1.1. Statement of the Problem

In designing any kind of learning environment, there are a number of issues one has to consider. In designing a learning environment based on new and relatively unexplored tools, such as virtual reality (VR), these issues become even more complex. Two central questions have motivated this work. First, what are the issues that must be addressed in designing immersive virtual environments for education? And second, can virtual reality be an effective learning tool?

The research described in this thesis has focused on these questions while in the process of creating a virtual reality learning environment developed mainly for the CAVE(tm)\ref{CruzNeira93}. This focus has informed the design, development, and evaluation of the Narrative Immersive Constructionist/Collaborative Environments (NICE) project. The NICE project is a testbed application for exploring ideas in the direction of interactive, open-ended, informal learning environments for children. In NICE children explore, cultivate, and preserve a healthy virtual garden. In order to achieve this, they select seeds, plant vegetables, pull weeds, and use symbolic representations to control environmental factors, such as a raincloud to provide rain, a sun to give sunlight, or a compost heap to recycle weeds. To facilitate their understanding of the underlying principles of this micro-ecosystem, they can change their size or observe the root system. In addition to their activities with the garden, multiple children can collaborate synchronously within the virtual environment, through avatar representations and audio, or asynchronously by observing the visual narrative generated by the system and the WWW page.

The research objectives of this work have been threefold:

First, to contribute to the design of an original architecture for a virtual learning environment, which combines many different and complex educational components. NICE can serve this direction as a prototype for future development of VR applications for education. This model of virtual learning environments is informed by current educational theories, such as constructivism, collaborative learning, storytelling, and aware of human-computer interaction metaphors that work best. Metaphors that are applied successfully with children, may easily be extended to other areas of study and training in VR.

Second, to approach the issue of evaluation with the development of a theoretical framework. The purpose of this theoretical framework is to impose a structure for the future evaluation of virtual learning environments. As virtual worlds usually provide complex, multi-sensory experiences, evaluation should take into account multiple factors, from the technical to the cognitive. The question is how should one proceed with the evaluation of these kinds of environments? This framework attempts to address this question in a way that is generalizable and easily applied to the assessment of any immersive virtual environment for learning.

And third, to bring up the issues of evaluation in VR by performing studies based on the theoretical framework. We need empirical evidence on how the virtual environment affects learning. This thesis work is not so much about evaluating a specific design (the NICE project), as it is about paying attention to the issues involved in the evaluation of not so highly structured and guided learning environments in VR. It is hoped that these observations may provide a focus from which future studies in VR and education can benefit.