ARieL: Augmented Reality in interactive e-Learning
V. Camilleri, M. Montebello
Abstract
Technological advances in the field of Information and Communication technology have brought about an increase in
the need to mediate knowledge. Learning and education have been evolving constantly to accommodate the pervasive
nature of technology. Within this evolution, e-learning platforms have also been developing and shifting from simple
monolithic frameworks, dealing with the essentials of course management, design and delivery, to „flexible‟ systems
involving the learners more actively making use of external stimuli to enhance motivation. Emerging trends in the
fusion between education and technology are indeed showing that modern-day learners are requesting more informality
and flexibility in their own educational process; hence the introduction of concepts such as virtual worlds and
augmented reality. Platforms making use of this type of innovative technology have in fact been found to yield a more
flexible and robust learning environment which offers enhanced personalization and dynamicity in the presentation of
information using an orchestration of various functionalities based upon service-oriented architectures. This paper
discusses possible research in the ambit of interactive learning over the World Wide Web and in an environment built
upon virtual reality. Research centres upon the effectiveness of socio-collaboration in a learning community targeting
the sharing of learning objects. Such virtual knowledge resource distribution and management aims to bridge the gap
between content providers, information technology providers and other beneficiaries involved. This paper will focus
upon the principles of design and construction of this innovative learning structure, directed at various ICT-related
topics with such target member groups including higher education institutions.
Keywords: flexible learning systems, augmented reality, interactive e-learning, virtual worlds.
1 Introduction
Emerging research in the areas of learning through virtual practices is still being explored in terms not only of
technology applications but also in terms of the socio-educational perspectives encapsulating the transfer of knowledge
as applied generally or within a specific domain. Some of the research outlined indicates that while online learning
management systems manage learning resources and course delivery, these may at times lack in offering a source of
information which enables individual learners to interact dynamically with the environment offered in order to create
personalised knowledge constructs. This challenge has given rise to an evolution in the search for a fusion between
technology and learning systems, to yield flexible learning systems which offer personalisation and dynamicity in the
presentation of information.
Attwell [1] in his investigation of „Personal Learning Environments‟ – PLEs – and their impact on learning, views these
environments as stemming from informal learning needs and lifelong education. Van Harmelen [13], describes PLE‟s as
being „motivated‟ by a series of factors, such as the need for having a standard interface across institutions with
different e-learning systems, to adapt to learners having different learning styles, as a response in part to needs of
pedagogic approaches as part of educational technology programmes.
This paper will show that such learning environments can be set up in virtual worlds, such as Second Life (SL) [9],
which promise to bring together a number of resources such as data and information collected online, peer-to-peer
collaboration systems, and social networks. The strengths over static virtual learning environments already in use, is
that of offering flexibility in adapting to the different learning styles and needs of each individual. As a case example,
the social learner would benefit from a socio-constructivist network approach which favours interactivity and peer
collaboration. Other learning styles may benefit from guided approaches which might require individual guidance to
reach the solution to a specific problem through „intelligent‟ assistance. Virtual worlds have the ability to not only use
social networking as in peer collaboration but they have the added ability to act as knowledge management
environments based upon experiential learning. Vuorikari [14] in her exposition on knowledge management and social
networks argues that:
Being able to organise one’s own knowledge as learning progresses, to create personal repositories of knowledge
artefacts, and to enhance and enforce new ways of learning through social networks will be one of the challenges
(classify, link, share, recommend, distribute).
In the same manner as modern e-learning has been attributed properties of Web 2.0, the strengths of use of activity and
interactivity in virtual worlds also coincides with Tim Berners Lee‟s vision of the Web [3] which he describes as having
more to do with attitude rather than just technology. As illustrated in „Smart Web Learning Applications: the „InDy‟
Assistant‟[5], Berners Lee‟s idea is applied in such a way that the web is utilised to communicate, to collaborate and to
share common information and knowledge. This will create not only “communities of practice” but also common
platforms where learning is built gradually through content creation.
2 Objectives and Rationale
Technology enhanced learning, as Wade and Ashman [15] describe, has many different facets all with the aim of
improving the distance learner‟s experience. The distance learner has in fact evolved over the years and so did the needs
of the same learner.
The objectives of this paper are to highlight the needs for the application of new dimensions to learning as those
provided by Augmented Reality inside virtual worlds. The diversity in learner differences arising from prior knowledge,
competencies, learning style, communication preferences and cognitive style give rise to pedagogic strategies which
need to be implemented with reference to design for the virtual world learning environment offering presentation of
multimedia content, activities and collaboration adapted to individual preferences and context. The rationale behind the
practice such strategies will serve to enhance users‟ learning experiences in terms of relevancy, motivation,
effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction [15] . Moreover, as Berners-Lee et al. [4] mention,
Allowing users to personalize their tools and workspace means that the Web remains more than a commoditised
one-size-fits-all area and instead becomes a space within which people can carve out their own niches
The weakness of e-learning platforms or as more commonly known, Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), lies in the
fact that while as course management systems they do deliver “environments for delivering and managing educational
experiences” [6], they may at times lack in the ability to personalise information for each individual learner in such a
way that he/she can dynamically create his/her own knowledge constructs [5]. Hoppe [7], maintains that e-learning will
eventually make way for mainstream artificial intelligence in education using “active agents to steer human learning”
and to identify the different learners‟ knowledge base.
