January 2012 Volume 15 Number 1 - Educational Technology ...

Initially this paper explores definitions of presence put forth over the last 20 years, and how these apply to middle
school students rather than adults. Second, we introduce the reader to the SAVE Science project. Third, we present
preliminary findings from a SAVE Science study exploring whether participating students achieved presence through
the VE modules as demonstrated through an online survey and a post-module discussion with their teacher, and if
there is a difference in perceived presence based on gender or age, using Piaget’s levels of development as a lens.
Defining presence within virtual environments
Historically, presence has been discussed in terms of how an individual’s interactions with a virtual reality are
depicted in the virtual environment (VE). The key factors considered important to presence were sensory, perceptual,
and social (see definitions below). The type/design of the environment was extremely important to facilitate
development of presence or not. Table 1 summarizes several papers on these factors. Heeter (1992), in addressing
Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, used the term “dimensions” to define presence and considered the personal (or
how much you perceived/believed you were part of the VR), social (or how much you perceived/believed “others” in
the VR interacted with you), and environmental (or how much you perceived/believed the environment reacted to
you as part of the scene) aspects of interaction in the VR. Steuer (1993), discussing how VR is technologically rather
than experientially focused, suggested two dimensions of presence: vividness and interactivity. The more vivid the
VR environment and the more one could interact with the environment and characters, the more likely one would
experience the sensation of being in that environment. One could argue that these claims are complementary,
because in order to perceive/believe you are “in” a VR, you need to sense (see, hear, feel) that environment in a way
that is real, and you need interact with characters and objects found within that environment. But being in a VR is
very different today from what it was in the early 1990s.
Lombard and Ditton (1997) chose to define presence by considering three causes of it. First, they discussed form
variables based on sensory richness, as defined by Steuer (1995). The more senses that were induced to participate,
the more likely the user would achieve a sense of presence through the medium. The addition of rich natural voice
and rich visual sensory stimuli produced a greater sense of presence than one or the other alone. Next were content
variables where the responses to the user were perceived as being by another social entity, and not the medium or
computer. The more the computer used the natural language of the users, the more likely the users would “believe”
they were interacting with another social being. Lastly, they described the user variables, which included past
experience with the medium, age, gender and personality. These are ones we will use later in looking at middle
school students’ reactions to SAVE Science modules.
Table 1. Considerations for understanding presence in a VE
Author, date Conditions / Considerations
Heeter, 1992 three dimensions of presence
1. personal, as you feel like you are in a VE
2. social, or the extent to which beings exist and react to you in the VE
3. environmental, as the VE reacts to you
Steuer, 1993, 1995 two determinants of telepresence
1. vividness, or the sensorially rich mediated environment, stimulus driven, and depth
of sensory information, dimensionality (1, 2, or 3D)
2. interactive, or the degree to which the user can influence form and content, number
of people interacting in real time
Lombard & Ditton, 1997 three causes of presence
1. form variables, including interactivity, use of voice, medium and shapes
2. content variables, including social realism, media conventions, and nature of task
3. user variables, including past experience with the medium, age, gender, and
personality
Witmer & Singer, 1998 three conditions for presence
1. level of involvement, depends on the degree of significance given to various stimuli
2. ability of user to focus on the virtual world
3. degree of immersion, or psychological state of being included in and interacting
with the VE
Delgarno & Lee, 2010 being there together in a multi-user VE with others around the world, e.g., Second Life
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