Distance education started being limited in comparison to traditional education. Distance teachers and educational organizations have overcome most of these limits, but some other limits still remain as challenges. One of these challenges is to collaboratively learn concepts in an immersive way, similarly to the education "in situ".…

The current study hypothesized that integrating partly observational learning into virtual reality training systems (VRTS) can enhance training efficiency for procedural tasks. A common approach in designing VRTS is the enactive approach, which stresses the importance of physical actions within the environment to enhance perception and improve…

Research on haptic feedback has demonstrated limited empirical evidence of its positive learning effects. This research contrasts supportive anecdotal evidence and reports of increased motivation. In an attempt to unify these contrasting results we attempted to identify empirical evidence supporting haptic feedback's effect on learning by…

Virtual worlds have become an invaluable space for online learning and the exploration of digital cultures. Communication departments can benefit from using these spaces to educate their students in the logistics of virtual worlds and as a way to better understand how the process of interpersonal and global communication functions in both online…

This paper describes and discusses a case study of postgraduate students undertaking accident investigation and risk assessment exercises in an online virtual world as part of their course curriculum. These exercises were constructed to overcome the ethical and practical barriers inherent in real-world exercises. In particular this paper focusses…

Instructional simulation had major difficulties in the past for offering limited possibilities in practice and learning. This article proposes a link between instructional simulation and Web 2.0 technologies. More exactly, I present the design of the Virtual Olympic Games Framework (VOGF), as a significant demonstration of how interactivity in…

This study was undertaken to better understand the nature of nursing students' perspectives toward simulative learning modality for gaining pre-clinical experience via self-paced cognitive tool--Avatar. Findings indicates that participants engaged in synchronous Avatar learning environment had higher levels of appreciation toward Avatar…

This study integrates agent research with a neurocognitive technique to study how character faces affect cognitive processing. The N170 event-related potential (ERP) was used to study face processing during simple decision-making tasks. Twenty-five adults responded to facial expressions (fear/neutral) presented in three designs…

Technological advances on the Internet now enable students to develop participation skills in virtual worlds. Similar to controlling a character in a video game, multi-user virtual environments, or MUVEs, allow participants to interact with others in synchronous, online settings. The authors of this study created a link between MUVEs and…

In an age of technological advancement, video games have been found to be effective teaching aids in middle school science classrooms. A National Science Foundation (NSF) project at Ohio University, known as STEAM, (Science and Technology Enrichment for Appalachian Middle Schoolers), has examined Second Life as a curriculum aid through the design,…

The popularity of simulators to augment training programs for operators of heavy machinery has been growing across several industries including mining, rail and more recently construction. High-fidelity, interactive simulation is typically achieved through complete immersion in brief, stressful and complex VR scenarios. The use of simulation…

Natural Language Generation (NLG) systems can make data accessible in an easily digestible textual form; but using such systems requires sophisticated linguistic and sometimes even programming knowledge. We have designed and implemented an environment for creating and modifying NLG templates that requires no programming knowledge, and can operate…

This paper is focused on virtual campuses, i.e. virtual worlds representing real educational institutions that are based on the metaphor of a university and provide users with different learning tools. More specifically, the idea of integrating a virtual campus into the context of a virtual city is suggested. Such a virtual city, where students…

This paper proposes extensive applications of virtual collaborative space in order to enhance the efficiency and capability of Digital Campus. The usability of Digital Campus has been experimented in different learning environments and evaluated by questionnaire as that the presence technology and a sense of solidarity influence the participants'…

Invited as a paper from E-Learn 2009 This study compared two programmes developed as a learning tool for students to practise basic laboratory procedures. One was a Flash simulation programme, the other a Second Life virtual reality programme. A cohort of 93 bioscience students participated in the between trial. A control group was used to…