VR Media Gallery

VR Media Gallery: A case study of sense of presence and engagement in an online digital media course

Introduction

Virtual Reality has been used to enrich gaming experiences with later inclusion in learning practices. However, its applications to online collaborative education experiences has been reduced due to its limitations in synchronicity (North-Samardzich, Braccini, Spagnoletti, & Za, 2014).

This study is intended to create an asycronich virtual reality media gallery where students of an online digital media course can present their media creations in an environment created following interactive design guidelines (Kaur, 1997; Parés & Parés, 2001). Their peers can collaborate by reviewing their creations synchronically or asynchronously to their convenience. Thus, enhancing their experience regardless of existing constraints for synchronous interaction. Presence (Witmer & Singer, 1998) will be measured to determine the effectiveness of the Virtual Reality Environment (VRE), and engagement (Webster & Ho, 1997; O’Brien & Toms, 2008) will be measured and contrasted with traditional online methodologies.

This study is also aiming to exploit known learning benefits from using 3D virtual learning environments (Fowler, 2015) while training students (mostly teachers) in the use of an open source virtual reality environment so they can implement similar experiences in their teaching practices.  

Objectives of the Research

The goals of the study are:

• To introduce students to the use an open source virtual reality environment (VRE) as a teaching-learning strategy.
• To train students in the basic use of a VRE (navigation, views, avatar personalization, objects (prims) creation, setting up script for basic interactions, etc).
• To encourage students to use VREs as a tools to develop and deliver educational experiences.

The study is also intended to answer the following research questions:

Will a VRE for media presentations generate a significant sense of presence in students of a digital media online course?

Will a VRE for media presentations significantly increase students’ engagement in students of a digital media online course (with VR media gallery) compared to results obtained in a traditional delivery of the course (without VR media gallery)?

Discussion of Materials and Methods

Data Collection and Analysis

The study will have an experimental design. Data will be collected using Qualtrics online surveys. The Online Student Engagement Scale (OSE) (Dixson, 2015) survey will be administered to students taking the online course Introduction to Digital Media during Fall 2018. This is going to be the control group. The same survey will be administered to students taking same course during Spring 2018. The later course will additionally include an introduction to Virtual Reality technology where students are encouraged to present their media creations to their peers in a virtual gallery. This is going to be the experimental group. Feedback from their peers will be collected on a Canvas discussion accessed to each media presentation in the gallery.

The ICT-SOPI (ICT-Sense of Presence Inventory) questionnaire from Lessiter, Freeman, Keogh, & Davidoff (2000) will be used to collect data on Sense of Presence from students.

Teaching Materials

The study will be conducted using OpenSimulator, an open source Virtual Reality Environment (VRE) and a virtual world created to simulate the real buildings and spaces of the University of Missouri, including those related to the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies (SISLT). Technical procedures on software utilization will be presented as video tutorials.

The course chosen to conduct the study is IS_LT 4361/IS_LT 7361 Introduction to Digital Media taught by Assistant Professor Dr. Xinhao Xu during the Spring Semester of 2018. This course usually has an enrollment of 30-40 students. The study will have a duration of two weeks.

Topics included will be:

• OpenSimulator viewer (Firestorm) installation and connection to server.
• Visualization modes.
• Avatar personalization.
• Navigation and avatar movement.
• Communication and interaction with other avatars.
• Prims building, edition, and interaction.
• Scripts for media presentations.

Proposed use of the Funds

The funds will be used to acquire computational equipment for 3D models construction, and VR environment administration, support, and testing:

CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme GXIVR8020A5 Desktop Gaming PC (Intel i5-8400 6 Core Processor, AMD RX 580 4GB, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB 7200RPM HDD, WiFi, Win 10 Home 64-bit), Black – VR Ready 

References

Dixson, M. D. (2015). Measuring Student Engagement in the Online Course: The Online Student Engagement Scale (OSE). Online Learning, 19(4). Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1079585

Fowler, C. (2015). Virtual reality and learning: Where is the pedagogy? British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(2), 412–422. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12135

Kaur, K. (1997). Designing Virtual Environments for Usability. In S. Howard, J. Hammond, & G. Lindgaard (Eds.), Human-Computer Interaction INTERACT ’97 (pp. 636–639). Boston, MA: Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35175-9_112

Lessiter, J., Freeman, J., Keogh, E., & Davidoff, J. (2000). Development of a New Cross-Media Presence Questionnaire: The ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory. Teleoperators and Virtual Environments – Presence.

North-Samardzich, A., Braccini, A. M., Spagnoletti, P., & Za, S. (2014). Applying Media Synchronicity Theory to Distance Learning in Virtual Worlds: a Design Science Approach. International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 15. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJIL.2014.060879

O’Brien, H. L., & Toms, E. G. (2008). What is user engagement? A conceptual framework for defining user engagement with technology. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59(6), 938–955. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20801

Parés, N., & Parés, R. (2001). Interaction-Driven Virtual Reality Application Design (A Particular Case: El Ball del Fanalet or Lightpools). Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 10(2), 236–245. https://doi.org/10.1162/105474601750216830

Webster, J., & Ho, H. (1997). Audience Engagement in Multimedia Presentations. SIGMIS Database, 28(2), 63–77. https://doi.org/10.1145/264701.264706

Witmer, B. G., & Singer, M. J. (1998). Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 7(3), 225–240. https://doi.org/10.1162/105474698565686