STEM and Immersive Virtual Reality:

Serious Games, Serious Teaching . . . and Learning

Forthcoming Paper: Conceptual Framework & Practical Design for Learning in Immersive Virtual Reality

Eileen A. O’Connor, Ph.D.Empire State College – eileen.oconnor@esc.edu

Agenda• Audience poll • Visual chronology of my experiences • Change in the field – open source, price change, available islands • Online “serious” uses• Conceptual framework for planning and design• Fast ways to get started

Poll of audience • What would you like to have in a virtual space?• How many of you have online as all or part of your work?

• What sense of community do YOUR STUDENTS have – you interact with them all, but how many interact with each other?

• Do you have a space where online students can meet & get to know & share with each other

Pathway through virtual – starting with Second Life – considered how to bring in other faculty

• First given the option to “experiment” – with some help on building and the like; space was made available by ESC

• By 2007, brought science education students into this environment, initially for meetings among colleagues, with the dean, with other teachers

• Then had the student present their work in a science project; committees created and met too to discuss education concerns; classes meet on other islands

• Published: O’Connor, E. A. and Sakshaug, L. (2009) Preparing for Second Life: Two Teacher Educators Reflect on Their Initial Foray into Virtual Teaching and Learning, Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 37(3), pp. 259-272.

• O'Connor, E. (2008). Becoming a Virtual Instructor: How Can Higher Education Faculty Prepare for Second Life?. In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2008 (pp. 1144-1149). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

• O'Connor, E. A. (2008). Initial Study of Pre-Service Teachers' Comments on a Reality-Based, Urban-Student Video Streamed within an Online Course. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 37(2), 139-157. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Moved beyond Second Life – cost / exportability, prebuilt materials, privacy

• Expanded to a program where students had the elective graduate school concentration (and courses, through OpenSUNY) with the option of creating their own virtual worlds

• Making custom islands now to house science resources and material

My experiencesCollaboratio

n space

Poster session

STEP program

Speakers / presentation

Joint video viewing

But don’t assume your idea will be “theirs” – create meaning in your own space; often they think video game

Students “posters”about the lessons were

prepared in the virtual pods

I stepped outside the box

Students presented to each other; later they voted

Action research on student interactions

Badges were given

An example project

Courses became more sophisticated

Later courses, students created their own island – more than STEM areas here

http://www.slideshare.net/eoconnor/suny-cit-2015-immersive-virtual-environments-open-source

I created a STEM/healthcare environment too

• Ie. Sub-Saharan African healthcare - https://sites.google.com/site/servehealthcarestudy/

• http://eileenoconnor1.wix.com/serve-healthcare

Actual night for the posters• We moved around

together• An example session -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GvYDuiwvdE&feature=youtu.be

Meeting for debriefings – enjoy the informality – without travel or equipment setup

Have a poster session• For synchronous sharing in comfort• For later independent visiting

Other uses – resource area / interactive web linksHave your own classroom area – this is

always set up and open for students to visit or collaborate in, even when you aren’t there

I made my own classroom, building, world – I wanted a useful place that I

would want to visit

Multipurpose areas

• Many classroom purposes

• Save on your own computer w/ an Export function

Fun places too

• Islands for low cost - $15 - $20 per month / export & save when finished

• Resources available for free

Drivers for virtual growth: Increased availability & usability • Affordable / share-able / save-able • Multiple islands & uses• Need in higher education for community with online courses• The field is improving the interface

• Oculus – Facebook

Conceptual Framework – ways to help YOU organize & plan virtual efforts

Community / Context• Presence & collaboration• Simulates reality & known

mental schema

Integrating / Scheduling• Extension of course • Threading into course

Assessment / Evaluation• Similar to classroom or

computer based

The “experience”/ motivation• From predesigned

curriculum to building / creating

• Immersive buy-in • What makes this serious?

Place / location

Online courses & community building

• “One clear take-away from this study is that it is incumbent upon faculty to play a leadership role in building community in their virtual classrooms. . . . However, with a compounded annual growth rate forecast in distance education of 33% (Oblinger & Kidwell, 2000), it is a challenge we cannot afford to ignore.”

• Vesely, P., Bloom, L., Sherlock, J.

http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no3/vesely.htm

This article discusses the importance of building community within an online environment and it looks at the differences between the way the students and the faculty consider online courses to be best served. The students really like the faculty modeling their participation — in this case the referring to faculty joining in and discussion boards. The online environment allows for faculty to model the work by their very visual participation

Virtual Reality – and distance learning, in general

Miller R. The Application of Virtual Reality in Higher Education Distance Learning. Journal Of Applied Learning Technology [serial online]. Fall2014 2014;4(4):15-18. Available from: Education Source, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 5, 2016.

“Though the technology is not fully developed nor readily available, the application of virtual reality in distance education proves to be promising. There are already a significant amount of benefits being achieved through the use of virtual worlds such as Second Life. These benefits will only be enhanced through deeper immersion in a virtual reality environment. Teaching in a VR environment is promising to be highly effectively and though the primary goal is to provide an effective learning environment for distance education students, it has the potential to surpass the benefits of a traditional classroom. Providing a state-of-the-art learning experience for students will not only benefit the colleges and universities in their competitive environment, but also aid in preparing students for their entry into the workforce.”

Serious game – definitions: “Serious gaming can be defined as the use of game principles for the purposes of learning, skill acquisition, and training. It should not be confused with “edutainment,” which by definition is lacking in interactivity and is based on a “skill and drill” format . . . Good game play is hard work. The learner should be performing at the maximum of his or her skill level and may be exerting significant cognitive effort. This is analogous to “practicing at the top of your license.” Somewhat surprisingly, winning is not an essential element of many of the best games, in which the learner is constantly pushed to higher and higher levels of achievement without the possibility of actually “winning.”

