Towards a Mixed Reality Agent to Support Multi-Modal Interactive Mini-Lessons That Help Users Learn Educational Concepts in Context

Extended-Reality Technologies: An Overview of Emerging Applications in Medical Education and Clinical Care.

In the contemporary landscape of education, integrating Project-Based Learning (PjBL) within online educational environments has emerged as a prominent pedagogical approach, aiming to foster students' critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. This study seeks to evaluate students' experiences with Project-Based Learning in the context of online education, recognizing the significance of understanding the effectiveness and challenges associated with this instructional method. The primary aim of this research is to assess the perceptions and experiences of students engaging in Project-Based Learning within online educational settings. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to capture students' perspectives comprehensively. The study sample comprised students enrolled in diverse online courses across various disciplines, ensuring a broad representation of experiences and insights. The study's main results reveal a nuanced understanding of students' experiences with Project-Based Learning in online educational contexts. Quantitative analysis indicates overall positive perceptions regarding the effectiveness of PjBL in enhancing learning outcomes and fostering student engagement. Qualitative findings further elucidate the multifaceted nature of students' experiences, highlighting both the benefits and challenges of implementing PjBL in online settings. In conclusion, this research underscores the potential of Project-Based Learning as a valuable instructional approach within online education, offering opportunities for meaningful learning experiences and skill development. However, it also identifies several considerations and areas for improvement, such as adequate technological support, clear guidelines, and enhanced facilitation to optimize the PjBL experience in online environments. This study contributes to the field of education by providing empirical insights into implementing Project-Based Learning in online educational contexts. The findings offer valuable implications for educators, curriculum designers, and policymakers seeking to effectively integrate innovative pedagogical approaches into online learning environments, ultimately enhancing the quality and efficacy of online education.

Higher education institutions have recently transitioned from face-to-face to online teaching and learning environments. However, academic staff lack sufficient training in applying emotional intelligence (EI) skills and strategies in online learning environments. Although literature addressing academics’ EI is sparse, some studies have suggested that lecturers’ EI greatly influences teaching and learning. This study used the concept of EI to understand students’ perceptions of how lecturers’ EI impacted their learning and engagement in an online learning environment. We conducted four online focus group interviews of 14 students pursuing a bachelor’s degree at two campuses of an Australian university, one in Melbourne and the other in Malaysia. Four main themes were identified using thematic analysis. Students discussed their perceptions and experiences on (a) vulnerabilities, coping and empathy; (b) relationships with lecturers, trust and safety; (c) communication, tone and voice; and (d) managing emotions of lecturers. Our findings suggest that lecturers’ EI impacted students’ learning and engagement in online learning spaces. However, the impact differs between Australia and Malaysia due to cultural differences. Drawing on the findings, we present online education good practices grounded in the theory of EI. Lecturers delivering online courses should consider employing these practices for effective teaching. Implications for practice or policy: Higher educational institutions need to support lecturers in developing the necessary EI skills to engage students in online learning. Lecturers need to make meaningful attempts to develop positive relationships with students in online forums to support students’ engagement. Lecturers working in online learning environments need to support students to develop friendships and connections with their peers. Lecturers need to include regular discussion breaks during online lectures to allow students to share their opinions and experiences.

With Generation Z becoming the primary group of nursing learners and the increasing shortage of nursing education resources, augmented reality and mixed reality based on head-mounted displays are being used more and more in nursing education. However, the current application landscape and the proper usage of these concepts remain unclear. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a scoping review to explore the current applications of head-mounted display-based augmented reality and mixed reality in nursing education and to clarify the definitions and usage of the concepts of augmented reality and mixed reality, ultimately providing directions for future applications and research. Based on the five-stage framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines, a comprehensive collection and summarization of evidence regarding the application of head-mounted display-based augmented reality and mixed reality in nursing education were conducted. The databases retrieved include CNKI, Wanfang Database, VIP, CBM, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Ei. The languages of the included literature are Chinese and English. The retrieval was up to October 2024. A total of 44 studies were included in this review, covering three types of head-mounted displays: immersive head-mounted displays, smart glasses, and smartphone-based head-mounted displays. The main application areas were skills training and knowledge acquisition. Most of the studies were feasibility studies, though they also included some efficacy studies and research on personal experiences. In addition, these studies often employed vague or inconsistent definitions of augmented reality and mixed reality. Despite various explorations in the application of head-mounted display-based augmented reality and mixed reality in nursing education, there is still room for improvement in the relevant theory and utilization of this technology. In the future, interventions should use the three dimensions (observation of reality, real - virtual interaction, and fidelity of virtuality) described in detail, rather than simply employing the concepts of augmented reality or mixed reality. Efforts should be concentrated on developing and implementing head-mounted displays combined with other technologies that boast enhanced performance and cost - effectiveness, and further validating their effectiveness.

