2009 Horizon Report Australia-New Zealand Edition

2

Two to Three Years: Virtual, Augmented, and Alternate Realities

More and more, educational institutions are seeking ways to embed rich, immersive experiences as part of teaching and learning. One approach — virtual worlds — appeared on the near term horizon last year, and many effective applications for learning in such environments have emerged. Virtual worlds are a subset of the larger category of immersive experiences described here and can be characterised as representing one end of a continuum of activities that blend the virtual and the real in varying proportions. Institutions are beginning to experiment with activities all along that continuum and are overlaying technology onto the real world via augmented reality, alternate reality, and other approaches. Each of these combines aspects of the virtual and the real to create rich experiences that surpass either mode alone.

Overview

As thinking around how humans interact with machines has evolved, it has become clear that there are many ways to create technology-mediated immersive experiences. This category, Virtual, Augmented, and Alternate Realities, views these three approaches (traditionally often thought of as very different from one another) as related in their use of technology to create a hybrid experience that is both engaging and immersive. Each uses technology to immerse the participant in a sea of data not normally available via the five senses of our ordinary lives.

These heightened experiences can be viewed as lying along a continuum, with highly virtual experiences at one end and highly physical experiences at the other. Activities that take place in Second Life, Blue Mars, OpenSim, and other virtual worlds fall nearer the virtual end, as do more contextualised immersive experiences such as the use of flight simulators. On the other side, the pendulum swings toward real- life activities modulated by virtual aspects, such as alternate reality games. Toward the middle we find augmented reality and physical activities enhanced with handheld and other devices. Each of these practices is grounded in different approaches and makes use of different technologies, but they all share the characteristic of blurring the boundaries between the virtual and the real.

Virtual reality is the practice of inserting a user into a simulated environment via an avatar which has movement and sensory features much as a human would. Augmented reality, on the other hand, is the practice of overlaying virtual information onto the real world. The technology has been in use in disciplines such as medicine, engineering, the sciences, and archaeology for some time. Until very recently, specialised equipment was required, but smaller, cheaper means of creating and perceiving augmented reality are now emerging. For example, there are astronomy applications for mobiles that overlay accurate star charts onto the sky; the user simply holds up the phone, looking at the sky on the screen through the mobile’s camera. Stars, constellations, and other bodies are identified by labels overlaid on the screen. The same technology is used to annotate buildings on a street, labelling storefronts and restaurants with reviews and user ratings. The ability to describe real objects with virtual annotations is a powerful tool, and we are now seeing new advances that suggest that more common use is not far away.

Across the spectrum from virtual worlds we find alternate reality games. These are collaborative problem-solving activities that typically take days, weeks, or even months to solve. Clues are hidden in the physical world that lead players to information in different locations — on the web, on a phone message, or even to another physical clue. The clues are blended with real objects so that it is often difficult to notice them for those who are not attuned to the game; for instance, a clue might be found in a message on a billboard, or in a quick response (QR) code stapled to a telephone pole, or on a sign in a shop window. Some alternate reality games can be played with tools as simple as pencil, paper, and occasional Internet access, though mobiles are often used to record or access clues. The experience is immersive in the sense that the world of the game is the same world the players inhabit all the time.

Relevance for Teaching, Learning, and Creative Enquiry

The kinds of experiences enabled by these hybrid realities are engaging by nature. Wherever they are located on the spectrum from virtual to physical, immersive activities draw students deeper into the content and processes as they learn. Once the mechanics of the activity are mastered — moving and communicating in a virtual world, or finding and following clues in an alternate reality game — the activity itself becomes the main focus. There is a tremendous opportunity to make the content come alive for the learner.

Virtual and alternate realities also allow students to have experiences they could not otherwise have. In virtual worlds, medical students can diagnose and treat simulated patients, prescribe drugs and observe their effects, and use complicated or expensive equipment, without the risks of failure inherent in the real world. Students can tour dangerous or inaccessible facilities and observe natural phenomena from impossible viewpoints, such as experiencing a tsunami from the ocean floor. Augmented reality can make hidden things visible; pedestrians on the street can see subway tunnels below them, athletes can watch the inner workings of muscles and tendons overlaid on an arm or leg, and the structural elements of a building can be revealed to architecture students during a tour.

Alternate reality games are an ideal platform for challenge-based learning opportunities in which students must work together to address a real problem or issue facing their community or the larger world. For instance, in World Without Oil (http://worldwithoutoil.org), an alternate reality game about the first 32 weeks of a global oil crisis, players created stories about how the crisis affected their lives and what they saw happening around them as the world’s oil supply collapsed. World Without Oil ran for one month in 2007. As a result of participating in the game, players report that they lowered their utility bills, changed their consumption habits, and encouraged their communities to take steps to do the same. A similar example is Superstruct (http://www.superstructgame.org), in which players collaboratively reinvented the world by describing what it will be like in 2019.

