Minjuan Wang et-al 1 © San-Diego State University, Essex University November 2010 Social Presence in Immersive 3D Virtual Learning Environments Minjuan Wang 1 , Sabine Lawless-Reljic 1 , Marc Davies 2 , Victor Callaghan 2 1 San Diego State University & University of San Diego (U.S.) 2 University of Essex (U.K.) mwang@mail.sdsu.edu, sabinereljic@yahoo.com, midavi@essex.ac.uk , vic@essex.ac.uk Abstract: Ambient Intelligence (AmI) has historically addressed the interaction of people with computer controlled physical worlds. More recently, there has been interest in their virtual counterparts, such as Second Life in which humanoid avatars interact with each other and their worlds in ways that are analogous to our relationship with the physical world. Virtual and physical worlds can have complex relationships ranging from either each augmenting the other, to the provision of services, such as eLearning. Virtual- Reality extends eLearning environments (eg regular audio, video, and text,) by enabling abstract concepts and entities to be given tangible forms within the virtual world. Also, students and teachers take the form of avatars allowing them to employ avatars to establish their social presence in a wide variety of ways. This paper introduces two popular virtual reality tools, presents a comprehensive review of the literature related to social presence and describes our practical work in progress towards constructing a mixed reality iClassroom. Keywords: social presence, virtual learning environments, Second Life 1 Introduction Ambient Intelligence (AmI) describes environments in which intelligent computer processes mediate and enhance the interaction between people and technology. Initially the focus was on controlling physical environments but more recently there has been interest in their virtual counterparts, such as Second Life which are mirrors of the physical world based on 3D dimensional multiple-user virtual environments (MUVE). Such online immersive systems have their roots in earlier simulation and games technology and represent the convergence of the internet, social networking, simulation, and online gaming. Online applications are becoming increasingly social, offering multiple-participant options and social implications as typified by social networking games (e.g. World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy) and smart classrooms (e.g. the SJTU “Natural Classroom” [1]). The growing importance of online virtual environments is illustrated by reports such as that from Gartner, Inc. analysts [2], which predicted that “80% of internet users will be active in a virtual world by the end of 2011” and by the Pew Foundation which reported that “97% of teens play computer, web, portable, or console games” and that their gaming experiences “include significant social interaction and civic engagement” [3]. In the International Symposium on Ambient Intelligence 2011, Salamanca, Spain, 6th - 8th April 2011 (ISAMI’11), Springer-Verlag, Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing ISSN 1867-5662