Educational Technology - Augmented Reality
S. Khazaie; R. Nejati; M. Karbasi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Planning for the success of students in the world is one of the priorities of teaching English in the secondary schools in Asia. The improvement of the English reader's skills to understand the actual needs defined as the +language by representing the events of the world in ...
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Background and Objectives: Planning for the success of students in the world is one of the priorities of teaching English in the secondary schools in Asia. The improvement of the English reader's skills to understand the actual needs defined as the +language by representing the events of the world in language learning milieu based on educational technology is in progress. Although extending the sense in the scenes of serious games is done for easy language learning, the active visual and verbal working memory of students has not been considered as an effective factor in reading. This study endeavored to investigate the allocation of sensory weight in virtual reality games for teaching English reading to Asian students with different working memory abilities.Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted by selecting 916 male and female students from secondary schools. Using parallel-group design, students participated in the working memory tests. These Iranian (N = 612) and non-Iranian (Pakistani, N = 204; Iraqi, N= 40, and Kashmiri, N = 64) were studying in the 10th grade of the second year of high school and were enrolled in language institute to learn English in the fall semester of academic year 2022-2023. In order to ensure homogeneity of the participants according to the level of English proficiency, a junior TOEFL test was administered, and students whose English proficiency score was between one standard deviation higher and one standard deviation lower than the mean were selected to take part in the study. The scores of the participants' working memory test were converted into standard scores with a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one. Based on the working memory capacity, the participants were placed in one of the active memory quadrants. Then, they were randomly divided into intact and experimental groups to learn English reading online or through virtual reality games in 14 sessions. In each session, first, the main researcher taught English reading passages to the participants using Skyroom educational software for 30 minutes. Then, online or virtual reality-based activities were provided to students to practice reading skills for 20 minutes. Participants were assessed formatively each session and a score of 0-20 was recorded for each student. The participants expressed their experience of the senses in the course of reading in each session verbally.Findings: The results of the analysis of repeated measures ANCOVA showed that extending the sense in teaching English readers through virtual reality games significantly facilitated students' learning. Adding auditory sense to scenes of virtual reality game significantly improved the reading progress of students who had high verbal working memory capacity. Although psychological and real-life categories were emphasized in the interviews, students with high working memory underlined the sense extension as useful for learning English reading in relation to the surrounding world.Conclusion The findings of this study revealed that extending the sense in virtual reality games is beneficial for learning English reading when it is in line with students' working memory. The correct allocation of the sense in the scenes of virtual reality games results in the use of English reading in the world, namely + language.
Educational Technology - Augmented Reality
M. Yousefei; H. Zangeneh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Students' negative attitude toward teaching and learning, especially in elementary school, is a fundamental problem for parents and teachers, affecting the future of the individuals and society. One of the reasons for this attitude is the use of conventional methods. These ...
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Background and Objectives: Students' negative attitude toward teaching and learning, especially in elementary school, is a fundamental problem for parents and teachers, affecting the future of the individuals and society. One of the reasons for this attitude is the use of conventional methods. These types of classes hinder students' dynamism and make them tired and unmotivated. But today, technology can be used to enrich our classrooms. Virtual reality is a technology that has helped to change students' attitudes and made classroom environments more dynamic. In fact, it can be defined as the simulation of a situation, and the attitude consists of a person's beliefs, feelings, and behavior. In the early period, the first attitudes are achieved in a person, and this attitude plays an important role in the motivation and behavior of a person. On the other hand, technologies play an essential role in human life today, and it is necessary to use them in different areas of life with correct and purposeful planning. One of these critical fields is education. Regarding education and training, the choice of media is a fundamental issue. The selection of media should be made according to factors such as the characteristics of the learner in order to be effective. If the media are not selected and designed correctly, they will cause financial losses and waste of time. So how to design the media, which is the virtual reality here, is very important in influencing the attitude. On the other hand, according to Howland's message learning theory, the three factors of source, message, and audience characteristics are among the factors that should be taken into account to change the attitude. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to review the studies conducted in the field of using virtual reality in terms of attitude in the elementary course was in line with the answers to these questions: a) What factors play a role in choosing virtual reality technology for use in elementary classes in terms of students' attitudes? b) How is the design of virtual reality content to improve the attitude of elementary school students? And c) How are the educational activities in the classes based on virtual reality to improve the attitude of elementary school students?Methods: The study was conducted in a systematic review from August to November 2022. The search was carried out in the Wiley, Scopus, Springer link, and Web of Science databases with the keywords Virtual reality, Attitude, and Primary students, along with the relevant word groups. The criteria for the entry and acceptance of the research included these items: related to virtual reality and the use of this technology in teaching and learning, in relation to primary school students, in relation to attitude, research in English or Farsi, and field articles. Finally, according to the inclusion criteria, the data from 12 cases were extracted, described, analyzed, and inferred from 233 studies.Findings: According to the research questions, data were extracted, such as research countries, subjects, educational level, explanations of virtual reality, and activities from the cases (articles) that have been chosen for analysis. After analyzing and combining their findings, more studies have been taken in countries like