U. Cress, V. Dimitrova, and M. Specht (Eds.): EC-TEL 2009, LNCS 5794, pp. 627–632, 2009. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 Supporting Virtual Reality in an Adaptive Web-Based Learning Environment Olga De Troyer, Frederic Kleinermann, Bram Pellens, and Ahmed Ewais Vrije Universiteit Brussel, WISE Research Group, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium {Olga.DeTroyer,Frederic.Kleinermann,Bram.Pellens, Ahmed.Ewais}@vub.ac.be Abstract. Virtual Reality (VR) is gaining in popularity and its added value for learning is being recognized. However, its richness in representation and ma- nipulation possibilities may also become one of its weaknesses, as some learn- ers may be overwhelmed and be easily lost in a virtual world. Therefore, being able to dynamically adapt the virtual world to the personal preferences, knowl- edge, skills and competences, learning goals and the personal or social context of the learning becomes important. In this paper, we describe how an adaptive Web-based learning environment can be extended from a technological point of view to support VR. Keywords: Virtual Reality, E-Learning, Adaptive Learning Environment. 1 Introduction Virtual Reality (VR) provides ways to use 3D visualizations with which the user can interact. For some learning situations and topics, VR may be of great value because the physical counterpart may not be available, too dangerous or too expensive. The most famous example is the flight simulator that pilots safely teaches how to fly. Most of the time, when VR is considered for learning, it is offer as a stand-alone application (e.g., [1], [2], [3]) and there is usually no way to adapt it to personal pref- erences, prior knowledge, skills and competences, learning goals and the personal or social context of the learner. Augmenting a virtual world with adaptive capabilities could have many advantages [4]. It may be more effective to guide learners through the world according to their background and learning goals, or only show them the objects and behaviors that are relevant for their current knowledge. In this paper, we explain how VR can be supported in the context of an adaptive Web-based learning environment developed in the context of GRAPPLE, an EU FP7 project. GRAPPLE is mainly oriented towards classical learning resources, but the use of other types of learning materials (VR and simulations) is also investigated. Here, we concentrate on how the learning environment is extended to support VR. 2 The GRAPPLE Architecture GRAPPLE aims at providing a Web-based adaptive learning environment. The two main components are the Authoring Tool and the Adaptive Engine (see figure 1). The