ARieL will provide the users with more than just a simple yet appealing graphical interface. It aims to reach further than
VLEs and shift beyond the course management paradigm. It will offer a complete environment, rather than a single
application, which will combine content, technology and pedagogy together in a more augmented form of reality.
Mirroring Dagger et al.‟s [6] conclusions, ARieL will aim to ‘deliver knowledge when, where, and how you want it’.
2.1
What does SL have to offer?
O‟Driscoll et al. [8] define SL as,
the poster child for virtual worlds (VWs), those computer-generated mass hallucinations where people fly and
perform magic, companies build artificial buildings and islands, and public relations firms spend boatloads of
money making virtual splashes on behalf of clients with deep pockets
SL is the size of a small city, with thousands of servers and a „Resident‟ population of over 13million [9]. Residents in
SL are users whose representation or „alter-ego‟ in the virtual world are termed as „avatars‟. Avatars can take forms of
augmented reality, where they become an enhanced form of the „real‟ person, or immersive, a fantasy representation
dependent only on one‟s imagination.
O‟Driscoll et al. [8] discuss e-Learning trends in SL making use of an important premise. Virtual Worlds are not aimed
to replace forms of learning. Virtual Worlds, such as SL are seen as a tool to „enhance the experience and transfer of
learning‟. The important question which they ask and which we have keep in mind when discussing the importance of
Augmented Reality for learning experiences is; "What can this technology do that will enhance the learner's experience
that my current learning technology portfolio cannot?"
O‟Driscoll et al. [8] discuss the seven sensibilities impacting the educational experience in SL for the adult lifelong
learning processes. Their arguments sustain that SL‟s potential, justly termed as the seven sensibilities lie in the:
Sense of Self, Death of Distance, Power of Presence, Sense of Space, Capability to co-create, Pervasiveness of
Practice, and Enrichment of Experience.
The sense of self is brought about by the relationship developed between the persons and their virtual reflections –
avatars or „alter-egos‟. SL offers little limitation when it comes to geographical spaces, and avatars can make their
presence felt by the actions they perform. In addition one of the most important educational aspect of SL is the ability to
co-create, with peers and within social networks. A number of virtual campuses, offer space for students to design,
build and create model representations of a variety of objects or „prims‟. The ability to practice anytime, anywhere and
on any virtual land, offers the experience, which research is indicating is becoming a prerogative and a requirement of
modern day learners, paving the way for the future of learning.
3 Design
3.1
Learning Pedagogies
ARieL as a project takes into consideration inter-departmental disciplinary fields, such as ICT, Architecture and Design,
and Communications students, with a main focus on a target audience of tertiary education students. This means that the
learning strategies and pedagogies employed aim to fit in with Faculty programme of studies and educational curricula.
Although ARieL aims to exploit the students‟ capability to co-create it also aims to establish whether such forms of
learning are indeed accepted by the students as individual learning objects and whether target aims are reached through
the utilisation of virtual worlds within the realms of teaching. ARieL aims to revolutionise a pedagogical concept in
such a manner as to have students develop teaching blocks for their own learning, thus exploring and augmenting the
concept of having students actively build and shape their own learning.
This is also in line with testing out the pedagogical principles which many are attributing to e-learning 2.0
Following in the tracks of Web 2.0, e-learning 2.0 is shaped from concepts built upon the application of technology.
Although it seems that in the early days of instructional design more focus was given to learners, content and
environment, e-learning 2.0‟s spotlight is more on platforms and technologies used [12]The learning design in ARieL is
built upon concepts of:
 User generation of content;
 Using the “pulling” model versus the “pushing” model which is applied in the traditional teaching; the pulling
model refers to methods whereby learners access and make use of content when and how they need it,
enhancing the pervasiveness of learning access [12];
 Making use of different forms of media (audio-visual) to disseminate content in order to attract and disengage
attention;
o Use of asynchronous designs to ensure non-linear navigational control – learners in SL do not need to
follow a set trajectory of motion rendering more flexibility to the experience
o Use of simple concise exposition when it comes to delivering content
o Use of multiple modalities when it comes to explaining complex processes
o Use of repetition
o Use of Pedagogic Learning Agents (PALs) to reinforce social constructivist presence in learning
approaches [16]
 Making use of semantic technology not only for the sake of applying the 2.0 technology forms but to enable
easier knowledge access.