A sampling of applications of virtual, augmented, and alternate realities across disciplines includes the following:

• Dentistry. Faculty and students at the Medical College of Georgia School for Dentistry collaborated with game developers at BreakAway, Ltd. to design the Virtual Dental Implant Training Simulation, a program that allows students to work with and treat simulated patients. Students conduct interviews, choose a procedure, select the tools to carry it out, and perform it on their simulated patients.
• History. At the University of Leicester, advanced students of history participate in an alternate reality game to engage the students with historical research and teach them key skills. The Great History Conundrum was developed to replace a first-year research skills course that the students were previously required to take.
• Media Studies. The Laboratory of Advanced Media Production (LAMP) at the Australian Film Television and Radio School offers graduate certificates in multiplatform game development, virtual worlds development, and more.

Virtual, Augmented, and Alternate Realities in Practice

The following links provide examples of educational applications of alternative input devices.

The Island of Jokaydia
http://jokaydia.com
The island of Jokaydia, located in Second Life, is an exploration of the uses of virtual worlds in education, arts, and social change. A vibrant community of artists and educators occupy this virtual island; they support a number of educational endeavours, such as professional development, formal and informal meetings, and instruction for newcomers to Second Life.

A Lesson in Architecture
http://slenz.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/the-slenz-update-no-63-april-2-2009
Third-year architecture students from the University of Auckland had the opportunity to design and build in Second Life. Their work was critiqued by others, including members of the community and practising architects.

Hoodlum
http://www.hoodlum.com.au
Hoodlum is a company that creates cross media experiences for businesses. The immersive experiences encourage audiences to move between media forms to participate in a storytelling event.

Second Life New Zealand
http://slenz.wordpress.com
Second Life Education New Zealand (SLENZ), New Zealand’s virtual world education group, has created a virtual research centre in Second Life to study effective uses of multi-user virtual environments.

Stock Track: Global Portfolio Simulations
http://www.stocktrak.com
People interested in economics can explore market simulation games, which allow users to purchase stocks with simulated money. Painless lessons of risk-reward are explored in this game. Also see the article Market Simulation Games Promote Education, Fun, Sense of Community at http://www.stocktrak.com/pdf/NationalPost_Oct09_2008.pdf.

Virtual Worlds – Real Learning!
http://virtualworlds.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/homepage.htm
This Australian-based website offers information about the benefits of virtual worlds in education. The project was designed to capitalise on the willingness of students to engage in virtual worlds by using a range of pedagogical activities to move learners from playing to an enhanced learning experience.

Zombie Truth: Preparing for the Z1 Pandemic
http://zombietruth.com
This alternate reality game is based on the spread of a virus that turns humans into zombies. Players sift through clues to uncover research into the virus, trace its spread, and discover ways to combat it.

For Further Reading

The following articles and resources are recommended for those who wish to learn more about virtual, augmented, and alternate realities.

7 Things You Should Know About Alternate Reality Games
http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutAlter/163614
(ELI, EDUCAUSE, January 2009.) This succinct report describes alternate reality games and identifies their educational uses, drawbacks, and potential for development.

Alternate Reality Games for Developing Student Autonomy and Peer Learning
http://lick2008.wikispaces.com/file/view/Strand+1+-+Nicola+Whitton+-+V1+Paper.pdf
(Nicola Whitton, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2008.) The educational uses of alternate reality games (ARGs) are discussed in this paper, including an introduction to the topic and a review of the benefits of using ARGs in the classroom.

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research: Pedagogy, Education and Innovation in Virtual Worlds
http://www.jvwresearch.org
(Jeremiah Spence, editor, Journal of Virtual Worlds Research.) The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research includes many articles regarding education and virtual worlds, spanning topics from physics to media studies.

The Open Polytechnic Explores Augmented Reality Distance Education
http://www.hitlabnz.org/wiki/The_Open_Polytechnic_explores_Augmented_Reality_ Distance_Education
A collaborative project of HITLabNZ and the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand seeks to utilise Hitlab’s augmented reality software, BuildAR, in the Polytechnic’s engineering classes.

Papermotion Experience Lets Readers see Interactive
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25458440-5001021,00.html
(Stephen Fenech, The Daily Telegraph, 11 May 2009.) Learn how an Australian newspaper incorporated augmented reality into a daily edition.

Sci-fi Learning: The Power of PoV
http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2009/?page_ id=19
(Leigh Blackall, Simon Brown, and Vicki Marchant, The Knowledge Tree: Edition 18, 2009.) This article describes point-of-view or wearable technologies and some of their applications for teaching and learning.

Virtual Experience of Risk-Based Learning (Verbl)
http://verbl.flexiblelearning.net.au/Immersive_elearning/pdfs_for_release/2_VERBL_model_ overview.pdf
(Delia Bradshaw, et al., Commonwealth of Australia, 2008.) This paper describes ways to use immersive environments to safely train students or employees who will undertake risk- based behaviour (for example, responding to individuals under the influence of alcohol or drugs).

Delicious: Virtual, Augmented, and Alternate Realities
http://delicious.com/tag/hz09au+virtual_reality
(Australia–New Zealand Horizon Advisory Board and Friends, 2009.) Follow this link to find resources tagged for this topic and this edition of the Horizon Report, including the ones listed here. To add to this list, simply tag resources with “hz09au” and “virtual_reality” when you save them to Delicious.