1. Design and Evaluation of a Learner-
Centric Immersive Learning
Environment for Physics Education
Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media (IICM)
Faculty of Informatics – Graz University of Technology, Austria
Johanna Pirker, Christian Gütl, John Winston Belcher, Philip H. Bailey
SouthCHI Conference 2nd July, 2013

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Agenda
• Introduction
• Background and Motivation
• Technology-Enables Active Learning (TEAL)
support Physics Education
• Virtual TEAL Environment
• Future Work

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Advanced Educational Media Technologies Group
• Remote & Collaborative Learning
• Adaptive e-learning systems
• Virtual learning environments
• E-Assessment
• Computer-based assessment
• Peer assessment
• Virtual Environments & Setups
• Virtual 3D World Infrastructure
• End devices (immersive … mobile)
• Multimedia IR and NLP
• Access to learning repositories
• Pre-processing of content

4. Physics Education (1)
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5. Physics Education (2)
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“I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.”
Confucius

6. 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

7. 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
• Main Issues of VWs
• Technical Demands
• Technical Know-How
• User Acceptance

8. Virtual TEAL World - Motivation
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• 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)
• Raise the acceptance (Interactivity, Collaboration,
Assessability)
• Avoid steep learning curves
• Usability of Virtual World Environment and In-World
Tools

9. 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

10. Virtual TEAL World - Model
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11. Technology-Enabled Active Learning
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12. Virtual TEAL World – Faraday’s Law
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45pw4jEJ5MM

13. 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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14. 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
Collaborative activities
• Students likes „solving questions with other people“
• 3/8 students changes their answer after the
discussion
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“
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15. Evaluation (3/3)
Interactivity
• M=1.6 (SD=0.66) „Such a playful animation can motivate
also students, which are not really interested in the topic“
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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16. 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 minimize
• Interactivity, Collaboration, Assessability
• Technical issues will remain the next years (ref. Gartner’s
Hype Cycle)

17. 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. [accepted]
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Questions & Contact Information
Thank you for your Attention!
Questions are welcome!
Further Information:
Johanna Pirker
jpirker@iicm.edu