The evolution of Virtual and Mixed Reality worlds is closely related to the development of digitalization and increasing technologies — aspects that capture the changes marking the twenty-first century. With the emergence of studies showing that the use of Virtual and Mixed Reality elements in learning processes positively influence the students' motivation and their control of learning-outcomes, these technologies are becoming more and more popular practices in education and learning contexts. Nevertheless, studies about the students' perspective in Germany are rarely conducted. Therefore, a status and requirement analysis of the students' demands on Mixed Reality in higher education has been developed and conducted. Questions of research are composed of the students' general attitude towards Mixed Reality in higher education and the influence of user factors on their attitude. Furthermore, the study covers the participants' perception of the current usage of Mixed Reality in higher education. First results show that there is a general positive attitude towards Mixed Reality. Especially the innovative character of Mixed Reality is a strong benefit for students. The younger the students are the stronger their requirements for Mixed Reality in higher education are.

<p>The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 significantly shifted educational paradigms, necessitating the adoption of online learning modalities. This study, rooted in the contextual changes brought by the pandemic, aimed to evaluate the effectiveness, quality, and impact of a Mixed Reality (MR) e-module on redox reaction topics in a high school setting. The research followed a 4D model (Define, Design, Develop, Disseminate) but was confined to the development phase.Conducted in a High School in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, this study involved 98 students (30 from grade 12 and 68 from grade 11), 3 teachers, and 2 validators. The research methodology included pre-tests and post-tests, alongside questionnaires to gather data. Descriptive statistical analysis was employed to process the assessments from validators, teachers, student responses, and test results.The field trial results indicated that the MR e-module for chemistry learning was deemed satisfactory and effective by the respondents. The analysis of the test of between-subject effect revealed no significant differences in interest and pre-test learning achievement between control and experimental groups. However, post-test results showed notable differences in interest and learning achievements, favoring the experimental group exposed to the MR e-module.The effectiveness of the MR e-module was quantified using partial eta squared calculations. The MR e-module contributed 25.7% effectively to both learning interest and achievement. When considered separately, the contribution was 2.7% for learning interest and 21.9% for learning achievement. These findings underscore the potential of MR e-modules as valuable educational tools, enhancing both student engagement and academic performance in online learning environments during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>

The workshop is designed as an interactive and participative session where the presenters will pose key challenges in the creation of emergent, engaging, interactive and motivational online learning environments. Using multi-disciplinary perspectives, participants will engage in discussions and activities designed to contextualise these challenges and develop environmentally-specific design and development solutions for their individual online learning programs. On completing the workshop, participants will also have a set of tools to support the construction of their own “online architectures”. The expertise of Dr Kays and Dr Sims in the international higher education sectors, in instructional design, learning design and contemporary online learning environments will ensure that participants will develop their knowledge and skills to maximise the success of their own online teaching and learning practice. At the end of this one-day workshop, participants will have: reviewed and critically reflected on the key components for effective online learning; analysed the major issues that confront and prevent designers from achieving the full potential of online learning; synthesised the key elements required to construct Architectures for Online Learning, including emergent design, proactive evaluation and interaction metrics; participated in a case study of their own workplace environment to implement contextual and functional Online Learning Architecture; access to a full set of resources and tools to develop and implement more complex online learning architectures within their workplace.

In recent years robots have dramatically improved in functionality, but as a result their designs have also become more complicated. The increase in the complexity of the tasks and the design of the robot result in a challenging and time-consuming robot development cycle. This paper identifies requirements for improving the robot development process, focusing on facilitating a safe and reliable transition process from simulation to real world tests. We propose that, by applying the concept of Mixed Reality (MR) to robot simulation, it is possible to create a realistic, synthetic environment that enables robot software developers to experiment freely and safely. The new simulation approach, named MR simulation, offers the flexibility of creating simulation environments composed of real and virtual objects that seamlessly interact with one another. This paper contributes a generic, conceptual MR framework which is demonstrated to provide a common, standardised simulation environment for experimentation involving real and virtual objects. An MR robot simulator is implemented based on the framework, integrating standardised data interfaces in its design to increase interoperability. Evaluation results demonstrate that the MR robot simulator is reusable in three different applications. It improved simulation reliability, reduced development cost, and increased efficiency.

