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University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

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17 Papers

Learner Experience in Hybrid Virtual Worlds: Interacting with Pedagogical Agents

Topics: Blended Learning; Instructional Design; Agent-based Learning Environments; Virtual and Augmented Learning Environments

Authors: Athanasios Christopoulos , Marc Conrad and Mitul Shukla

Affiliation: School of Computer Science and Technology, University of Bedfordshire, University Square, Luton and U.K.

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0007758604880495

Proceedings of CSEDU 2019, ISBN: 978-989-758-367-4

Quick Abstract

Studies related to the Virtual Learning approach are conducted almost exclusively in Distance Learning contexts and focus on the development of frameworks or taxonomies that classify the different ways of teaching and learning. Researchers may be dealing with the topic of interactivity but mainly focusing on the interactions that take place within the virtual world. However, in non-distance learning contexts, where students not only share the virtual but also the physical space, different types of interplay can be observed. In this paper, we classify these ‘hybrid’ interactions and further correlate them with the impact that the instructional design decisions have on motivation and engagement. In particular, a series of experiments were conducted in the context of different Hybrid Virtual Learning units, with Computer Science and Technology students participating in the study, whilst, the chosen instructional design approach included the employment of different Pedagogical Agents who aimed at increasing the incentives for interaction and therefore, engagement. The conclusions provide suggestions and guidelines to educators and instructional designers who wish to offer interactive and engaging learning activities to their students.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (5)

Blended Learning		e-Learning		Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment
Computer-Supported Education		Instructional Design

Implementing Learning Models in Virtual Worlds - From Theory to (Virtual) Reality

Topics: Virtual Learning Environments; Blended Learning; Virtual Worlds; Instructional Design; Agent-based Learning Environments; Gamification for Learning

Authors: Athanasios Christopoulos , Marc Conrad and Mitul Shukla

Affiliation: University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Proceedings of CSEDU 2018, ISBN: 978-989-758-291-2

Quick Abstract

The main advantage of Desktop Virtual Reality is that it enables learners to interact with each other both in the physical classroom and in a 3D environment. Even though, no explicit theories or models have been developed to contextualise Virtual Learning, instructional designers have successfully employed the traditional approaches with positive results on learners’ motivation and engagement. However, there is very little we know when the question comes to the importance of examining and taxonomising the impact of interactions on motivation and engagement as a synergy of learners’ concurrent presence. To evaluate the potential of interactions holistically and not just unilaterally, a series of experiments were conducted in the context of our Hybrid Virtual Learning classes underpinned from the instructional designer’s decisions to increase the incentives for interactions. Learners’ thoughts and preconceptions about the use of virtual worlds as an educational tool were surveyed, whilst, their actions and interactions (in both environments) were observed during their practical sessions. The take away is that the higher the levels of interactivity are, the higher the chances to attract students’ attention and engagement with the process will be.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (10)

Blended Learning	e-Learning	Instructional Design
Collaboration and e-Services	Enterprise Information Systems	Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment
Computer-Supported Education	Information Technologies Supporting Learning	Virtual Learning Environments
e-Business

Interaction in Situated Learning Does Not Imply Immersion - Virtual Worlds Help to Engage Learners without Immersing Them

Topics: Virtual Learning Environments; Immersive Learning; Virtual Worlds; Game-Based and Simulation-Based Learning

Authors: Athanasios Christopoulos , Marc Conrad and Aslan Kanamgotov

Affiliation: University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0006316203230330

Proceedings of CSEDU 2017, ISBN: 978-989-758-239-4

Quick Abstract

Immersion is a central theme when using virtual worlds; the feeling of ‘being there’ is generally considered a positive attribute of virtual worlds, in particular when these are used for recreation. However, within educational context it may be debatable how far immersion can be expected or is even desirable: if we want students to be reflective and critical on their assignment task, wouldn’t it be more important for them to have a critical distance, rather than being immersed? In this paper, we approach this question by examining and discussing how interactions, learner engagement and immersion are linked together when a virtual world is being used in a Hybrid Virtual Learning scenario. Findings from our experiment seem to suggest that even though this learning approach aids positively the educational process, high levels of immersion do not occur. Nevertheless, more research in that direction is highly recommended to be undertaken.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (10)

Collaboration and e-Services	Enterprise Information Systems	Information Technologies Supporting Learning
Computer-Supported Education	Game-Based and Simulation-Based Learning	Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment
e-Business	Immersive Learning	Virtual Learning Environments
e-Learning

How Do Students ‘Really’ Interact with Virtual Worlds? - The Influence of Proper Induction for Virtual Interactions

Topics: Virtual Learning Environments; Educating the Educators; Blended Learning; Virtual Worlds

Authors: Athanasios Christopoulos , Marc Conrad and Mitul Shukla

Affiliation: University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0005755700430054

