Understanding culture is an integral part of international operations in developing countries and conflict zones. Cultural encounters in countries such as Afghanistan might introduce a number of challenges. This article presents the... more
Understanding culture is an integral part of international operations in developing countries and conflict zones. Cultural encounters in countries such as Afghanistan might introduce a number of challenges. This article presents the experiences with the CAMO project (Cultural Awareness in Military Operations) seeking to address these challenges. Game-based simulations are to an increasing degree used for military training, but most of the systems are expensive to develop. The goal of the project has been to create an inexpensive game-based simulation in the 3D virtual world of Second Life for pre-deployment cultural awareness training among Norwegian military personnel preparing for service in Afghanistan. At the same time, due to the gradual withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, training cultural awareness among civilian personnel becomes more important. This article presents the results of the CAMO project, discussing how the proposed methodology could be extended for non-military use as well, and outlining the challenges and directions for future work.
Research Interests: Afghanistan, Second Life, Technology Enhanced Learning, Interpretation, Virtual Worlds, and 11 moreTranslation and Interpretation, Distance Learning, Second Life in Education, Norway, Translation and Interpreting, Peace Keeping, Professional Military Education, Role-Playing, Military Training, Advanced distributed learning, and Cultural Awareness
Research Interests: Information Systems, Information Technology, Computer Science Education, Distance Education, Higher Education, and 13 moreVirtual Community, IT Management, ICT, Distance Learning, Collaborative Learning, Web Based Learning, IS, Learning Organization, Computer Based Training, IT, Real, Virtual Campus, and Web Based Teaching
The purpose of this work is to contribute to the design and development of a virtual university hospital as a place for educational activities. The findings presented in this paper are based on two exploratory studies using a virtual... more
The purpose of this work is to contribute to the design and development of a virtual university hospital as a place for educational activities. The findings presented in this paper are based on two exploratory studies using a virtual operating room with both medical and non-medical participants. The room was designed to recreate a real one at St. Olav’s university hospital in Trondheim, Norway. The first participant category was represented by surgical and anesthesia postgraduate nursing students who conducted role-play of realistic and relevant scenarios in the virtual operating room. The non-medical participants went on a virtual guided tour around in the same operating room. Both participant groups provided suggestions for further development of the virtual hospital. We have also investigated the use of the Oculus Rift, a head mounted display, as a way of enhancing the immersion at the virtual operating room. The paper highlights and discusses the most important findings, with suggestions of future work.
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This paper discusses a theatrical performance in a 3D collaborative virtual environment (3D CVE). Place in a performative 3D CVE is contingent on immersion and presence generated by social interaction. It discusses the production of an... more
This paper discusses a theatrical performance in a 3D collaborative virtual environment (3D CVE). Place in a performative 3D CVE is contingent on immersion and presence generated by social interaction. It discusses the production of an online performance of Plato's Allegory of the Cave involving students from three different continents. It was found that theatrical activities in a 3D CVE share some of the characteristics of both cinema and traditional theatre. The paper identifies different types of places in 3D CVE and discusses their role in an educational context.
In this paper we discuss the usage of Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE) in educational settings. In particular we discuss the role that these systems can play in supporting learning communities. The focus of the paper is on the... more
In this paper we discuss the usage of Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE) in educational settings. In particular we discuss the role that these systems can play in supporting learning communities. The focus of the paper is on the representation of space that underlies these systems. We present and compare different spatial metaphors presented in the literature and analyze how they
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Supporting social creativity across different domains and disciplines in learning communities is an important part of collaborative process in university education, workplace, and in the context of large-scale international projects. In... more
Supporting social creativity across different domains and disciplines in learning communities is an important part of collaborative process in university education, workplace, and in the context of large-scale international projects. In this paper, we present the experiences from the Virtual Summer School in Second Life as an attempt to support creative communities in a systematic manner and preserve their knowledge in a shared repository. The Virtual Summer School acted as a forum for the presentation of innovative approaches, developments, and outcomes of research projects in the areas of technology-enhanced learning, serious games, and collaborative technologies, facilitating the exchange of ideas between students, researchers, and practitioners. Based on our experience and data collected, we present lessons learned and implications for supporting creative communities by conducting collaborative activities and by preserving their results.
