Framing the background to building valid Virtual Learning environments in my presentation.

Just to add a few more strands to back up the presentation I realised that I mentioned so things that I had not logged here in the blog...

I mentioned that earlier successful attempts of the use of a VR learning tool seemed to be prevalent in Military and Medical applications, early combinations of this (prior to simulated vignette base Afghanistan and Iraq theatre mentioned earlier in this blog) are best exemplified by.

Anatomic VisualizeR is a virtual reality (VR)-based environment for teaching and learning of clinical anatomy initially developed by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine under a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/vhpconf2000/AUTHORS/HOFFMAN/TEXTINDX.HTM this was a virtual dissection tool that had field hospital training in mind.


In SL it is easy to put primitives into “our world” or VLE, they can be mutated and linked together. But the ratio of work to producing something meaningful requires considerable skill and diligence. Objects need to be named, then linked and theses in turn renamed and linked to create larger more interesting elements, then the qualities associated with these use an event driven scripting that requires good logic and semantics

Considered introduction of scenario based subject matter into the VLE is a comprehensive skill; by the nature of the materials just being there doesn’t necessarily motivate the learner into using them, its about engagement, ergonomics, and if we can build an “Attract Mode” akin to arcade games to entice the student all the better.

How we learn is based on gained knowledge from environment, pedagogy, how our interactions physically and mentally adjust these parameters into a repository for use. We can emulate most of this in a VLE, I guess it’s the age old natural processes being combined with theoretical metaphors in Objectivism and Constructivism, the learnt and the perceived.

http://www.cardet.org/vrasidas/pubs/continuum.pdf

CONSTRUCTIVISM VERSUS OBJECTIVISM: IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERACTION, COURSE DESIGN,AND EVALUATION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION.

http://community.flexiblelearning.net.au/TeachingTrainingLearners/content/article_5233.htm

Constructivism and Objectivism: are they mutually exclusive?.


I guess that if a VLE makes the light bulb glow a bit brighter then it’s a good thing, the jury may be out for some time…

Multimedia has demonstrated its capabilities of motivating users and capturing their attention, which are important characteristics when we want to provide a higher degree of immersion and learning capabilities inside Virtual Reality applications

Applying Multimedia and Virtual Reality for Learning Environments.

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 2009 by Paulo N. M. Sampaio, Roberto Ivo C. de Freitas, Gonçalo Nuno P. Cardoso

Perhaps the last word to bring us down to earth is Ofsteads approach

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/News/Press-and-media/2009/January/The-virtual-reality-of-e-learning


from the virtual reality of elearning Ref No: NR- 2009-01 Date: 13 Jan 2009

Despite expectations, the use of Virtual Learning Environments across schools and colleges has been slow to take off. Enthusiasm and peer support from teachers and learners should help the initiative develop more widely...