Aims: This study focuses on factors affecting students’ engagement, and their issues and perceptions of online education in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management related curricula in Sri Lankan state universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Place and Duration of the Study: Data were collected from university undergraduates who studied Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management subjects in six state universities in Sri Lanka from January 2022 to February 2022. Methodology: The primary data were collected from 215 university undergraduates in relevant discipline through a pre-tested questionnaire developed by the researcher via Google form. All the respondents were volunteered to complete the questionnaire and submitted their responses online and those responses were collected anonymously. The Factor analysis was employed in the study to generate a single value for the dependent variable and the multiple linear regression was used to understand the factors affecting Student engagement in online learning. Results: The study indicates that the majority of students showed a positive attitude toward online education. The study findings show the student-teacher interaction is a positive and significant factor in online education in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management disciplines but student-to-student interaction is not a significant factor for student engagement in online education. Moreover, when the students are female and students are in their final year, they are most likely to engage in online education. The study also shows that the majority of students prefer online education even though some highlighted the negative issues. However, providing continuous and stable access to the internet connection and providing other infrastructure facilities to students and teachers are some of the main challenges in promoting online education in Sri Lanka. In addition, proper attention should be paid to assure the quality of online education to develop students holistically. Conclusion: Study concludes that building and maintaining student-teacher interaction is one of the key determinants in student engagement in online education. Also student engagement can be enhanced through a student-centered learning activities which focus on their active contribution.

Under a prominent recent regime of online education, often represented in the scholarship as a “social constructive learning paradigm”, learning is defined as a social practice that involves a group of students actively participating in collaborative knowledge construction processes. Pedagogical theories and strategies developed and utilised in that regime focus extensively on enabling student-to-student interaction and building communities of learners in online learning environments. In this context, where the notions of “collaborative” learning and learning “community” have gained substantial legitimacy from relevant theoretical traditions, other beliefs about meaningful learning are likely to be harshly criticised or, at best, simply neglected. However, it is not at all difficult to notice a gap between the accepted theoretical ideas of effective online learning and actual pedagogical practices in most online education institutions. Here, I aim to reduce that theory-practice gap by reconceptualising online learning using a double-layered Community of Practice (CoP) model. That module conceptualises online learning as interlinked processes of participation and socialisation in multiple communities across internal and external or online and offline “layers” of learners’ lives. The model helps online course designers and instructors to expand the boundaries of their course environments or designs to reach out to students’ personal and professional lives and to make sense of online learning experiences that are shaped by their interactions with other members of different communities outside the course environments. Using data, three students’ narratives, collected from a series of case studies on learners’ learning experiences in three different types of online courses (or programmes), this article effectively demonstrates how difficult it is to develop a strong CoP nested and sustained within online learning environments, which usually have a close finish. The article further argues that it may be useful for instructional designers to expend their view on learning environment to include distance learners’ life situations beyond their computer screens. Everyone has their own community in which they naturally learn, develop, and live with other members outside the courses. Thus, rather than putting so much effort to form a community inside our learning environment, we may want to think about more effectively support our students to form a stronger and more sustainable community in their lives through being engaged in learning activities in our course.

Many higher education institutions in the United States had to implement a strategy of rapid pivoting from face-to-face to online learning in response to the Spring 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic. Face-to-face learning posed a high risk of uncontrolled widespread of the virus, thus, classes had to switch rapidly to a remote mode of instruction that leveraged online learning technologies. The rapid pivoting from face-to-face to online learning posed unprecedented challenges. It is widely accepted among the communities of instructional designers, educators who teach online, and higher education administrators that designing online courses requires more than mirroring face-to-face courses in the online environment (Watson et al., 2017). Instructional strategies adopted in face-to-face instruction are not as effective in online learning environments as research has shown (Baldwin et al., 2018), and as students have remarked[1]. The application of instructional strategies tailored for online learning ensures meaningful learning experiences (Watson et al., 2017); thus, a quality online learning experience. For example, quality online learning experiences do not require weekly meetings as students live in different time zones and adopt an asynchronous approach to learning to ensure flexible and equitable access to course materials. However, providing faculty support for the rapid pivot from face-to-face to online learning with limited time and instructional design resources is uncharted territory. Faculty and instructional designers were challenged to support quality learning experiences through online course design in less than two weeks at many campuses across the country.

This study aims to compare the effectiveness of mixed reality, pen and paper, and digital note-taking in the context of educational excursions. A mixed reality headset was used to take notes in mixed reality, mobile phones for taking notes digitally, as well as pen and paper paired with a clipboard for taking notes in longhand. The study was motivated by the potential affordances that mixed reality brings to note-taking, such as integrating the real world alongside digital note-taking platforms in an immersive manner. However, there are also downsides, such as the bulkiness of the headset. While existing research has covered virtual reality and augmented reality within classroom settings, there remains a gap in current research in understanding the application of mixed reality in contexts outside of the classroom, such as in field-based learning. To address this, this study aims to conduct preliminary research on how note-taking in mixed reality compares with two other traditional methods in a new context to understand the potential of mixed reality and feasibility in note-taking and learning. Educational excursions were chosen as it was surmised that the affordances of mixed reality headsets are suited to contexts of learning during which the note-taking platform needs to be mobile. The modalities of information students could encounter in a field trip were recognised as physical, textual, and video. For physical information in field trips, our data shows that mixed reality note-taking was more effective in both extracting greater amounts of content in note form, as well as improving knowledge retention. For textual information, mixed reality note-taking was also more effective in extracting greater amounts of content in note form, but pen and paper note-taking was the more efficacious method in the organisation of notes. Mixed reality has the potential to be integrated into field trips, but should not entirely replace traditional methods of note-taking, especially as feedback from participants show that the headsets can cause discomfort. As the comfort of wearables improves, more research can be carried out to continue this work on the potential of mixed reality in collaborative learning.