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In this paper, we present the first results of a study on exploring how to support collaborative learning of surgical nursing students in a 3D virtual world. A Virtual Operating room, resembling the one at St. Olav’s University Hospital... more
In this paper, we present the first results of a study on exploring how to support collaborative learning of surgical nursing students in a 3D virtual world. A Virtual Operating room, resembling the one at St. Olav’s University Hospital in Trondheim, Norway was created in Second Life to accommodate an educational role-play. In this role-play, the operating nursing students could practice communication with patients and cooperation in the team while preparing patients for surgery. At the first stage of the evaluation, the virtual simulation has been tested among nine postgraduate nursing students. The participants gave their evaluation and opinions in the form of questionnaires and discussion after the role-plays. Following the analysis of the data, we present a summary of the most important results in this paper. This study provides a number of suggestions for improving the learning process when role-playing in a virtual environment. We demonstrate that an educational simulation can be implemented with limited resources, and yet be practically useful in education of health personnel. Further research with medical and nursing students is highly applicable and feasible, and should include a larger group of participants. In the next stage of our work, the evaluation of the Virtual Operating room has been conducted with nurses, who are on an earlier stage of their study program, as well as anesthesia nurses and non-medics.
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Research Interests: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Virtual Reality (Computer Graphics), Collaboration, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning CSCL, Virtual Worlds, and 11 moreUser eXperience, Collaborative Learning, Literature Review, Virtual Reality, Kinect, Mobile Device, Motion Capture, Microsoft Kinect Applications, vAcademia, Oculus Rift, and Head Mounted Displays
Much architectural design work ,increasingly addresses an international audience. But many designers continue to work in isolation. In practice, however, their work includes international collaboration. This requires cross-cultural... more
Much architectural design work ,increasingly addresses an international audience. But many designers continue to work in isolation. In practice, however, their work includes international collaboration. This requires cross-cultural understandings with their cocollaborators. There are few opportunities for this to occur in a pedagogical setting. The 3Dco-located laboratory (3DCollab) described in this paper was used as a cross-cultural exchange,platform to
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In recent years, virtual museums have become more widespread and the usage of them for educational purposes has increased. They are used to facilitate educational process in different ways, such as presenting their exhibitions online and... more
In recent years, virtual museums have become more widespread and the usage of them for educational purposes has increased. They are used to facilitate educational process in different ways, such as presenting their exhibitions online and serving as a place for educational activities. In this paper, we present an example of such a virtual museum – “3D Virtual Environment for Learning Arts”. Still, only few of existing virtual museums provide sufficient support for collaboration and social interaction. Therefore, considering the growing importance of collaborative technologies and social networking in education, we show how a virtual museum can be enhanced and extended to serve as a collaborative virtual workshop.
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Project work is becoming an important part of university education aiming at preparing students for team-based activities in a workplace. However, cooperation problems are common in the learning process. The major purpose of this paper is... more
Project work is becoming an important part of university education aiming at preparing students for team-based activities in a workplace. However, cooperation problems are common in the learning process. The major purpose of this paper is to address these challenges by applying a three-dimensional Collaborative Virtual Environment (3D CVE) as a platform for learning how cooperation can be supported by technology. 3D CVEs, such as Second Life, have become increasingly popular as cooperation and learning platforms, providing wide possibilities for collaborative work, interaction, and visualization. In the discussion, we use the results of an explorative case study conducted within the Cooperation Technology course at the Norwegian University of Sci-ence and Technology. Students were working in small groups on the projects aiming at visualizing major curriculum concepts. We analyze collaboration in student groups that occur on different levels and, as a result, provide a set of implications for using 3D CVEs for learning computer-mediated cooperation.