Proceedings of CSEDU 2016, ISBN: 978-989-758-179-3

Quick Abstract

Our ongoing research focuses on the ways that interactions affect learner engagement with a virtual world and, consequently, the educational activities that take place within it when a hybrid learning approach is used. It aims to form a complete taxonomy of the types of interactions that can lead to the development of engaging and interactive learning experiences. In this paper, we examine the impact that the orientation (induction) process has on learner engagement by observing a cohort of postgraduate students while using an OpenSim-based institutionally hosted virtual world. The results of our study highlight that educators and instructors need to plan their in-world learning activities very carefully and with a focus on interactions if engaging activities are what they want to offer their students. Additionally, it seems that student interactions with the content of the virtual world and the in-class student-to-student interactions have stronger impact on student engagement when hybrid methods are used. We confirm and further enhance our hypothesis investigating student feelings and thoughts about the interaction taking place within a virtual world when that is used in higher education.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (10)

Blended Learning	Educating the Educators	Information Technologies Supporting Learning
Collaboration and e-Services	e-Learning	Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment
Computer-Supported Education	Enterprise Information Systems	Virtual Learning Environments
e-Business

Management of Scientific Documents and Visualization of Citation Relationships using Weighted Key Scientific Terms

Topics: Ontology Engineering; Semi-Structured and Unstructured Data; Text Analytics; Data Virtualization; Nosql Databases

Authors: Hui Wei , Youbing Zhao , Shaopeng Wu , Zhikun Deng , Farzad Parvinzamir , Feng Dong , Enjie Liu and Gordon Clapworthy

Affiliation: University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0005981501350143

Proceedings of DATA 2016, ISBN: 978-989-758-193-9

Quick Abstract

Effective management and visualization of scientific and research documents can greatly assist researchers by improving understanding of relationships (e.g. citations) between the documents. This paper presents work on the management and visualization of large corpuses of scientific papers in order to help researchers explore their citation relationships. Term selection and weighting are used for mining citation relationships by identifying the most relevant. To this end, we present a variation of the TF-IDF scheme, which uses external domain resources as references to calculate the term weighting in a particular domain; document weighting is taken into account in the calculation of term weighting from a group of citations. A simple hierarchical word weighting method is also presented. The work is supported by an underlying architecture for document management using NoSQL databases and employs a simple visualization interface.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (15)

Artificial Intelligence	Enterprise Information Systems	Ontologies and the Semantic Web
Business Analytics	Information Systems Analysis and Specification	Ontology Engineering
Data Engineering	Knowledge Engineering and Ontology Development	Semi-Structured and Unstructured Data
Data Management and Quality	Knowledge-Based Systems	Symbolic Systems
Databases and Data Security	Nosql Databases	Text Analytics

Supporting Chinese Farmers with ICT-based Information Services - An Analysis of Service Models

Topics: Government; Urban/Regional Planning/Development; Business Models

Authors: Yun Zhang ¹ , Yanqing Duan ² and Yanan Hu ¹

Affiliations: ¹ Foreign Economic Cooperation Centre and Ministry of Agriculture, China , ² University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0005511501360143

Proceedings of ICE-B 2015/ICETE, ISBN: 978-989-758-113-7

Quick Abstract

Over the last three decades, China’s agriculture sector has been transformed from the traditional to modern agriculture practice through the effective deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Information processing and dissemination have played a critical role in this transformation process. However, there are very limited publications regarding the China’s success and lessons learned in utilising ICTs to support Agriculture development and transformation. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding on how different ICT-based information service models are designed and adopted in China; and to share the knowledge and experience in applying emerging ICTs in disseminating agriculture information to farmers to improve productivity and economic, social and environmental sustainability. The paper reviews and analyses the China’s agricultural information service systems and models. Seven ICTbased information dissemination models are identified and discussed. Successful cases are presented to demonstrate the impacts of different service models. The findings provide a useful direction for researchers and practitioners in developing future ICT based information processing and dissemination systems. It is hoped that this paper will also help other developing countries to learn from China’s experience and best practice in their endeavor of applying emerging ICTs in agriculture information dissemination and sharing.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (13)

Applications	Enterprise Information Systems	Society, e-Business and e-Government
Artificial Intelligence	Government	Symbolic Systems
Business Models	Knowledge Management and Information Sharing	Urban/Regional Planning/Development
e-Business	Knowledge-Based Systems	Web Information Systems and Technologies
Enterprise Engineering

Investing in Ephemeral Virtual Worlds - An Educational Perspective

Topics: Educating the Educators; Assessment Software Tools; Course Design and E-Learning Curriculae; Instructional Design

Authors: Athanasios Christopoulos and Marc Conrad

Affiliation: University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0004957801180123