3.2
Building Blocks
This project took form from the department of AI‟s (University of Malta) objective of developing more interdepartmental collaboration making use of new and innovative forms of teaching. The initial proposal of making use of
virtual worlds to come up with a more flexible and dynamic form of e-learning was coupled with adding more
intelligence. Students have been given ownership rights in SL virtual world to be able to construct and work in
collaborative groups experimenting with adding intelligence to objects which they create. The initial pilot study sees AI
students carrying out several mini-projects in SL. However ARieL aims to extend such a possibility to the other
departments on campus, giving students the possibility to carry out work together in merging technology with design.
The students were given targets which they needed to explore in SL with the aim of producing:
 Objects, artefacts, sites and/or buildings reconstructed as 3-D models in SL;
 To produce intelligent agent models as autonomous/semi-autonomous avatars in SL;
 To develop simple conversational agents within SL.
3.3
From 3D to Web 2.0
The movement of the 3D virtual world is spreading. As statistics show [9] the residents logged in SL, in April and May,
amounted to 1,066,611. However this presence of residents in the virtual world is not really indicative of the challenges
encountered by a number of university campuses and other educational virtual worlds. It seems that many suffer from:
1. Lack of resident presence
2. Lack of giving out assistance in using the technology and navigation [2]
It has also been noted that when it comes to campuses, educational worlds and even museums found in SL, most often
there is no accompaniment to the graphics, rendering the experience almost static. Avatars end up wandering in the
virtual world without meaningful scope.
ARieL aims to go beyond this and try to tackle these challenges by starting out with implementing its mission. ARieL
wishes to create an environment which does not stand on its own, without any avatar presence. Residents are not invited
to log into SL for the sake of having logged in. When residents log in, they do so with a scope which is complementary
to the activities and classes happening in the „real‟ world campus. This also reflects the basic premise that this virtual
world project doesn‟t aim to remove „real life‟ campuses and classroom practices. It also ensures that there is resident
presence when it is needed and residents do not log in to find an empty virtual campus. This also paves the way for the
second challenge which can be described as the lack of assistance, in terms not only of notices but also in terms of
information management. ARieL aims to exploit SL, and shift from simply producing a 3D world and stopping there,
towards producing an augmented reality with meaning, ergo Semantics. Use of semantics in order to add more meaning
to the content, rendering interoperability with various external applications, all making use of web services will in our
opinion add more functionality to the virtual world.
It is also interesting to note that ARieL also proposes the use of „resident agents‟ or „avatars‟ ever present in the virtual
world, whose aim is to offer assistance to residents‟ avatars who might need guidance in carrying out certain tasks, or
simply to offer easier information access.
An additional set of tools, merging folksonomies, or rather user-generated taxonomies and semantics, will aim to
generate a framework which will aid residents in SL to create, generate and reuse content thus enhancing the social
networking environment. This is being done in preparation for inter-departmental collaborations, between residents who
might have advanced technical know-how and residents who might have less technical know-how but who are
nonetheless encouraged and motivated to contribute actively to knowledge created and generated on the virtual campus.
ARieL aims to create a framework which allows residents as avatars to tag, share, remix and discuss content, without
having to know RDF and complex XML requirements as it will be generated behind the scenes.
This approach will thus mitigate the threats and weaknesses pertaining to SL use whilst increasing the strengths of this
augmented reality application, and enhancing the opportunity for more learning through collaborative practices.
4 A Case-Study
The University of Malta has put forward an initial case study where students from the Department of AI, have been
asked to experiment with SL and generate the building blocks of ARieL. Students created avatars, which avatars were
then given enough ownership rights to be able to build and generate objects on SL. The aim of this first pilot study was
to make allowances for creativity. Students were only limited by the building block objectives set as requirements for
the mini-projects. Students were asked to start including basic intelligence to the 3D structures which they were
producing, as well as to start experimenting with agents and the use of voice in the virtual environment.
The case objects which the various students produced included a draughts playing environment where the avatars can
Figure 1 - University of Malta pilot virtual campus
Figure 3 – Playing Chess
Figure 2 – Some 3D objects in University of Malta
virtual land
Figure 4 – Computer assistance during play
choose to play chess either against another avatar or else against the computer itself. Avatars are guided by means of
assistive text which shows on screen and which advises them what to do. Therefore the approaching avatar would be
„advised to take a seat, and choose which colour he/she would like to play. He/she would then be pre-empted to choose
an opponent. Once the opponent is chosen the game can be paused or restarted, and the player is informed about the
moves taking place.
A second mini-project involved a similar „game‟ where the avatar is invited to play against the computer in a game of
simple mine-sweeper, using black versus white. The „advisory‟ text comes up on screen, showing the player the moves
which have been done.
