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- •View table of contents
- •Preface
- •Section 1 Understanding Virtual Reality in Education
- •Virtual Reality and Education:
- •Introduction
- •Immersion
- •Interactive Hardware Components
- •Vr: Other Classification
- •Virtual reality across the disciplines
- •Virtual worlds
- •Introduction
- •3DvWs Platforms Used in Teaching and Learning
- •3Dvw-Based vs. Traditional Classroom
- •Virtual Field Trips
- •Integration
- •Virtual Campus
- •Introduction
- •Implementation Strategies
- •Increasing Student Engagement through Virtual Worlds:
- •Introduction
- •Introducing Second Life to Students
- •Inside the Classroom
- •Section 2
- •Virtual Reality Across Disciplines
- •Introduction
- •Interacting with Peers
- •Introduction
- •3D Environment
- •Inflation
- •Introduction
- •Virtual World Learning Environments Impact on Learning
- •Implications of Virtual World Environment Use in Foreign Language Curriculum
- •Introduction
- •Inclusion of ar Applications in Curriculum
- •Introduction
- •Inclusion of ar Applications in Curriculum
- •Section 3 Next Generation of Learning: Catalysts and Considerations in Virtual Reality
- •Introduction
- •Impact of theory on research and practice
- •Influence of pedagogical agents on learning outcomes
- •Virtual Reality Environments Benefit From Iterative Design
- •Introduction
- •Introduction
- •Virtual Worlds
- •Integrating Technological Innovations to Enhance the Teaching-Learning Process
- •Virtual Reality in Practice
- •Virtual Reality to Support Student Learning
- •Institutional Support
- •Virtualy reality: past, present, & future
- •Virtual Reality in Education Today: Challenges and Opportunities
- •Compilation of References
3Dvw-Based vs. Traditional Classroom
One of the significant questions about the applicability of 3DVWs in higher education is whether these technologies can provide comparable learning outcomes for trainees attending real-world classrooms. In the current literature review, the researchers found a wide range of studies that covered this research topic and, according to students' and educators' feedback, they demonstrate that 3DVWs have the ability to enhance teaching and learning outcomes significantly, having a general positive impact on students' achievement and providing more options for delivering education in comparison with real-world and in-person classes.
Distance Learning Opportunities
Due to Internet-based characteristics, 3DVWs, provide effective opportunities to conduct distance learning and e-learning programs for students using this technology. Lectures, seminars, laboratories and workshops can be held easily using this technology, and students and educators can attend courses in the virtual venue using their own avatar from various locations all around the world.
Simulation and Modeling
Modeling is “the act of representing a system or subsystem formally” (Davis II et al., 1999). According to the promising potential of 3DVWs for modeling and simulation purposes, research or practice that may not have been practical or feasible in real life can be created through simulations in 3D virtual environments (Eschenbrenner, Nah, & Siau, 2008), and virtual simulations using these kinds of technologies are an acceptable strategy to deliver scenarios that focus on practical skills. By using the simulation techniques, instructors, educators and trainers are able to collaborate with learners and solve problem-based scenarios in a team. Simulation also allows them to construct technical skills actively through interaction in a 3D virtual environment without having the hazard of risks or danger of making mistakes in a specific activity. Organizations such as universities, manufacturers and educational communities can model and simulate various systems, laboratories, product lines and activities, with virtual instruments and equipment that simulate real-world operations at a very low cost for education. Particularly, utilizing 3DVWs seems to be a proper method to learn design-based and visually-intensive courses like object modeling and computer graphics.
Virtual Field Trips
By using 3DVWs, there is a possibility of holding virtual field trips inside virtual environments for educational purposes. It is a guided and narrated tour of a virtual simulation of a real place or an imaginary location inside a 3DVW that can be selected by educators and arranged so that students can visit, follow the instructions and perform an exploration with just moving around the virtual space. By traveling to virtual locations, students can get familiar with various spectacular, historical and travel points all around the world.
Integration
A 3DVW gives developers the ability to connect and control other hardware and software to add more facilities to virtual learning and teaching environments. For example, developers can control various types of hardware from their virtual land, by adding programs and scripts to their objects within the virtual environment. Developers are also able to connect other educational applications such as Blackboard to some of the virtual worlds like Second Life to take more advantages of those applications inside the virtual learning environment. For example, Second Life supports a specific programming language, Linden Scripting Language (LSL), which is a capable tool allowing control of in-world objects as well as integration and connection with other applications and hardware. On the other hand, as virtual worlds support 3D shape functions, inside these environments students are able to create and sculpt shapes and showcase their individual works to others for peer review; the application of this technology is related to learning as construction or co-construction (Hew & Cheung, 2013). These environments provide facilities for reusing, remixing, and mashing up user-created objects and content; therefore, they can be seen as an effective collaborative tool with which multiple users can experiment with each other.