Researchers have explored the benefits and applications of virtual reality (VR) in different scenarios. VR possesses much potential and its application in education has seen much research interest lately. However, little systematic work currently exists on how researchers have applied immersive VR for higher education purposes that considers the usage of both high-end and budget head-mounted displays (HMDs). Hence, we propose using systematic mapping to identify design elements of existing research dedicated to the application of VR in higher education. The reviewed articles were acquired by extracting key information from documents indexed in four scientific digital libraries, which were filtered systematically using exclusion, inclusion, semi-automatic, and manual methods. Our review emphasizes three key points: the current domain structure in terms of the learning contents, the VR design elements, and the learning theories, as a foundation for successful VR-based learning. The mapping was conducted between application domains and learning contents and between design elements and learning contents. Our analysis has uncovered several gaps in the application of VR in the higher education sphere—for instance, learning theories were not often considered in VR application development to assist and guide toward learning outcomes. Furthermore, the evaluation of educational VR applications has primarily focused on usability of the VR apps instead of learning outcomes and immersive VR has mostly been a part of experimental and development work rather than being applied regularly in actual teaching. Nevertheless, VR seems to be a promising sphere as this study identifies 18 application domains, indicating a better reception of this technology in many disciplines. The identified gaps point toward unexplored regions of VR design for education, which could motivate future work in the field.

A systematic review of immersive virtual reality applications for higher education: Design elements, lessons learned, and research agenda

In 1965 Ivan E. Sutherland envisioned the Ultimate Display, a room in which a computer can directly control the existence of matter.
This type of display would merge the digital and the physical world, dramatically changing how people interact with computers.
This thesis explores flat displays, deformable displays, flexible materials, static, and mobile projection displays in dynamic environments. 
%Dynamic environments are inherent to human behavior, but pose big problems to Human-Computer Interaction since computing devices rely on many assumptions of the interaction.
Two aspects of the dynamic environment are considered. One is mobile human nature -- a person moving through or inside an environment. The other is the change or movement of the environment itself.

The initial study consisted of a mixed reality application, based on recent motor learning research. It tested if a performer's attentional focus on markers external to the body improves the accuracy and duration of acquiring a motor skill, as compared with the performer focusing on their own body accompanied by verbal instructions. This experiment showed the need for displays that resemble physical reality. 


Deformable displays and Organic User Interfaces (OUIs) leverage shape, material, and the inherent properties of matter in order to create natural, intuitive forms of interaction. We suggested designing OUIs employing depth sensors as 3D input, deformable displays as 3D output, and identifying attributes that couple matter to human perception and motor skills. 

Flexible materials were explored by developing a soft gripper able to hold everyday objects of various shapes and sizes. It did not use complex hardware or control algorithms, but rather combined sheets of flexible plastic materials and a single servo motor.
The gripper showed how a simple design with a minimal control mechanism can solve a complex problem in a dynamic environment.
It serves as an example application for merging the digital and the physical through flexible materials, embodied computation, and actuation.

The next two experiments merge digital information with the physical dynamic environment by using mobile and static projectors.
The mobile projector experiment consisted of GPS navigation using a bike-mounted projector, displaying a map on the pavement in front of the bike. We found out that if compared with a bike-mounted smartphone, the mobile projector yields a lower cognitive load for the map navigation task. 
A dynamic space emerges from the navigation task requirements, and the projected display becomes a part of the physical environment. 

In the final experiment, a person interacts with a changing, growing environment, on which digital information is projected from above using a static projector. The interactive space consists of cardboard building blocks, the arrangement of which are limited by the area of projection. The user adds cardboard blocks to the cluster based upon feedback projected from above.
Concepts from artificial intelligence and architecture were applied for understanding the interaction between the environment, the user, the morphology, and the material of the physical building system.

