The document describes the design and evaluation of a virtual learning environment called Virtual TEAL World to support physics education. The environment aims to bring the hands-on, collaborative approach of Technology-Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) classrooms into an affordable virtual setting. Researchers implemented a module on Faraday's Law and evaluated it with students and experts. Results found the virtual environment supported learning progress, collaboration, and was usable though technical issues remain. Future work will focus on further improvements and integration with learning management systems.

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