Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

22 – Computer-Based Resources for Learning
when there is a misunderstanding, what caused it, and
what to do about it. In a sense, the computer would have
to be able to read each student’s mind.
Generating the appropriate response would be difficult
even if the first two needs were met. How can a designer
determine all of the response possibilities? Every
possibility must be based on a known rule. Intelligent
tutoring systems can and should have responses for expected
misunderstandings but this is, at best, limited to
the finite expressed problems.
There are some excellent intelligent tutoring systems
available. However, these tend to be labour-intensive
and expensive to develop. Although the potential of
intelligent tutoring systems is exciting, the reality is that
much research still needs to be done. In other words,
instructors need not worry about being replaced by an
intelligent tutoring system. Given the present state of the
technology, it can be argued that well-designed instructional
multimedia applications are essentially the same
from a student’s perspective.
Virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) allows people to be totally immersed
in an artificial or simulated environment, while experiencing
the environment as real. This happens because
the participant has a first-hand or personal experience of
the events, distractions are minimized since only virtual
images are seen, and the participant can interact naturally
in real time, such as by pointing and looking, rather
than by using a joystick, mouse, or keyboard. VR can
feel so real that some people experience vertigo when
sensory inputs to the brain are in conflict. VR systems
can include a variety of media such as video, visuals,
animation, and audio. In a sense, VR is an extension of
simulations that can be created with readily available
hardware and software. Commercial flight simulators
are examples of this.
A distinctive feature of VR is that learners are an integral
part of the synthetic VR world. Users can simultaneously
interact with computers in complex ways.
Computers can sense body movement and voice commands
and respond almost naturally. For example, for
teaching students about interior decoration, you could
let students walk through a house and allow them to change
colours of walls, rearrange furniture, change the lighting,
and remove a painting and place it elsewhere. To
interface with the virtual world, learners must wear specialized
equipment such as body suits, goggles, and/or
gloves.
Although most applications are found in the entertainment
industry, numerous educational products have
been and are being developed. Since VR allows participants
to feel that they are in another place in which they
can move and look around based on a prescribed set of
rules, VR offers incredible educational potential. Imagine
how much doctors, army field surgeons, soldiers,
firefighters, and law officers, could safely learn in a virtual
environment. Abstract ideas, such as the movement
of electrons in an atom that cannot be physically presented,
can be taught with VR. Since virtual objects can
behave as their physical counterparts and be manipulated
by the learner, students can experience natural
laws such as the law of gravity. Alternatively, learners
can experience unnatural laws created by developers. In
a virtual world, energy could be created or destroyed.
With the ability in VR to manipulate abstract information,
the potential exists to improve a student’s understanding
and memory of complex ideas.
Learning can be by discovery, experimentation, through
guidance using a variety of instructional approaches, or
by practice and feedback. The potential for testing in a
virtual environment is exceptional. For example, students
could virtually perform an operation, put out a
fire, or apprehend a thief.
For practical reasons, it can be risky to develop an
educational VR system at this time:
• There are few experts in VR design and programming.
• The authoring software is mediocre but getting better.
• Extra equipment is needed for developing and using
these programs.
A key to effective VR design is to focus on the potential
to teach and learn rather than on the hardware and
software tools.
Given the potential of multimedia technology, where
is the boundary between computer-based simulations
and virtual reality applications?
Summary
Online labs simulate and teach what learners must do in
traditional settings. In general, there are two types of
labs. One simulates the real experiments, equipment, or
procedures; the other lets learners access and control
real equipment remotely. There can be numerous
problems when teaching practical skills in typical labs.
Online labs can solve many of the problems.
Online labs will continue to be created. Some will be
of minimal value while others will effectively meet the
350 Education for a Digital World