https://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/198101/198101.pdf

The Ultimate Display

From computer games to human societies, many natural and artificial phenomena can be represented as multi-agent systems. Over time, these systems have been proven a really powerful tool for modelling and understanding phenomena in fields, such as economics and trading, health care, urban planning and social sciences. However, although, intelligent agents have been around for years, their actual implementation is still in its early stages. Since the late nineties many agent platforms have been developed. Some of them have already been abandoned whereas others continue releasing new versions. On the other hand, the agent-oriented research community is still providing more and more new platforms. This vast amount of platform options leads to a high degree of heterogeneity. Hence, a common problem is how people interested in using multi-agent systems should choose which platform to use in order to benefit from agent technology. This decision was usually left to word of mouth, past experiences or platform publicity, lately however people depend on solid survey articles. To date, in most cases multi-agent system surveys describe only the basic characteristics of a few representatives without even providing any classification of the systems themselves. This article presents a comparative up-to-date review of the most promising existing agent platforms that can be used. It is based on universal comparison and evaluation criteria, proposing classifications for helping readers to understand which agent platforms broadly exhibit similar properties and in which situations which choices should be made.

A Survey of Agent Platforms

Smart technologies and connected objects are rapidly changing the organizational frontline. Yet, our understanding of how these technologies infuse service encounters remains limited. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to update existing classifications of Frontline Service Technology (FST) infusion. Moreover, the authors discuss three promising smart and connected technologies – conversational agents, extended reality (XR) and blockchain technology – and their respective implications for customers, frontline employees and service organizations.,This paper uses a conceptual approach integrating existing work on FST infusion with artificial intelligence, robotics, XR and blockchain literature, while also building on insights gathered through expert interviews and focus group conversations with members of two service research centers.,The authors define FST and propose a set of FST infusion archetypes at the organizational frontline. Additionally, the authors develop future research directions focused on understanding how conversational agents, XR and blockchain technology will impact service.,This paper updates and extends existing classifications of FST, while paving the road for further work on FST infusion.

Frontline Service Technology infusion: conceptual archetypes and future research directions

This article provides the first review of the existing literature consolidating research into the use of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies within K–12 educational environments. The ...

Virtual, augmented and mixed reality in K–12 education: a review of the literature

In recent years, an increasing number of Mixed Reality (MR) applications have been developed using agent technology - both for the underlying software and as an interface metaphor However, no unifying field or theory currently exists that can act as a common frame of reference for these varied works As a result, much duplication of research is evidenced in the literature This paper seeks to fill this important gap by outlining ''for the first time'' a formal field of research that has hitherto gone unacknowledged, namely the field of Mixed Reality Agents (MiRAs), which are defined as agents embodied in a Mixed Reality environment Based on this definition, a taxonomy is offered that classifies MiRAs along three axes: agency, based on the weak and strong notions outlined by Wooldridge and Jennings (1995); corporeal presence, which describes the degree of virtual or physical representation (body) of a MiRA; and interactive capacity, which characterises its ability to sense and act on the virtual and physical environment Furthermore, this paper offers the first comprehensive survey of the state-of-the-art of MiRA research and places each project within the proposed taxonomy Finally, common trends and future directions for MiRA research are discussed By defining Mixed Reality Agents as a formal field, establishing a common taxonomy, and retrospectively placing existing MiRA projects within it, future researchers can effectively position their research within this landscape, thereby avoiding duplication and fostering reuse and interoperability

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MiRA-Mixed Reality Agents

Addressing the obesity epidemic that plagues many societies remains an outstanding public health issue. One innovative approach to addressing this problem is Exergaming. A combination of "Exercise" and "Gaming", the objective is to motivate people participate in exercise regimes, usually in their home environment. In this paper a more holistic interpretation of this exercise paradigm is proposed. Freegaming augments Exergaming in a number of key dimensions but especially through the promotion of games in outdoor mobile contexts and within a social environment. The design and implementation of a platform for Freegaming is described and illustrated through the description of a sample game.