Cain, J., & Piascik, P. (2015). Are Serious Games a Good Strategy for Pharmacy Education?. American Journal Of Pharmaceutical Education, 79(4), 1-6.

Serious work, by O'Connor• Modified definition of serious gaming for education purposes and

particularly for higher education purposes• K-12 environments are more exacting - expectations for technology and games

and they are harder to control these environments• be cautious when thinking your idea of learning will be theirs

• In higher education, serious games can come from the application of constructivist and community-of-practices thinking:

• Role-playing• Project-based learning / collaborations • Community and context of the academic environment • Developing objects and environments – advanced application

STEM serious games – in one meeting / over time; model a science enterprise • Role playing – as scientists

• Discussions • Presentations – critical peer review

• Actual scientist visits – bring in background elements too / images, links, PPT

• A 2.5 minute video on an integrated healthcare application - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOtW4cAAlTE

• A 17 minute TED talk on flying through virtual reality - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGiqq12mdUs

Learner / visitor considerations: Understanding audience – but don’t limit to your own preferences

• Audience & their intent / understanding • Do they want a “real game”? - consider their background

• My work with middle school • Will they have serious intent?

• What coaching / background do they need? • Can they be paired for skills? • learning from the game environments and creating platforms, experience, and

expectations that are more adapted to the rules and expectations within higher education and K-12 education — bringing in the serious environment through the problems developed; not just edutainment ($$$)

• The broadening in the world today

Leverage existing mental models – participants already have the schema developed

• Images of different apps - Post boards; decorated classroom; seats and lounges; amusement park areas; indicate that these already set the tones

• Use the education learning environments that are already established

• Interesting, notice the protocols already known by students— such as seating in particular areas

Design for interactions – it has to be part of something for it to be useful

• Having a space will not be enough — If you build they won't necessarily JUST come

• Integrate into a course • Use as a place for course meetings • Have ongoing materials and supports

in the location • Integrate the f2f or online course

with the virtual space

• Use Snapshots for attendance

Assessment & evaluation • Is it meeting the learning objectives? How do you know?

• Is the environment serving the activities well?

With participants present Can be conducted later Observations / videotaping /Snapshots

Document as many interactions as possible

Participants can take and share snapshots

Building activities Can be observed building Artifacts left for later review Interactions and text chats

Interactions can be viewed; texts chats stored for examination later

Text files can be saved and examined later

Presentations /role playing

Reports, presentations, interactions with artifacts, scenarios and role play

Participants could videotaped themselves & submit these later

External quizzing Participants take quizzes after they have left the virtual environment

External reports Participants make report’s – snapshots could be included

Surveys In-world survey tools are available

Surveys could be taken after participants leave the environment

Avatar trackers Trackers document time when avatars enter a space (see operations document)

Data from trackers can be analyzed to determine points visited and persistence at these points

Reasons for usage – commitment to education • Simulates a real meeting in class —Already developed a mental

schema• Ownership and responsibility • Apologies to the class – on being late or missing work • Shared problem solving • Wanting to see what the others looked like over time • Something to tell their children and friends • Dede study w/ AR and commitment / commitment / collaboration

Plan a growth & testing path – small steps in the first course

Predesigned or borrowed

Meetings / presentation• Students teach

students

Role playing / as professionals or in the profession

Looping back to the course

Attending to the learners & to getting the acclimated

Startup

Ice breakers

Grouping strategies

• Acquiring viewer• Basic skills

• Prep – solo• Team scavenger hunts • Solo scavenger hunts

• Empower all types • Match gamer / non gamer

An approach to getting started – don’t go for perfection

Find: predesigned / shared / Second Life

Pilot • meaningful activity• meetings

Network • Community w/ other

teachers

Different types of “school” environments – self made from artifacts – informal

Or use the predesigned universal campus – with labs, lecture halls, and outdoor areas too

https://youtu.be/CPvqX2rmvdE

Support of faculty need, or is it? • Younger faculty may be more comfortable / share among faculty

• Gregory S, Scutter S, Jacka L, McDonald M, Farley H, Newman C. Barriers and Enablers to the Use of Virtual Worlds in Higher Education: An Exploration of Educator Perceptions, Attitudes and Experiences. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society [serial online]. January 2015;18(1):3-12. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 5, 2016

Securing a VR space

Create / acquire

Second Life

Open Sim

VisitSUNY

Other island

BorrowLets be partners

Eileen.oconnor@esc.edu

Requirements & Concerns – support for sustainability

Sustainability plan / support for faculty ◦Consider an analogy to physical space ◦Reuse & multi-purpose ◦Documentation & support hub◦Provide tech support

Gregory S, Scutter S, Jacka L, McDonald M, Farley H, Newman C. Barriers and Enablers to the Use of Virtual Worlds in Higher Education: An Exploration of Educator Perceptions, Attitudes and Experiences. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society [serial online]. January 2015;18(1):3-12. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 5, 2015

The dilemma of too much freedom

Complexity of the world since it can embrace all the interactions of content, materials, players, interactions, curriculum, assessment and learner

Just as in the classroom you are not fully aware of all these components and backgrounds, you don’t have that here either

Focus within and understand that there are things you aren’t able to do presently but that might be easy to start now

Requirements & Concerns – ownership / legal

Expanding issues for educators

Legal and ownership issues

Fairfield (2012) – ◦ pervasive computing, emerging areas of law, ◦ who owns what transpires in these environments?

But where else can you have

your own castle, even if you only keep it up for a day?