Virtual TEAL World

1. 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

4. Physics Education (1)
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Still in A Serious Man (2009)

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. Technology-Enabled Active Learning
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8. 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)

9. 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

10. 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)

11. 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

12. Virtual TEAL World - Model
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13. Comparison of Virtual Worlds
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14. 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.”

15. Virtual TEAL World
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Conceptual Overview

16. Concept Question-Module
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17. TEALsim-Module
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18. Demo Web-Interface
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19. Virtual TEAL World – Faraday’s Law
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20. Virtual TEAL World (VTW)
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21. 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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22. 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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23. 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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24. Future of Virtual Worlds
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25. 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

26. 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