Keynote at ACM IMX 2022, XR-WALC workshop. Abstract: You dare plowing through immersive learning environments. The jungle surrounds you and entices you, but also hampers your progress. Suddenly, activities you deemed plain are out of reach, like practicing team sports, while exotic ones are readily available, like visiting the molecular structure of materials. Relentlessly, you plow on, trusting your trail of experience to support your safe return, but the jungle overgrows it rapidly: your plans meet unexpected circumstances, like connectivity issues, lack of situational awareness, or sheer inadequacy to new realities: why assess by quizzing or milestones when we are immersed in situational evidence, for instance? In this talk, I will address two main questions and provide examples and pathways to address them, by sharing my previous efforts on this regard: - How can immersive environments expand the range of educational dynamics and subjects that online learning can provide? - How can we have widespread deployment of immersive environments? Initially, I will present an overview on the multifaceted concept of immersion, a phenomenon emerging from the combination of presence within a system, and psychological absorption by narratives and agency. A panorama of current uses, practices, and strategies of immersive learning environments will be provided, and two approaches for the main questions will be provided: the concept and use of virtual choreographies for semantic-based deployment and recording of immersive content, and the Inven!RA architecture for mapping analytics from immersive environments to learning objectives in plans.

1. Empoweringhumansinimmersivelearningenvironments
Leonel.Morgado@uab.pt
How can immersive environments
expand the range of educational
dynamics and subjects that online
learning can provide?
How can we have
widespread deployment
of immersive
environments?

2. Morgado & Beck (2020). Unifying protocols for conducting systematic
scoping reviews with application to Immersive Learning Research. To
appear in iLRN 2020 Proceedings of the Immersive Learning Research
Network conference. Piscataway, NJ, USA: IEEE.
- combining contributions by Nilsson et al. and Agrawal et al.
Immersion
A phenomenon experienced when in a state of deep mental involvement, in which
cognitive processes cause a shift in attentional state such that one may disassociate from
awareness of the physical World.
is
Subjective feeling of
being surrounded
Absorption in the
narrative
Absorption with agency
emerging from
Technology, human intervention,
other mediating elements
affected by
Immersive environments
experienced in
System immersion
Narrative
immersion
Agency
immersion

3. Beck, Morgado, & O’Shea (2020). Finding the gaps about uses of immersive
learning environments: a survey of surveys, Journal of Universal Computer
Science, 26, 1043-1073.
Complementing
* Emphasis
* Multimodal interaction
* Complement/Combine contexts, media or items
Simulating
* Simulate the physical world
* Logistics
Exploring
* Data collection
* Interactive manipulation and exploration
Engaging
* Skill training
* Engagement
* Collaboration
Experiencing
* Augmented context
* Emotional and cultural experiences
* Changing human behavior
Accessing
* Perspective switching
* Accessibility
* Seeing the invisible
Mapping the
field of
Immersive
Learning
Research
System

4. Beck, Morgado, & O’Shea (submitted). Educational Practices and Strategies
with Immersive Learning Environments: A Survey of Surveys.
Mapping the field of Immersive
Learning Research
Engagement
& Scaffolding
Active Context
Real & Virtual
Multimedia Learning
Presence
Collaboration
Traditional
practices

5. Beck et al. (2021). Towards an Immersive Learning Knowledge Tree-a
Conceptual Framework for Mapping Knowledge and Tools in the Field. In
2021 7th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research
Network (iLRN) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
Mapping the field of Immersive
Learning Research
The Immersive Learning
Research Knowledge Tree
initiative

6. Pinheiro et al. (2014) Development of a mechanical
maintenance training simulator in OpenSimulator for F-16
aircraft engines. Entertainment Computing
In serious games, training simulations,
data analysis, and
after-action review, the most costly
information is not the visual quality:
it’s the meaning of actions.
The challenge: it’s not “Go to position
X,Y,Z” but “go to the available screw”,
for instance.

7. Lacet et al. (2020) Preserving story choreographies across
multiple platforms: An approach to platform-independent
reuse of characters' behaviors for games, simulations,
animations and interactive videos, Proceedings of the 9th
International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts
Virtual
choreographies

8. Lacet et al. (2022) Magical Board Theatre: interactive stories
that can be played on multiple boards: two educational
prototypes. In “Videojogos 2020-12th International Conference
on Videogame Sciences and Arts”.
The current results:
multiplatform stories
Virtual
choreographies

9. But for evaluation, assessment, and
feedback, we also need to understand
what is occurring or happened
…and consider that dealing with hundreds of
trainees is not the same as dozens.
Cassola et al. (2022). Design and Evaluation of a Choreography-
Based Virtual Reality Authoring Tool for Experiential Learning in
Industrial Training. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies

10. Cassola et al. (2022). Using Virtual Choreographies to Identify
Office Users’ Behaviors to Target Behavior Change Based on
Their Potential to Impact Energy Consumption. Energies,
15(12), 4354.
Virtual Choreographies can help identify and target
behaviours for intervention

11. Baptista et al. (2015). Relation between game genres and
competences for in-game certification. International Conference
on Serious Games, Interaction, and Simulation
Activity tracking: teachers get analytics and feedback to decide how to act
- Virtual Choreographies can help cluster behaviours and identify them -

12. Beaconing provided massification
structure with Gamified Lesson Plans
Cardoso et al. (2020). Authoring game-based learning activities
that are manageable by teachers. ERCIM News
Coelho et al. (2020). Serious Pervasive Games. Frontiers in
Computer Science
2019

13. Cota et al. (2021). InventiveTr@ining–Inven!RA architecture
Activity Provider modules for online tracking of microelectronics
students. Revista de Ciências da Computação, 113-136.

14. Empoweringhumansinimmersivelearningenvironments
Leonel.Morgado@uab.pt
Let’s debate!