This paper builds on the model we have developed for creating quality online learning environments for higher education. In that model we argue that college-level online learning needs to reflect what we know about learning in general, what we understand about learning in higher-education contexts, and our emerging knowledge of learning in largely asynchronous online environments. Components of the model include a focus on learner roles, knowledge building, assessment, community, and various forms of “presence.” In this paper we focus on two components—teaching presence and community—and review the rationale and benefits for an emphasis on community in online learning environments. We argue that learning is social in nature and that online learning environments can be designed to reflect and leverage the social nature of learning. We suggest that previous research points to the critical role that community can play in building and sustaining productive learning and that teaching presence, defined as the core roles of the online instructor, is among the most promising mechanism for developing online learning community. We present a multi-institutional study of 2,036 students across thirty-two different colleges that supports this claim and provides insight into the relationship between online learning community and teaching presence. Factor and regression analysis indicate a significant link between students’ sense oflearning community and their recognition of effective instructional design and directed facilitation on the part of their course instructors—and that student gender plays a small role in sense of learning community. We conclude with recommendations for online course design, pedagogy, and future research.

The rapid growth of diverse learners in online learning has made it imperative for online instructors to incorporate multicultural resource curricula and instructional activities. This research aimed to explore online instructors' perceptions of culturally responsive pedagogy in online education; examine how instructors integrate culturally responsive pedagogy strategies in the online learning environment; and explore the challenges in facilitating cross‐cultural collaborative learning for students from different cultural backgrounds. Data were collected following a qualitative multi‐site case study method with five academic disciplines (Education, Social Sciences, Engineering, Physical Sciences and Health Sciences) in 12 colleges and universities in the United States of America. In all, 60 in‐depth and semi‐structured interviews with instructors (26 females and 34 males) were obtained and analysed following a constant comparative analysis approach. Results reflected that the instructors used cross‐cultural interactions to facilitate students' engagement and incorporated culturally responsive teaching. Besides, the findings revealed that most of the instructors integrated diverse and internationalized learning content to support diverse students and addressed the impact of multicultural education in online learning. It was, however, noted, that instructors in the physical science disciplines struggled to incorporate culturally diverse contents in their online classes. The findings of this study foster discourse on how best instructors could be aided to engage diverse students online more meaningfully. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Since studies of this nature are mostly undertaken in teaching and learning environments that are diverse in terms of student populations, both students and instructors are exposed to cultural differences in teaching and learning in multicultural/diverse online learning environments. Studies on multicultural/diverse online learning environments abound and have been undertaken for several years but the emphasis has mainly been to explore issues from the perspectives of students. Most online instructors assume that online learning provides equal opportunities to all students regardless of their cultural backgrounds and cultural differences; hence, instructors have mostly not been able to recognize cultural implications for students' learning to design inclusive instructional strategies to meet the learning needs of diverse students in online education. What this paper adds This study, unlike earlier ones with a similar focus, explored online instructors' perceptions of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP), specifically with regards to the design, preparation and integration of multicultural learning contents and resources in online education. This study employed Scott et al.'s (2015) culturally responsive computing theory as a lens to connect students' prior learning experiences, knowledge, interests, strengths and weaknesses as a way to draw instructors' attention to how best diverse students can be aided to be innovative and succeed in the face of cross‐cultural challenges they face studying online. The study also contributes to the instructors' understanding of culturally responsive pedagogical principles in online spaces that recognize global identities and cultural experiences to meet the needs of diverse students in an online learning environment. Implications for practice and/or policy Instructors must develop online courses with the focus to bridge students' geographical and cultural backgrounds so that students will have the opportunity to share and connect with peers in online classrooms for effective collaboration and communication. Institutions that offer online education must make concerted efforts to provide continuous professional development opportunities for instructors of online courses on impacts of culture/diversity in the online classroom, and strategies for creating conducive online learning environments that value cultural differences, and social/educational experiences in ways that support students' learning. Institutions and stakeholders, through policy initiatives, should make frantic efforts to afford instructors with comprehensive knowledge and understanding of CRP in online learning to avoid the assumption that students in online courses share similar learning characteristics and bring to the online learning the same experiences and cultural backgrounds.

Real Time Distributed Content Rendering Technique based on Agent-mediator Communication Framework for Multi-display Systems