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3D virtual worlds and game-based simulations are to an increasing degree used for military training. However, there is a lack of research-based methods for using game-based simulations and developing scenarios for educational role-plays... more
3D virtual worlds and game-based simulations are to an increasing degree used for military training. However, there is a lack of research-based methods for using game-based simulations and developing scenarios for educational role-plays in a military context, especially in the area of cultural awareness. The CAMO project (Cultural Awareness in Military Operations) seeks to address these challenges. The goal of the project has been to create a game-based simulation in Second Life for training cultural awareness among military personnel preparing for international operations and to explore the advantages and limitations of 3D virtual worlds in this context. This paper will focus on the methodology for scenario development, outlining the challenges and directions for future work.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Multilingualism, Serious Games, Situation awareness, Game/Simulation use in education, and 15 moreCulture, Second Life, Training, Culture and Learning, Virtual Worlds, Civil-military relations, Military, Language Awareness, Task Based Language teaching, Information security awareness, training and education, Noticing, Virtual Heritage, Engagement Pedagogy, Teaching Listening Skills, and Interactive Cultural Learning
Understanding culture is an integral part of international operations in developing countries and conflict zones. Cultural encounters in countries such as Afghanistan might introduce a number of challenges. This paper presents the... more
Understanding culture is an integral part of international operations in developing countries and conflict zones. Cultural encounters in countries such as Afghanistan might introduce a number of challenges. This paper presents the experiences with the CAMO project (Cultural Awareness in Military Operations) seeking to address these challenges. The goal of the project has been to create a game-based simulation in the virtual world of Second Life for pre-deployment cultural awareness training among Norwegian military personnel preparing for service in Afghanistan. At the same time, due to the gradual withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, training cultural awareness among civilian personnel becomes more important. This paper will present some experiences from the CAMO project, discussing how the proposed methodology could be extended for non-military use as well, and outlining the challenges and directions for future work.
Research Interests: Afghanistan, Second Life, Interpretation, Virtual Worlds, Translation and Interpretation, and 11 moreDistance Learning, Second Life in Education, Norway, Translation and Interpreting, Peace Keeping, Professional Military Education, Role-Playing, Military Training, 3D virtual worlds, Advanced distributed learning, and Cultural Awareness
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In this work, we propose an innovative approach, 3D recording, to support serious games and educational role-playing. 3D virtual worlds (3D VWs) are often used for generating educational content. Even though this technology allows... more
In this work, we propose an innovative approach, 3D recording, to support serious games and educational role-playing. 3D virtual worlds (3D VWs) are often used for generating educational content. Even though this technology allows creating full context of the real-life educational process, it is usually recorded as flat 2D video (such as Machinima in Second Life), which eliminates many advantages of the technology, such as sense of presence (Mckerlich et al. 2011). In addition, there are no systematic approaches for combining synchronous and asynchronous learning modes. We propose that 3D recording is capable of solving these challenges, as it offers an easy way for creating advanced 3D content from synchronous activities, as well as accessing this content in both synchronous and asynchronous modes.
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In this paper, we propose that visualized activities and experiences created in 3D virtual worlds may provide a new type of learning community memory. We explore how such activities and experience can be captured, crystallized, and reused... more
In this paper, we propose that visualized activities and experiences created in 3D virtual worlds may provide a new type of learning community memory. We explore how such activities and experience can be captured, crystallized, and reused with this technology in three prototypes designed on two platforms. This approach can support learning communities by addressing the common challenge of acquiring and communicating tacit knowledge that resides in practices and relations developed by the participants. Based on our experiences, we discuss the possibilities and challenges for creating and using repositories of community memory as visualized activities in 3D virtual worlds, outlining a framework for capturing, visualizing, and accessing such activities. The results of our exploration demonstrated that repositories of the ‘fluid’ community knowledge might be in fact created and used. At the same time, more extensive evaluation and further research are required for developing the approach suggested.