Proceedings of CSEDU 2014, ISBN: 978-989-758-022-2

Quick Abstract

The increased demand for the use of virtual worlds in higher education has led many educators and researchers in in-depth analysis and evaluation of a number of different virtual environments, aiming to highlight their potentials. Until recently, Second Life was one of the most widely used virtual worlds for educational purposes. However, the decision of Linden Lab to stop offering the educational discount, the rumours around its future and the emergence of a novel technology called OpenSim challenged institutions’ decisions to keep using Second Life. In a try to identify the way institutions make their decision to use a virtual world, 34 interviews have been conducted with university educators. The results of this study reveal that both the cost and the persistence of a virtual world play an important role on this decision. However, there are still some unique benefits offered by each world affecting to a great extent the educators’ decision. We conclude the paper by advocating the use of a cross-institutional hypergrid.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (8)

Assessment Software Tools	Educating the Educators	Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment
Computer-Supported Education	e-Learning	Social Context and Learning Environments
Course Design and e-Learning Curriculae	Instructional Design

Integration of Decision Support Systems and Data Mining for Improved Decision Making

Topics: Group Decision Support Systems; Strategic Decision Support Systems; Neural Network Software and Applications; Data Mining; Project Management

Authors: Omar al-Ketbi and Marc Conrad

Affiliation: University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0004450604820489

Proceedings of ICEIS 2013, ISBN: 978-989-8565-59-4

Quick Abstract

A data mining (DM) integrated decision support system (DSS) is suggested to improve the performance of the DSS implemented in a police organisation. A prototype of the suggested system is provided. The paper provides an insight into DM-DSS integrated systems in the literature, and uses the results of the investigation as a basis for a suggested system tailored against the particularity of Abu Dhabi (AD) Police Organisation in the United Arab Emirates. It is believed that in general DM processes are demanding in terms of time and other resources. Hence, it is suggested that the process be reduced in order to accommodate to the particularity of AD Police in terms of size and current system performance. The system is perceived on this basis.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (27)

Applications	Group Decision Support Systems	Operational Research
Artificial Intelligence	Health Engineering and Technology Applications	Pattern Recognition
Artificial Intelligence and Decision Support Systems	Human-Computer Interaction	Physiological Computing Systems
Biomedical Engineering	Information Systems Analysis and Specification	Project Management
Biomedical Signal Processing	Methodologies and Methods	Sensor Networks
Computational Intelligence	Neural Network Software and Applications	Signal Processing
Data Mining	Neural Networks	Soft Computing
Databases and Information Systems Integration	Neurocomputing	Strategic Decision Support Systems
Enterprise Information Systems	Neurotechnology, Electronics and Informatics	Theory and Methods

Maintaining Context in a Changing (Virtual) World - Educators’ Perspectives for Opensim and Second Life

Topics: e-Learning Platforms, Portals; Virtual Labs and Virtual Classrooms; Immersive Learning and Multimedia Applications

Authors: Athanasios Christopoulos and Marc Conrad

Affiliation: University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0004385504230428

Proceedings of CSEDU 2013, ISBN: 978-989-8565-53-2

Quick Abstract

Educational activities previously performed in Second Life are now more and more move moving to other alternatives. This study concentrates on the features of Second Life and its open-source alternative, OpenSim that affect the results of the in-world educational activities. The need for educators to take these features into account is another focus of this study which also aims to highlight the similarities and differences between the contexts of Second Life and OpenSim worlds, whether internally or externally hosted, as well as their potentials and weaknesses. The findings suggest that each one of these alternatives gathers different positive and negative features and their suitability greatly depends on the academics’ educational needs.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (9)

Computer-Supported Education	Immersive Learning and Multimedia Applications	Simulation Tools and Platforms
e-Learning	Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment	Ubiquitous Learning
e-Learning Platforms	Simulation and Modeling	Virtual Labs and Virtual Classrooms

Teaching Risk with Virtual Worlds - Experience and Lessons Learnd in Second Life and Other Virtual Worlds

Topics: Immersive Learning; Blended Learning; Virtual Labs and Virtual Classrooms

Author: Marc Conrad

Affiliation: University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0004382603310338

Proceedings of CSEDU 2013, ISBN: 978-989-8565-53-2

Quick Abstract

We discuss and demonstrate how Virtual Worlds available at the University of Bedfordshire have been used to teach Project Management using a ‘situated learning’ approach. In particular we have a closer look on the aspect of teaching risk management and identify how different aspects of risk are addressed in a variety of implementations of Virtual Worlds, namely Second Life, a Virtual World provided by an external provider, not Linden Lab, a Virtual World that is maintained ‘in-house’ and a Virtual World hosted by the students themselves. We note that the student experience of risk is different in each of these incarnations of a Virtual World which impacts their perception of risk and hence the effects this has concerning the teaching goals.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (6)

Blended Learning		Immersive Learning		Ubiquitous Learning
Computer-Supported Education		Learning/Teaching Methodologies and Assessment		Virtual Labs and Virtual Classrooms