENTER: Maria Andrei

ABSTRACT. This work-in-progress paper analyses how immersive technologies can contribute to overcoming psychological barriers which impede behavioural changes that are needed in response to Climate Change. Although Climate Change poses immediate and long-term challenges to many aspects of our lives, these are often perceived as psychologically distant because they are communicated in abstract ways, which inhibits pro-environmental behaviour. Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to address this psychological barrier by enabling people to directly experience the impacts of global warming and visualise them in concrete ways, which in turn can induce ecological behaviour.

Joy Gisler (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
Dominik Dedic (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
Valentin Holzwarth (RhySearch, Switzerland)
Andreas Kunz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Effects of Attention Guidance on Virtual Reality Training for an Industrial Assembly Task

PRESENTER: Joy Gisler

ABSTRACT. One of the main objectives of Virtual Training Environments (VTEs) for industrial training is to train workers for a real world task. Prior work identified a multitude of factors influencing a VTE’s effectiveness. In this work-in-progress paper, we add to this body of research by evaluating the effect of attention guidance (AG) on a VTE’s effectiveness. In a controlled between-subject design pilot study with 42 participants, participants were trained in a VTE either with or without AG. Subsequently, learning transfer was assessed in a Real-World Evaluation (RWE). Our findings indicate that, while not necessary for a VTE’s efficacy, AG appears to be a substantial factor in a VTE’s effectiveness.

Yasamin Tahiri (Pädagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe, Germany)
Mutfried Hartmann (Pädagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe, Germany)
Thomas Borys (Pädagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe, Germany)
Daniela Maier (Pädagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe, Germany)

Work-In-Progress – A Virtual Reality Application for Learning Geometry

PRESENTER: Yasamin Tahiri

ABSTRACT. Dynamic geometry software makes it possible to manipulate and adapt geometric constructions. This enables an extended exploration of geometric relationships. This can improve the understanding of geometry. However, this software is often difficult to use and there are only few applications in the field of Mixed Reality, thus disregarding possible advantages such as an improved spatial perception in virtual space. For this reason, this paper presents a VR application that can be used to create geometric constructions. It is described how criteria of intuitive usage and functions of dynamic geometry software are used to simplify the usage and to use the advantages of Mixed Reality.