Last October, TELL members hosted 2 presentations and 1 roundtable at AECT conference 2019.

The first presentation was entitled “The Creations of a Virtual Campus – Enabling Online Education with VR“. It was part of the D&D division and discussed strategies for promoting the use of virtual reality in higher education. In this presentation, Hao explained how TELL members designed a 3D Virtual Reality Learning Environment (VRLE) with OpenSimulator emulating some of the buildings of the University of Missouri campus. The 3D VRLE for distance was created to host a student orientation for online graduate students.

The second presentation was entitled “An Evidence-based Study on the Confidence and Cognitive Load in a 3D VR Teacher Education Environment“.  In this presentation, Hao presented the results of an empirical study performed as part of a research project developed funded by the STAR grant. The presentation included the development process of the VRLE for the study, how the researchers collected the data for the study, results from data analysis, and a discussion of the implications.

A roundtable entitled “Virtual Media Gallery: Engaging Online Students with Simple VR Activities of Low-Cost” was led by Jhon. Strategies to engage students with self-developed activities and open-source software were discussed.

                                                                                                                                                                                                       Hao introducing the results of the study in one of the presentations

Jhon leading a round-table of AECT conference 2019

Furthermore, a presentation was entitled “An Interactive 3D VR Microfabrication Cleanroom Lab Training“. Dr. Xu introduced the background of the lab, participants and general procedure of this training, and the future plans.

Middle school students from St. Louis area were invited to Mizzou to have an inside look at the college experience and all the benefits of pursuing a college degree.

TELL group members hosted the worshop entitled “Orientate Yourself in Virtual Reality” where students could experience a 3D virtual reality (VR) world developed by the group. Students used their avatars (virtual characters) to get to know SISLT professors and explore the virtual buildings of the College of Education.

1. Dr. Xu introducing TELL Lab to middle school students

2. Students changing the appearance of their avatars

3. Students controlling their avatars to locate their physical room in the VR world

4. Students having fun in the VR world

TELL members presented the poster entitled “3D Virtual Gallery: Engaging Students in an Online Digital Media Course” at the Celebration of Teaching event organized by the Teaching for Learning Center at Mizzou Jesse Hall last May 21st.

Mr. Hao posing in front of the poster

Ms. Minh explains the poster to visitors

TELL members showcase ongoing projects to a group of visitors as part of the activities of Show Me Mizzou Day last April 13th. Show Me Mizzou Day is a campuswide open house organized by the University of Missouri – Columbia and designed to give members of the community the opportunity to attend presentations, tour labs and see research in action.

Hands on activities were held in a virtual world created as part of the project “Virtual Interactive Online Orientation” where new students can visit the SISLT buildings virtually.

From left to right: Gayathri, Jesse, Hao and Dr. Xu

From left to right: Dr. Xu, Hao, Jesse, and Gayathri.

Charlie and Ben Adam play with their avatars in the 3D Virtual Learning Environment created by TELL

TELL members presented a roundtable session at SITE 2019 – The Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada last March 18-22, 2019. The session was entitled “Pedagogical usability in the design of a learning module on VR“. A paper with the same title will be pusblished in the conference proceedings. The paper deals with the pedagogical usability dimensions we employed in the design of a learning module for an online eight-week course on Digital Media for undergraduate and graduate students at a Mid-west university, USA. The paper was authored by Minh Pham, Dr. Xinhao Xu, Jhon Bueno, and Hao He.

Figure 1. Dr. Xinhao (right) and Jhon Bueno (left) lead roudtable session at SITE 2019

The Research Council grant has been awarded to Dr. Fang Wang (PI) and TELL Director – Dr. Xinhao Xu (Co-PI) for the project titled, Virtual Lab: An Interactive 3D Mixed Reality Laboratory for Education and Learning.

The overall objective of this proposal is to build and test a 3D interactive virtual microfabrication cleanroom lab using the cutting-edge virtual reality and mixed reality technology, collect and analyze user experience and learning outcome data,  and investigate its effectiveness in education and training. It is important to note that the VR labs would not be limited only to the cleanroom lab described herein, but have a great potential of being used in a variety of operation-intensive settings, as well as transforming vocational trainings. The purpose is to test whether such a virtual lab can deliver satisfactory quality of trainings as in a conventional physical lab.

Aim 1: To replicate a physical lab in a 3D interactive virtual lab environment. Using game engine and 3D modeling software, we will model the 3D lab environment including equipment and tools necessary to conduct the lab.

Aim 2: To develop a virtual lab curriculum. A lab curriculum will be designed and developed based on the tasks that students need to complete in a physical lab environment.

Aim 3: To test the user experience and learning outcome in a mixed reality setting. We will assess the performance of our VR lab design by examining user experience and learning outcomes.

Figure 1. Real Cleanroom Lab

Figure 2. 3D VR Interactive Lab

The Mizzou Alumni Association supports the development of faculty through its Dr. Richard Wallace Faculty Incentive Grants program. Since its initiation in 1994, the alumni association has provided start-up funds to more than 275 faculty members for the initiation of research or professional development projects.

Dr. Xinhao Xu, TELL Director, was proudly chosen as one of the recipients of the 2018 version of the program with the research project “Online Orientation for New Students in a 3D VR Interactive Mizzou Campus“.

Year in Review – Our Top 52 of 2018

MU Office of Graduate Studies has announced the awardees of their grants for Student Teaching as Research (STAR) Projects in November 2018. Three TELL members (Hao He, Minh Pham, and Jhon Bueno) got a $1,500 mini-grant to conduct small research projects on undergraduate/graduate teaching and learning methods and impacts. A total of ten grants were awarded.

TELL members will be required to participate in teaching research workshops in November and December 2018, submit a report of their research findings, and participate in a poster session at the Celebration of Teaching at MU.