/pdf/freegaming-mobile-collaborative-adaptive-and-augmented-89kudh6onk.pdf

FreeGaming: mobile, collaborative, adaptive and augmented exergaming

This paper outlines a Tele-presence framework to facilitate teaching in future mixed reality spaces. In a world where the increasing use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are beginning to compete with traditional university education, due in part to the rapid increase in student fees across the world, is there a middle ground where the advantages of MOOC's can be balanced with advantages of traditional teaching spaces? This future mixed reality space diverges from other Multi-User Virtual Learning Environments (MUVLE) by aiming to create mixed reality spaces in which the lecturer and students can not only be virtually present anywhere in the world, but also be physically present. The work presented here is to discuss the current state of technologies and explore the multiple issues, both social and technical, of providing such a resource to students in the future. The first step in order to create this space was to model a real world location that could also be used as a Mixed Reality Campus; this was carried out using 3D modelling tools and runs a simulation using a game engine that supports the Oculus VR HMD / VIVE HMD. Users would able to explore this space utilising different interfaces, from a desktop interface to a full 3D immersive interface, using the HTC VIVE. Webcams, 360 panorama video and 2D holograms create a shared space that will allow 2D holographic lecturers to be a virtual entity in the real world lecture room. This was achieved using inexpensive reflective films allowing for projection onto glass. This paper proposes a future Mixed Reality Space that combines these technologies and will allow both lecturers and students to maintain a joint space supporting the constructivist teaching and the traditional approaches.

Future mixed reality educational spaces

Over the last number of years, multiple research projects have begun to create augmented reality (AR) applications that use augmented reality agents, or AuRAs, as their principle interaction and development paradigm. This paper aims to address this new and distinct field of AuRAs by asking three questions: why should AuRAs be researched, when are they a useful paradigm, and how can they be developed? The first question explores the motivation behind applying AuRAs to AR. Specifically, it investigates whether AuRAs are purely an interaction paradigm, or whether they can also serve as a development paradigm, by outlining in which circumstances it is appropriate for a project to use AuRAs and where their addition would only add unnecessary complexity. A navigational experiment, performed in simulated AR, explores the second question of when AuRAs can be a useful concept in AR applications. Results from this experiment suggest that an embodied virtual character allows for faster navigation along a shorter route than directional arrows or marking the target with an AR "bubble". An exploration of the limitations of the simulated AR environment illuminates how faithfully the experiment recreated the environmental challenges that AuRAs can help to address. Finally, the question of how to develop such applications is addressed through the introduction of the agent factory augmented reality toolkit that allows the rapid prototyping of such applications. Results from a usability study on the toolkit are also presented.

Why, when and how to use augmented reality agents (AuRAs)

Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) storytelling is a concept that merges ground-breaking virtual reality technology with the traditional art of storytelling. Virtual reality storytelling offers a rare opportunity to present abstract experiences that challenge boundaries, heighten emotions, and convey previously intangible concepts. Scientific research into immersive virtual reality storytelling is still in its infancy, particularly regarding the field of education in Nursing and Midwifery. Therefore, this study set out to investigate the subjective experience of using an immersive virtual reality storytelling experience as an active pedagogy. This was an evaluative study incorporating a multimodal approach encompassing a cross-sectional survey and observational study conducted in a large University in Ireland, offering major undergraduate and graduate degree programmes in the fields of Nursing and Midwifery. Students were invited to view the innovative virtual reality storytelling experience “Wonderful You” (BHD Immersive) that tells the story of the first 9 months of a baby’s life inside the woman’s womb. On completion, students were asked to complete an anonymous survey about their experience. Observational studies were also carried out, examining the student’s engagement and interaction with the iVR experience. A combination of statistical and thematic qualitative analysis was employed to interpret the respective summative rating scale and open-ended response questions in the evaluation survey. Data captured from the observations were grouped into categories and analysed capturing key themes. A response rate of 71.2% (n = 94) identified iVR storytelling as a memorable learning experience that triggered students’ engagement and motivation to learn. IVR storytelling enabled students to visualise and better understand abstract concepts. Qualitative analysis of narrative responses revealed the positive evaluations of the iVR storytelling experience. Observational studies further revealed students were highly engaged and interacted positively with the iVR storytelling experience. The full potential of this new medium of iVR storytelling has yet to be seen. However, this study provides an encouraging insight into the positive attributes of iVR storytelling that engages students and creates authentic active learning experiences.

/pdf/nursing-midwifery-students-experience-of-immersive-virtual-1yt52zax7x.pdf

Abraham G. Campbell

Papers

MiRA-Mixed Reality Agents

FreeGaming: mobile, collaborative, adaptive and augmented exergaming

Future mixed reality educational spaces

Why, when and how to use augmented reality agents (AuRAs)

Nursing & Midwifery students' experience of immersive virtual reality storytelling: an evaluative study.