Taiwan, China, and Korea and in fifth and sixth grades. Subjects have worked on science, social studies, English language, and physical education. In fact, according to these findings, the use of virtual reality in the fifth and sixth grades of elementary school and subjects such as sciences had the most significant impact on the students' attitudes. Also, after combining and putting together the data related to virtual reality content and features such as sense of presence, content, repetition, practice, problem-solving, animation mode, use of real images, and educational factor. These findings show that these elements in virtual reality may play a role in students' attitudes. The activities performed in the classes included viewing the content, examining and exploring the content, doing homework, working in groups, listening to the teacher's instructions, and questioning and answering. These characteristics and elements were gathered from putting together the information of previous research, but only mean the existence of all these factors in some of the studies.Conclusion: From the explanation and conclusion of the findings, it can be said that: 1) an important criterion in the use, selection, and application of technologies, including virtual reality, is to pay attention to the characteristics of learners, including their age and 2) the characteristics of the subject that must be paid attention to. When the learner is in the abstract stage, this technology can improve learning and attitude. In fact, from their findings and analysis, it was concluded that age is an important factor in paying attention to attitude, and the use of virtual reality when the learners are in the abstract stage is effective. Also, the use of virtual reality in subjects such as sciences, which has features such as spatial and temporal limitations and abstract content, can be effective. Designers of virtual reality content should design it in such a way that is possible to check and explore the content, interact, repeat the content, and practice and solve the problem. Based on the finding related to inferences of classroom activities, it can be concluded that teachers must group students before viewing virtual reality and add additional explanations after viewing it. In fact, the group is an essential factor that affects learners' attitudes. Also, they must provide tasks and assignments per the objectives and content and allow them to ask questions and answers. Finally, according to these factors, virtual reality technology can be used to create, change or improve the attitude of elementary school students.
Emerging Technologies
F. Davari; M. Vahidi-Asl; P. Alikhani; M. RezaeiZadeh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Oral presentation is a key competence for success in the diverse work environments that academics need. It is recommended as part of a higher education curriculum. The role of technology in improving oral presentation skills and especially facilitating feedback, is significant. ...
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Background and Objectives: Oral presentation is a key competence for success in the diverse work environments that academics need. It is recommended as part of a higher education curriculum. The role of technology in improving oral presentation skills and especially facilitating feedback, is significant. In particular, the combination of serious game and virtual reality is a new area of research that is a modern alternative to traditional skills training. The interactive digital environment, real-time feedback, the realism of the learning scenario, the direct experience, and the persistence of the knowledge gained are some of the virtual reality opportunities for skills training. It should not be overlooked that insufficient budget, negative attitude of users about their physical and psychological condition after experiencing virtual reality, and poor technological design of virtual reality environments are also among the limitations of this technology. However, recent meta-analyzes confirm the influence of virtual reality in learning environments. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to measure the impact of virtual reality on a serious game with the serious purpose of oral presentation training. Methods: We designed and developed an SG and conducted a quasi-experimental study with a post-test on 32 graduate students. The research question we sought to answer was “to what extent can VR impact the effectiveness of SGs in oral presentation training?” The authors also analyzed the cost-effectiveness of incorporating VR elements. The game focused on three key skills, eye contact, walking around while presenting, and time management. The experimental group played the game with the HTC Vive VR system and the control group played the same game with an HD display, a keyboard, and a mouse. In addition to that, we collected in-game data while players were playing the game. Mann-Whitney U test and Student's t-test were used to compare the two groups. Findings: Results revealed that VR elements did not have a significant impact on the demonstration of the players' eye contact skills but they increased players' tendency to walk around the virtual environment. Analysis of players’ performance regarding time management skills showed no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: It is concluded that even though playing the serious game with an HD display, a keyboard, and a mouse can be effective, turning the game into a VR experience would result in further improvement in the demonstration of some of the presentation key skills (walking around while presenting). However, creating a VR experience requires developers to spend more time and resources into developing the game. According to researchers, creating a VR SG for improving oral presentation skills allows for training to be done in the context that it occurs within. Moreover, the VR SG can be effectively used to overcome public presentation nerves. Also, due to the challenging economic situations outside the university and the need to benefit from communication skills and oral presentation, a serious game based on virtual reality can improve the indicators of oral presentation. Achieving this requires higher education attention to interactive technologies such as virtual reality.
Educational Robotics
S. Hossein khani; M. ArbabTafti; Gh. Payganeh
Abstract
A virtual reality platform is presented for teaching simple shapes and alphabetic letters to blind students. By using this technology the teacher could be able to present special letters and shapes on a virtual plate. A virtual plate displays shapes and letters that the blind user can “feel” ...
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A virtual reality platform is presented for teaching simple shapes and alphabetic letters to blind students. By using this technology the teacher could be able to present special letters and shapes on a virtual plate. A virtual plate displays shapes and letters that the blind user can “feel” using a haptic robot that display force from the computer to him/her. This method has been tested in a blind school and the result presented in a paper. Results showed that the virtual environment is a useful educational tool for blind students in case of money and time. As the results showed a blind student with a an average IQ can learn the letter or shape by up to 15 times of repetition and after that he/she can write or draw the shape or letter on the paper.
