Comparing the effectiveness and knowledge acquisition between a 3D virtual
and a traditional museum exhibit
Adriana D’ Alba
University of North Texas
berthadalba@my.unt.edu
Greg Jones
University of North Texas
gjones@unt.edu
Bertha Abraham
Autonomous University of the State of Mexico
btaj00@yahoo.com.mx
Abstract: This paper presents results from a joint research project sponsored by the
University of North Texas (UNT) and Autonomous University of the State of
Mexico (UAEM) that examined the effectiveness and knowledge acquisition
between a traditional museum experience and a 3D virtual one. The project used the
University Art Museum, Leopoldo Flores, located at UAEM in Toluca, Mexico for
research. The project demonstrated the effectiveness, usability, and knowledge
acquisition between a real museum exhibition and a 3D online virtual museum
replica. The results show that the virtual museum experience when used alone was a
comparable experience to the actual museum visit in both knowledge gained and
satisfaction. Participants that used the 3D virtual museum prior to their actual
museum visit showed increases in several areas.
Introduction
In recent years, museums around the world have increased their use of the Internet to deliver content online
(Urban, Marty, & Twidale, 2007). These online museums vary in presentation with some offering their content
displayed in the traditional web page where the visitors can click on the images of the works of art and read the
description of the pieces like the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2011), while others offer three dimensional
representations of their exhibition rooms like the Google Art Project (2011). Just to cite an example: The
Smithsonian institution released a document named “Creating a Digital Smithsonian” (2009) which outlines
strategies to digitize their collections and also addresses technologies in digitization in order to broaden access,
support education, enrich content, and preserve its collections. Since 1960 the Smithsonian Institution started
digitizing data from the objects they hold. Multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) enable multiple simultaneous
participants to access virtual contexts, to interact with digital artifacts, to represent themselves through "avatars" to
communicate with other participants and with computer-based agents (Dede, Nelson, Ketelhut, Clarke, & Bowman,
2004).
The Study
The mixed-methods research conducted between 2010 and 2011 was sponsored by the University of North
Texas (UNT) and the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM) through a joint research grant. Over a
period of nine months the research team was able to visit and select the museum in Mexico (May-June 2010), create
the virtual replica/model of the museum in 3DS Max (July-August 2010), integrate the virtual model into the 3D
virtual environment framework (Sept-Oct 2010), user test the environment (November 2010), complete data
collection in Mexico (December 2010), and finish data analysis and host our research symposium on outcomes
(January-April 2011). The accelerated time frame of the project was possible because of the use of the CRG 3D
Virtual Environments framework (CRG, 2011). The project selected the UAEM Leopoldo Flores Museum exhibit
called "The Minotaur in the Labyrinth,” that was painted in1983 (The Minotaur in the Labyrinth, 2011). The exhibit
consists of 10 large-scale paintings, some as large as 15.6 feet by 6.8 feet, that depict the Greek myth of the
Minotaur. The collection is exhibited in its own three-story building where visitors enter the top and precede down a
ramp that spirals down to the lower level revealing different aspects of the collection.
Figure 1. Images from the museum Leopoldo Flores and its virtual representation
Participants: A group of 18 undergraduate students from The College of Architecture and Design at
UAEM participated. All students selected had never visited the museum exhibit before. At the end of the study only
16 students completed the research. Students’ age ranged from 18 to 23 (median 21). 62% (10) were female with
38% (6) male. 81.3% of the students had been using computer’s software for 3 years or more, 12.5% of the students
have been using it for more than two years but less than 3, and 6.2% of the students have been using it for less than a
year. 93.8% of the students have been using the internet for three years or more with 6.2% of the students have been
using it for more than two years but less than three. 62.5% of the students declared that they never play online games
(such as World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, or Age of Empires). It should be noted that students in Mexico
typically have less access to the Internet and technology (comScore, 2011) prior to college as seen in the number of
students just recently using the Internet (18.7% in the last three years) or playing online computer games (62.5%) in
this study.