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Boundary objects can provide bridges across boundaries and facilitate collaboration between learners with different backgrounds. In this paper, we explore cooperation in a cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural context, focusing on the... more
Boundary objects can provide bridges across boundaries and facilitate collaboration between learners with different backgrounds. In this paper, we explore cooperation in a cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural context, focusing on the opportunities for learning that arise at different boundaries and on corresponding boundary objects to facilitate both collaboration and learning. We present and discuss a study we conducted within a Cooperation Technology course. The discussion provides implications for collaboration support across boundaries, including insights on why they are important, how to facilitate their creation, and how to use technologies for that.
Research Interests: Education, Educational Technology, Distance Education, Engineering Education, Collaboration, and 9 moreComputer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), Technology Enhanced Learning, Distance Learning, Learning Communities, Technology-enhanced Learning, Education Research, Boundary objects, Team Working, and International Collaboration
In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary exploratory study that is aiming at exploring the means for facilitating creative collaborative activities in educational context. We argue that 3D virtual worlds can be successfully... more
In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary exploratory study that is aiming at exploring the means for facilitating creative collaborative activities in educational context. We argue that 3D virtual worlds can be successfully used for facilitating such activities. The goal of this preliminary study was to evaluate several features and use the results as an input for the future studies. We conducted test collaborative sessions in 3D virtual worlds and several other sessions in a classroom that we used as points of reference for comparison. The data were collected from the direct observation, 3D virtual recordings, and individual and group text assignments. The analysis of the data allowed us to formulate a set of advantages and limitations of 3D virtual worlds for supporting creative collaborative process against the face-to-face settings.
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Research Interests: Information Systems, Information Technology, Computer Science Education, Distance Education, Higher Education, and 13 moreVirtual Community, IT Management, ICT, Distance Learning, Collaborative Learning, Web Based Learning, IS, Learning Organization, Computer Based Training, IT, Real, Virtual Campus, and Web Based Teaching
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Research Interests: Information Systems, Information Technology, Computer Science Education, Distance Education, Higher Education, and 13 moreVirtual Community, IT Management, ICT, Distance Learning, Collaborative Learning, Web Based Learning, IS, Learning Organization, Computer Based Training, IT, Real, Virtual Campus, and Web Based Teaching
In this paper, we focus on collaborative learning in 3D virtual campuses, i.e. virtual worlds representing real educational institutions that use the metaphor of a university and provide users with a range of different tools for learning.... more
In this paper, we focus on collaborative learning in 3D virtual campuses, i.e. virtual worlds representing real educational institutions that use the metaphor of a university and provide users with a range of different tools for learning. Analyzing the results of a study conducted across two virtual campuses in Second Life, we discuss how formal and informal learning can be supported in such virtual worlds and how they should be designed to improve student experience. As a result, we provide implications for conducting both formal and informal educational activities in 3D virtual campuses.
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Creativity can be applied to every domain of knowledge and must be seen as an important competence. Supporting social creativity across different domains and disciplines in learning communities is an important part of collaborative... more
Creativity can be applied to every domain of knowledge and must be seen as an important competence. Supporting social creativity across different domains and disciplines in learning communities is an important part of collaborative process in both university education and in the context of large-scale international projects. In this paper, we present the experiences from the Virtual Summer School in Second Life as an attempt to support creative communities in a systematic manner. The Virtual Summer School acted as a forum for the presentation of innovative approaches, developments, and outcomes of research projects in the areas of technology-enhanced learning, serious games, and collaborative technologies, facilitating the exchange of ideas between students, researchers, and practitioners. To the end, we present lessons learned and implications for using this approach for supporting creative communities, outlining some recommendations and directions for future work.
