The Evaluation of SHU3DED Cyber Campus – A pilot study Louis Nisiotis, Martin Beer, Elizabeth Uruchurtu Sheffield Hallam University Cultural Communication and Computing Research Institute (C3RI) Sheffield, United Kingdom louis.nisiotis@students.shu.ac.uk , m.beer@shu.ac.uk , e.uruchurtu@shu.ac.uk Abstract— This paper presents the preliminary findings of an empirical study that aims to evaluate the efficacy of 3D virtual worlds for synchronous distant learning activities. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the prototype developed, the procedures and instruments of data collection, to prepare the study investigating whether virtual worlds can help students participate more effectively in learning activities. The theoretical framework is presented, together with the proposed prototype, method and results of the pilot study, its associated limitations and the future work that we intend to perform. Keywords: virtual worlds; cyber campus; MUVE; pilot study; I. INTRODUCTION The use of technology for education has drawn a lot of attention in the past decade, concentrating on how to enhance learning activities and support students’ needs. However, some students face issues that restrict them from attending the university, missing important learning experiences through personal interaction with both the staff and their peers. One of the solutions used to facilitate computer-mediated learning is virtual worlds, in the form of cyber campuses. The ability of cyber campuses to allow students participate more effectively in learning activities has been empirically investigated, using a prototype that has been developed. To prepare for this investigation, a pilot study has been conducted to assess the procedures and data collection instruments and is discussed in this paper. II. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT There are many reasons why some students cannot attend university. To support them, a range of learning material delivery tools e.g. Blackboard are provided, facilitating E-Learning technologies through distance. E- Learning is capable of supporting learning using various multimedia techniques over the Internet, enabling users to exchange knowledge using asynchronous or synchronous communications in their own time and pace [1], providing opportunities for more accessible education. However, the conventional distant learning environments currently in use are considered “socially dry” [2], therefore the important learning experiences that can be obtained when students attend and participate in learning cannot be replicated. As a result of technology mediated learning through distance, traditional E-Learning lacks of human-to-human interaction [3]. This has been taken into consideration and the use of virtual worlds in the form of cyber campuses has started to develop. Cyber campuses are specially designed meeting points that operate on Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVE’s), in which users gather and exchange learning materials, communicate and collaborate in a state of the art 3D environment [4]. Cyber campuses offer shared 3D spaces that support variety of multimedia presentation techniques, tools for synchronous interaction and communication, enhancing socialization among users [5]. Using a virtual representations of themselves (avatars), students navigate and interact with their peers and learning materials in the virtual world and can also create and interact with virtual objects, achieving the “immersion” feeling of being there [6]. Taking these attributes into account, cyber campuses are considered as an effective vehicle for learning support [7]. III. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The theoretical framework of this research is based on 1) the methodology for evaluating the efficacy of MUVE’s for synchronous distant learning proposed by [8] and 2) on empirical investigation of the ability of virtual worlds to overcome barriers of access and participation in learning. In a MUVE, learning is strongly related to student perceptions of presence, communication, awareness and the feeling of belonging to a community [8]. This methodology enables us to evaluate the efficacy of our cyber campus prototype to support synchronous distant learning activities. Our research then aims to investigate how virtual worlds may allow students participate more effectively in learning activities. One of the most important features of 3D virtual environments is the strong presence sensation that they provide compared to 2D environments [9], generating immersion, which is the feeling of the user’s actual presence in the environment [10]. Immersion enhances collaboration and socialization [7] and is strongly related to learning; “increasing presence also increases learning and performance” [8]. According to [8], presence factor is not enough when measuring users experience on MUVE and they propose additional factors comprising awareness, communication and sociability. Awareness relates to the ability to feel the existence of other users in the environment, communication concerns the non verbal communication that complements verbal and sociability relates to the use of a social space that facilitates collaboration, socialization, access to information and the sense of belonging to a community [8].