13th Brown Bag Meeting by the department of Interaction Science
| subject |
Technology Meets the Mind: Teaching and Influencing with Rich Virtual Experiences |
| date |
2010-11-16 ~ 2010-11-16 (AM11:00 ~ 12:00) |
| location |
90402 International Hall, SKKU |
| participant |
* Speaker: Dr. Charles B. Owen (Associate Professor,Computer Science and Engineering,Michigan State University)
Director of the MSU Media, Interface, and Network Design Lab (M.I.N.D.)
Directory of the Media and Entertainment Technologies Laboratory (METLAB)
* Language: English |
| summary |
There is plenty of evidence that rich virtual experiences such as immersive virtual environments (IVEs) and modern computer games can have teaching value. However, this knowledge in the abstract has led to few practical real-world systems. The programs cost too much to develop and it is not always clear what design elements result in real influence on behavior or learning. At the M.I.N.D. and METLABs have been exploring both of these areas. The Nightlife video game is a large computer game designed to teach safer sexual behaviors to inner-city young adults. During the development of the Nightlife game, we explored ways to build very large gaming systems with a relatively small and inexperienced staff. Indeed, most of the system was built using undergraduate student labor. The work led to the development of the SimDialog game authoring system, a system for automating the creation of large, dialog-intensive computer games. The project also explores how casual play of a well-designed video game can influence sexual behaviors with the goal of decreasing risky behaviors. The Undercover UXO game is designed to teach children in Cambodia how to recognize unexploded ordinance. This project examines both the issues of creating an interesting and educational game on the minimalistic One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) platform and how to reach an audience with little or no knowledge of or experience with computers. Another recent project explores how to use immersive virtual environments to teach mathematics to middle school children. This project explores both the technology to move an IVE into the classroom and a pedagogical approach that can enhance the classroom experience and leverage the advantages of embodied cognition. This talk will discuss the design experiences of these and other systems and how we are leveraging that experience and knowledge into new immersive applications.
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