Data Collection: Data collection occurred in four stages. Stage 1: A pre-test of twelve questions about the
Minotaur Myth and artist was given to all students. The students were then randomly split into G01 (9 students) and
G02 (7 students). G01 then visited the museum as a group and G02 did the virtual museum interaction individually.
Stage 2: A new twelve-question knowledge test about the Minotaur Myth and items in the exhibit was given upon
completion of the interactions. The groups then switched the next day with G01 completing the virtual museum tour
individually and G02 taking the museum tour with the guide. Stage 3: A post-test, different than the first two, was
then given on the Minotaur Myth and exhibit items after the students completed the final interactions. In addition to
the learning/knowledge questions, satisfaction and usability surveys were giving to each student. Stage 4: Semistructure interviews were scheduled with the students and conducted after the first three stages over a three-day
period. The researchers administered all surveys, recordings, and interview activities. Based on the initial
quantitative results, selected semi-structured interviews took place to add further information to the collected data
and analysis (Creswell, 1994). While there is no way to guarantee full anonymity in descriptive research, all steps
were taken to limit the possibility that traceable information might become known (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 155).
Rigor and trustworthiness were demonstrated by defining, establishing, and showing credibility, transferability,
dependability, and confirmability both during and at the conclusion of the study (Lincoln and Guba 1985).
Results:
Stage 1 – Pre-Test: Each group was given the twelve-question general knowledge test of the Minotaur
Myth. Both groups had approximately equal knowledge about the Minotaur Myth at the start of the research (G01
27.7%, G02 27.3%).
Stage 2 - After First Interaction: The second knowledge test resulted in G01 scoring 86.2% (mean) and
G02 scoring 85.7% (mean) shows no major difference.
Stage 3– After Second Interaction and Stage 4– Interviews: After the groups had completed both
interactions a final test was given. G01 [real museum then virtual] scored 87.8% (mean) with G02 [virtual museum
and then real] scoring 91.6% (mean). Upon examination of the videotapes of the museum tour of G02, the
researchers noticed an increase in the number of questions and in the depth/intensity of the questions asked to the
guide about the museum and exhibits during the tour.
A series of semi-structured interviews with each of the participants and the museum guides were conducted
on days three and four of the study. The results of the interviews indicate that participants who experienced the
virtual museum first had a deeper interaction when they visited the actual museum. This was also seen in the videos
analyzed of each interaction.
Conclusions
Through this study, the researchers were able to observe that students that used the virtual environment and
then visited the museum exhibited more discourse and engagement among themselves and the guide tour, and had
slightly higher scores on the final knowledge test. The other important aspect observed in this research was that the
virtual museum group did as well on the knowledge test as did the group that took the guided tour first. These results
aim to strengthen the argument about using virtual environments to increase the overall museum experience.
In the fall of 2011, the research group returned to Mexico to further refine the research and focus on the
impact that was seen when using the virtual environment as a pre-visualization tool to enhance the real museum
experience. A replication of the comparative analysis will allow the researchers to validate facts of this study and
further examine why participants that used the virtual environment first improved in knowledge acquisition (Glaser
& Strauss, 1967).
Museums have an important role to play in education and society. Visiting Museum exhibitions is a personal
and individual experience. The way we interpret the pieces is shaped by our beliefs, our background, our education,
and our environment, and it is also shaped by the distribution of the pieces, the colors of the walls, the space, and the
lights. Also is very important to have the opportunity of an interactive tour. Visiting Museums is an experience that
goes beyond observing the pieces and the goal seems to be to make those visits accessible to more and more people.
With the introduction of the internet and online virtual environments to our lives, we can now have an important ally
to solve this problem. If we create virtual museum tours using 3D software, we can offer people the ability to
perform different engaging activities that they might not be able to execute in real museums.
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