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In this paper, we focus on creativity support for learning in 3D collaborative virtual environments. We propose a set of requirements and a design for a 3D virtual working environment that supports creative collaboration among university... more
In this paper, we focus on creativity support for learning in 3D collaborative virtual environments. We propose a set of requirements and a design for a 3D virtual working environment that supports creative collaboration among university students. This 3D working space is to be used in the university course “Designing e-learning” for developing creative solutions for informal and formal learning in virtual places and involving students from different European countries and partner organizations participating in the EU CoCreat project. The main goal of the project is to develop and evaluate collaborative spaces for learners of different ages in order to promote creative collaboration and to explore new and innovative learning models.
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In recent years, the usage of virtual worlds for educational purposes has increased. In this paper, we focus specifically on virtual campuses, i.e. virtual worlds representing real educational institutions that use the metaphor of a... more
In recent years, the usage of virtual worlds for educational purposes has increased. In this paper, we focus specifically on virtual campuses, i.e. virtual worlds representing real educational institutions that use the metaphor of a university and provide users with a range of different tools for learning. Based on the results of a case study that we have performed, this paper provides a set of requirements for a virtual campus. Following the requirements, we present the design of a virtual campus representing our university. Among the associated tools and resources we introduce an innovative educational recourse ‘Collaborative Virtual Workshop’, based on the principles of social software.
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In this paper we focus 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, we focus on the... more
In this paper we focus 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, we focus on the idea of integrating a virtual campus into the context of a virtual city where the students live and work to extend its possibilities for supporting learning and socializing. In this paper we describe an empirical case study that was performed to test and develop our initial ideas. We present a set of guidelines for designing a virtual campus in the city context, based on the results of the study.
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This paper discusses the use of a Virtual Campus of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) as an arena for educational activities. Three case studies are included. In the case studies the Virtual Campus in Second Life... more
This paper discusses the use of a Virtual Campus of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) as an arena for educational activities. Three case studies are included. In the case studies the Virtual Campus in Second Life acts as a venue for guest lectures, as a place for collaborative 3D educational visualizations and as an arena for cross-cultural interaction. Based on the results, we discuss the advantages and challenges of using this approach and outline some lessons learned for the design of a virtual campus as a framework for educational and social activities.
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In this paper, we present a project aiming at integrating immersive virtual reality technologies into a three-dimensional virtual world. We use an educational platform vAcademia as a test bed for the project, and focus on improving the... more
In this paper, we present a project aiming at integrating immersive virtual reality technologies into a three-dimensional virtual world. We use an educational platform vAcademia as a test bed for the project, and focus on improving the learning process and, subsequently – the outcomes. We aim at increasing the immersiveness of 3D virtual world experience by applying motion tracking for controlling the avatar and two technologies for natural navigation: immersive projection and head-mounted display. In addition, we propose the major types of learning scenarios for the use of the designed systems.
Research Interests: Virtual Reality (Computer Graphics), Virtual Worlds, Immersion and Experience, Immersive Virtual Learning Environment, Virtual Reality, and 11 moreImmersion, Immersive Environments, Kinect, Motion Tracking, Microsoft Kinect Applications, 3D virtual worlds, Oculus, vAcademia, Virtual Reality Technology, Head-Mounted Displays, and Oculus Rift
In recent years, virtual worlds have become increasingly popular in education and social life. Using a ‘city’ metaphor, we are developing a 3D virtual world enriched with social and educational tools. This virtual world allows performing... more
In recent years, virtual worlds have become increasingly popular in education and social life. Using a ‘city’ metaphor, we are developing a 3D virtual world enriched with social and educational tools. This virtual world allows performing a number of activities, such as exploring the city, learning and communicating with its citizens, building a social network. In this paper we report the results of case studies we have performed to explore users’ activities and behavior in a virtual city context. Our goal was to investigate how such a city can facilitate learning and socializing, also in a cross-cultural context. Based on the empirical results, we derive a list of recommendations for a virtual city as a place for social and educational activities.