Master’s Thesis

The Virtual TEAL World An Interactive and Collaborative Virtual World Environment

for Physics Education

Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media (IICM)

Faculty of Informatics – Graz University of Technology, Austria

Johanna Pirker

Version 14th March, 2013

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Cooperation TUG & MIT

Proof of Concept

Refinement Showcase

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Agenda

• Introduction

• Background and Motivation

• Technology-Enables Active Learning (TEAL) support Physics Education

• Virtual TEAL Environment

• Future Work

Physics Education (1)

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Still in A Serious Man (2009)

Physics Education (2)

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“I hear and I forget.

I see and I remember.

I do and I understand.”

Confucius

Technology-Enabled Active Learning

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• Approach

• Collaborative Learning

• Mini lectures

• Hands-on experiments

• Simulations & Visualizations

• Quizzes and discussions

• Special Designed Classroom

• Small working groups

• Shared Computers

• Desktop Experiments

• $ 1.5 Mio / classroom

http://mit.edu/jbelcher/www/categories/education/index.htm

Technology-Enabled Active Learning

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TEALsim

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“Make the unseen seen”

Belcher

• Open Source Simulation Framework (Java)

• Development, Presentation, Control of Physical Concepts

• Create new simulations with limited programming skills (physics instructor)

Virtual TEAL World - Motivation

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• Motivation • On-campus extension to Prepare, re-visit, reflect

• Affordable Environment (TEAL classroom $1.5 MIO each)

• Distance learning experience for

• Geographically dispersed learning groups

• Part-time students

• Handicapped

• MOOC (Massive open online course) extension as Social motivator and Collaboration possibilities

• Design • Focus on advantages of VWs in comparison to conventional

E-Learning Systems

• 3D, Immersion, Collaboration, Presence, Active Participation,…

• Reduce issues of VWs by good Design

• Technical demands, Technical know-how, User Acceptance

Advantages of Virtual Worlds

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• Provision of different communication channels (both verbal and non-verbal) for improved understanding

• Activity-based interactions support the motivation and autonomy of the users

• Increased social awareness

• Feeling of presence in the virtual environment

• Awareness of other avatars and the environment

• Belonging to a social community that creates a virtual social space and can positively impact learning outcomes

• Facilitated collaboration through different tools

• Visualizations and simulations of learning content via 2d and 3d artifacts

• Personal motivation through active participation and co-creation of the world

(De Lucia, Francese, Passero, & Genoveffa Tortora, 2008) (Gütl & Pirker, 2011) (Gütl, 2011)

Workflow

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Virtual TEAL Model

Implementation of the required components

Preparation & Evaluation of a

pilot environment

Raise the acceptance

• Interactivity

• Collaboration

• Assessability

Avoid steep learning curves

• Usability

• Adaptation and improvement of the existing TEALsim-Module

• Creation of the Concept Question-Module

• Creation of a Web-Interface as link to the Concept Question-Module

• Faraday’s Law course

• Two experiments with two stakeholder groups

Virtual TEAL World - Model

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Comparison of Virtual Worlds

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Open Wonderland (OWL)

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• Collaboration and Communication Tools

(Whiteboard, Sticky Notes, Drag-and-drop existing content,.. )

• Extensibility

Java-based modules and components

• Shared Desktop Applications

Open Office, Firefox, Netbeans, VNC,..

“Open Wonderland is a 100%

Java open source toolkit for

creating collaborative 3D virtual

worlds.”

Virtual TEAL World

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Conceptual Overview

Concept Question-Module

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TEALsim-Module

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Demo Web-Interface

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Virtual TEAL World – Faraday’s Law

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Virtual TEAL World (VTW)

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Evaluation (1/3)

Objectives • Usability of VTW and in-world tools

• Learning progress within the Faraday‘s Law scenario and it‘s assessability

• Motivational aspects of students, such as interactivity and collaboration

Setup • 2 experiments with 2 stakeholder groups

• 2 physics experts with pedagogical background

• 8 students

• Pre-questionnaire with demographical data

• Experiment (Learning roundtrip)

• Post-questionnaire • Experience, usability (SUS), motivation (CES),..

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Evaluation (2/3)

Learning Progress • Experiment: Students learned through discussion and

learning content

• Self-assessment: Faraday‘s law (M=1.625 SD=0.86); 7/8 learned something new

Assessability • Both SHGs were satisfied with the assessability (M=2.5;

SD=0.92) „It is similar to real life group assignments. You never know who contributed to the assignment“

Interactivity • M=1.6 (SD=0.66) „Such a playful animation can motivate

also students, which are not really interested in the topic“

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Evaluation (3/3)

Collaborative activities • Students likes „solving questions with other people“

• 3/8 students changes their answer after the discussion

Usability • 8/10 SUS score 70+; Avg 73.89 (SD=22.81)

• TEALsim-Module M=2. (SD=0.5)

Motivation • According to CES

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Future of Virtual Worlds

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Conclusion & Future Work

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Current and future Work

• Further improvements (Performance, Usability, Interactivity,… )

• Integration to LMS such as Moodle

• Integration of a game-based approach

• Further user studies

Conclusions

• Motivational and acceptance issues

can be minimized

• Technical issues will

remain the next years

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2124315

Publications

Pirker, J., Berger, S., Gütl, C., Belcher, J., & Bailey, P. H. (2012). Understanding Physical Concepts using an Immersive Virtual Learning Environment. European Immersive Education Summit. Paris.

Pirker, J. & Gütl, C., (2013). Design and Evaluation of a Learner-Centric Immersive Virtual Learning Environment for Physics Education. SouthChi Conference. Maribor.

Pirker, J. (2013). Master’s Thesis - The Virtual TEAL World – An Interactive and Collaborative Virtual World Environment for Physics Education, Supervisor: Univ. Doz. Dipl. Ing. Dr. techn. Christian Gütl (Graz University of Technology) & Professor John Belcher (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

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Questions & Contact Information

Thank you for your Attention!

Questions are welcome!

Further Information:

Johanna Pirker

jpirker@iicm.edu

www.jpirker.com