This initial pilot study aimed to give indicative measures in terms of interest, motivation, stimulation as well as learning
strategies which can be practiced. The pilot study will now need to go through the second phase, involving evaluation
and testing with the premise of modifying and improving the various factors involved, from a pedagogic, technology
and content perspective, in order to bridge the gap and produce a seamless e-learning environment. Such an
environment will not only give rise to considerations based on use of platform and accompanying technologies, but it
will also be considered as a “learnscape” – an experiential and innovative approach to learning by doing within
augmented reality.
5 Further Research
New Media Consortium (NMC), consisting of 200 leading universities and museums has been dedicating research and
development effort in a bid to explore uses of new media and technologies for educational purposes. NMC is already in
the process of testing out this virtual environment for a range of educational activities, such as art exhibits and in-world
sessions exploring the concept of how virtual worlds can enable unique environments for digital storytelling as a means
of learning.
ARieL aims to make use of such methods in order to test the flexibility, feasibility, with a detailed SWOT analysis,
towards achieving inter-departmental collaboration between ICT students and students from the Architecture and design
students. Further research will include the investigation of applying and adding intelligence to the virtual world avatars,
in conjunction with setting up a „virtual blended learning environment‟ where traditionally structured courses are set up
in SL and managed „artificially‟ by intelligent agents disguised as avatars. Future research will also include the
application of natural language and its implications in the educational impact of SL. As has been shown over time,
conversation has been at the basis of many practices in education. SL, although containing the basic functionalities to
use voice in order to have people converse naturally still lacks in the projection of more expressive avatars, and the use
of natural language in order to achieve more functionality to the virtual reality. The integration of platforms and
external applications demand more interoperability and application of standards. The use Semantics and Semantic WebServices will thus be made use of to provide the necessary standards integration adding more functionality and more
usability within the realm of virtual worlds launching them from being simple 3D social networks, towards more
holistic educational experiences.
In addition, ARieL will also investigate the use of Sloodle in SL [10]. Sloodle will be used to merge together the virtual
environment, thus augmented reality and 3D construction with interactive scripts, to the Moodle Learning system
containing amongst others structured lessons, threaded discussions, assignment drop boxes and grading. This merger
will bring about SL Object Oriented Distance Learning Environment, or Sloodle.
It is also expected that ARieL explores other virtual worlds amongst which the open source 3D software development
environment for use in creating and deploying collaborative multi-user online applications and virtual, amongst which
The Croquet Consortium [11].
6 Conclusions
O‟Driscoll et al. [8] believe that
as with most breakthrough technologies, Virtual Worlds are somewhat a solution looking for a problem. VWs can
provide a platform for collaboration, community, and commerce, but so can a sofa. Aside from entertainment
appeal, what's new here?
In reality, what this paper aimed to address is that a problem truly exists…and the problem is in fact called „Change‟.
The change in times is demanding a change in technology, due to the pervasiveness of the technology itself and the way
that society has been ensnared in its mesh. Education, which is at the roots of civilised society, is thus being affected by
this change, and this pre-empts for adaptability. Learners, employers, research, industry have been sustaining this
evolutionary change from times when distance education was practiced using media such as TV and radio up to current
times, when virtual worlds, augmented reality and artificial intelligence are becoming the order of the day.
Virtual Worlds aim to delve more freedom in engaging different forms of learning. O‟Driscoll et al. [8] conclude by
referring to virtual worlds as „Learnscapes‟ -learning/working ecosystems which constitute the following elements:
 Flow in balancing inactivity and challenge.
 Repetition allowing learners to repeat their experimentation until they are satisfied with the outcomes.
 Experimentation in encouraging learners to try and learn in the process.
 Experience which is more engaging than other digitally mediated technologies.
 Doing through practice.
 Observing through an essential communication platform.
 Motivation stimulated by the people‟s own active part.
So what conclusions can be drawn? The industrial-age approach has indeed added barriers between the „classroom‟
setting and the real world. However complaints have too often been heard that graduates do not have the experience, the
creativity and the motivation to be innovative and to be problem solvers. And where does that lead? Virtual Worlds,
exploited as they should be may well provide an answer. They have the potential to evolve into a common world whose
„life‟ is dependent on the innovation and motivation of the users. It is meant to bring everyone together on the same
field through their own active participation. It has the potential of replacing rigidity with more flexibility, activity,
interactivity and dynamicity shifting from the tangible world, that people are used to, towards an intangible world of
knowledge, where the risk of innovation and creativity knows no boundaries.
The final conclusive remark is that all this has been spurned from the aspiration to solve one problem…how to deal
with the technological revolution…a change which seems to have been brought about by the needs of humanity. Such a
revolutionary change is in fact fuelled in constant motion by the input and the attitude of society at large. Virtual
worlds…augmented reality….artificial intelligence are merely additional resources in the hands of people, to be used
and exploited as a means to improving the quality of life.
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