An approach to develop intelligent learning environments by means of immersive virtual worlds Articles uri icon

publication date

  • March 2014

start page

  • 237

end page

  • 255

issue

  • 2

volume

  • 6

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1876-1364

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1876-1372

abstract

  • Merging Immersive Virtual Environments, Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence techniques provides a number of advantages to develop Intelligent Environments for multiple applications. This paper is focused on the application of these technologies to develop intelligent learning environments. Education is one of the most interesting applications of immersive virtual environments, as their flexibility can be exploited in order to create heterogeneous groups from all over the world who can collaborate synchronously in different virtual spaces. We highlight the potential of virtual worlds as an educative tool and propose a model to create learning environments within Second Life or OpenSimulator combining the Moodle learning management system, embodied conversational metabots, and programmable 3D objects. Our proposal has been applied in several subjects of the Computer Science degree in the Carlos III University of Madrid. The results of the evaluation show that developed learning environment fosters engagement and collaboration and helps students to better understand complex concepts.

subjects

  • Computer Science

keywords

  • intelligent environments; immersive virtual worlds; e-learning; conversational agents; second life; opensimulator; sloodle; speech interaction