Keyword: immersive learning

Sin, Zackary PT, Jia, Ye, Wu, Astin CH, Zhao, Isaac Dan, Li, Richard Chen, Ng, Peter HF, Huang, Xiao, Baciu, George, Cao, Jiannong, Li, Qing

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (2023)

Metaverse, an alternative universe for play, work and interaction, has become a captivating topic for academia and industry in recent times. This opens the question on what a metaverse for education, or edu-metaverse, should look like. It is believed that this metaverse for learning should be grounded by a pedagogical theory. Particularly, we propose a constructivist metaverse learning theory with eight actionable principles to guide the edu-metaverse and its applications. With this metaverse learning theory, we further propose the framework for an edu-metaverse; it is essentially walkable yellow pages that connect knowledge. The core idea is to combine the structure of knowledge graphs and the immersion of virtual reality in order to facilitate association, exploration and engagement in learning. Our current prototype for this edu-metaverse vision, K-Cube VR, is also presented. We have tested K-Cube VR for the introduction of course topics to our students and the results indicate that our edu-metaverse framework benefits students by providing a focused environment and structured learning on the topics of a course, akin to a mind map. Overall, in this paper, we present an edu-metaverse design that is rooted in a constructivist pedagogy that already shows promising results from a pilot user study via our metaverse prototype.

Yufei Lu, Ye Jia, Guang Chen, Yao Wang, Peter H. F. Ng, Laura Zhou, Qing Li, Chen Li

Proceedings of the International Conference on Web-based Learning (ICWL) 2024 (2024)

In the evolving landscape of educational technology, EduMetaverse presents a unique technological platform for collaborative learning (CL), which can be especially useful in distance learning settings. Researchers have taken a keen interest in the potential of Edu-Metaverse for enabling and improving CL; however, the effects of various factors on CL behaviours and performance still need to be fully understood. This study used a within-subjects design involving 32 participants (16 females and 16 males) to investigate how learners’ attributes and environmental attributes affect CL in Edu-Metaverse. The participants were randomly assigned to groups of four for a CL session in Edu-Metaverse. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed that various behavioural metrics in Edu-Metaverse mediated the effects of trait anxiety and virtual space satisfaction on CL performance; perceived understanding of messages, under the umbrella of social presence, also had a direct effect on CL performance. These insights underscore the importance of optimising interactive, perceptual, and social components to make CL more effective in Edu-Metaverse.

Jia, Ye, Wang, Xiangzhi Eric, Sin, Zackary PT, Li, Chen, Ng, Peter HF, Huang, Xiao, Baciu, George, Cao, Jiannong, Li, Qing

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (2024)

One of the promises of edu-metaverse is its ability to provide a virtual environment that enables us to engage in learning activities that are similar to or on par with reality. The digital enhancements introduced in a virtual environment contribute to our increased expectations of novel learning experiences. However, despite its promising outcomes, there appears to be limited adoption of the edu-metaverse for practical learning at this time. We believe this can be attributed to the fact that there is a lack of investigation into learners' behavior given a social learning environment. This lack of investigation is critical, as without behavioral insight, it hinders the development of education material and the direction of an edu-metaverse. Upon completing our work with the pilot user studies, we provide the following insights: 1) compared to Zoom, a typical video conferencing and remote collaboration platform, learners in the edu-metaverse demonstrate heightened involvement in learning activities, particularly when drawing mind mapping aided by the embedded knowledge graph, and this copresence significantly boosts learner engagement and collaborative contribution to the learning tasks; and 2) the interaction and learning activity design within the edu-metaverse, especially concerning the use of MM.