The Immersive Darwin Project:
a new methodology for virtual education

Steve Guynup - Georgia State University
Ron Broglio - Georgia Tech
 Josquin Bernand - Mondes Virtuels

This project creates a methodology that utilizes the affordances of online virtual reality chat rooms or “Web3D” and addresses the weaknesses of today’s non-Web3D, synchronous learning applications. The example project is a virtual lecture on the men who influenced Charles Darwin.

To maximize the affordances of Web3D, this project combines the teacher’s avatar with the presentation. By doing so, it can deliver more information and require less effort from users. This seemly modest path uncovers a series of mutually supportive relationships with radical implications.

Some issues involve the unseen limitations of mouse-driven, screen-based environments. Others touch on Darwin's concept of evolution. Due to the broadness of the subject matter, this paper serves as only an introduction to these relationships and implications. Interwoven through the paper are screen captures of the actual virtual Darwin lecture.
The Virtual Lecture Hall

This fully three dimensional and navigable space is accessible over the internet.

The entry point is in the lower left. Introductory information is located in the center. The lecture space is in the upper right.

The text chat window is not shown.


The Images Shown

The images shown represent a walk-through of parts of a one hour virtual reality presentation on the men who influenced and paved the way for Charles Darwin. They are animal breeder Robert Bakewell, geologist Charles Lyell and the Reverend Robert Malthus.

The Nature of the Virtual Lecture Hall

The basis for the virtual lecture hall is similar to games such as the "Sims" or "Doom". As in the games, users log on and then interact with other users in a three dimensional online space. The teacher is a real teacher whose has logged on and is now represented by an "Avatar". The same is true for students. Avatars are visual icons that represent users within a virtual space. In this example, there are no "Bots" or computer driven, artificially intelligent characters. The goal here is to support human to human education within a computer generated environment.

The Technology

The language used is VRML or Virtual Reality Modeling Language, the current server technology is VNet+. No special modifications, were needed to produce the Darwin demo shown. To view the single user version, a VRML plugin is required. A teacher driven presentation requires a teacher to be online and so an appointment is needed.


A teacher's Avatar

At the beginning of the lecture and during question and answer periods the teacher assumes a human form.
A student's Avatar

Student's can ask questions at any time. Visual cues, like hand raising, keep the students from interrupting the teacher.
Many avatars are available

Student's have a choice of how they appear in the space. Completely customized characters are also possible.


A student enters

In the distance the teacher, in a temporarily human looking avatar, is waiting.

Understanding Affordances

Broken promises litter the new media landscape. The subjects of this proposal - distance learning and virtual reality are individually responsible for many of those failures. Combining the two could be viewed as folly or science fiction. Yet, as one objectively analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each, a surprisingly supportive and dynamic relationship emerges. There is a balanced and practical connection between the two. Virtual reality in the form of Web3D brings community and immersion to online learning. In rerturn, distance education contains the focused goals and structure needed by virtual environments.

Breaking from previous virtual projects, we build a new foundation for interaction by accepting and exploiting the fact that virtual reality is inherently different from the physical world. In brief, mouse-driven, screen-based worlds are simply difficult to navigate, interact, and collaborate in.

In contrast, computers are excellent tools for multimedia presentations. So then rather then force the teacher and students to peek through a monitor and pretend to be human by an series of mouse clicks, we start with the human form and expand. We build upon a foundation of human presence and allow the computer to do what it does well - multimedia presentations.

The teacher's human form shifts to become the presentation. The human form serves no purpose in the virtual world other then to imply a human presence and to allow for a few gesture based expressions.

The downfalls of so many before us lie in failing to recognize this fact and in failing to comprehend the limitations / strengths inherent in mouse-driven screen-based worlds. Despite its complex appearance, the presentation shown is inherently easy. In fact, it is far easier than trying to emulate and control the subtle and very complex language of human gestures and expressions.


Below, the teacher and two students

Conversation between teacher and students is, at the beginning, a simple text-based chat.


Above and Below

The teacher morphs from human form to that of educational information. At a fundamental level, we simply treat the teacher as an educational node. One that funnels a series of images, objects, environments directly to the students.


Transitioning (begin)

The teacher's human form being replaced by a title graphic and a panoramic background that surrounds the students.
Transitioning (middle)

By replacing the teacher's form with graphics we merge the sense that a real human is teaching with the ease of a slide show presentation.
Transitioning (end)

The teacher is now the the title slide. In the chat window, the lecture begins. This event takes only a moment to occur.


The Bakewell Section

Below, the lecture discusses the economics and fashionable of animal breeding in England in the 1700 & 1800s. Note that images, video and interactive models are used successively to engage and immerse the students in the information.


Animal Breeding

The section on cattle breeding begins with a slide on the English "Enclosure Movement" In addition to the slide, a fence appears and borders the students.
Robert Bakewell, the father of animal breeding is introduced

Video clips can be shown within the virtual lecture hall.
The teacher becomes an interactive cow

Three dimensional interactive and animated models can be presented to the students. Above the students are asked "How would Bakewell modify this cow?" and "How could this affect Darwin's thinking?"


The teacher's human form returns

At the end of each subsection the teacher resumes a human form and addresses any outstanding student questions.

We do not deny the value of faux human forms. It is only that we apply that value when needed. In most cases having both the teacher and the educational material within the window causes problems. The teacher's avatar is often simply in the way. Rather then make them move on and off screen or force the students to work around them, we have combined the teacher with the information.

Why Darwin

In creating a test lecture to demonstrate our methodology, we looked first to the needs of our target audience, college undergraduates and high school seniors. We looked for an event with signifcant cultural impact and interdisciplinary in nature. (a nature that draws upon core academic disciplines; history, science, mathematics, literature and cultural studies)

In Darwin, we find direct connections with Geology (Lyell), Economics (Malthus) and Genetics (Bakewell). This is in addition to the rich cultural, political and religious relationships that Darwin’s work changed forever. From a demonstration standpoint Charles Darwin is ideal.

Because of the virtual nature of the demonstration,we do not simply present the information available to Darwin. Building on research prepared by Dr. Broglio, we place the students in a cultural and historical context of the 1840s so that students experience the same cognitive process that struck Charles Darwin. In so doing we hope to provide an understanding of the complex issues that Darwin drew upon to fashion his theory of evolution.

Our medium Web3D, is distinctly positioned to provide an immersive experience that deeply engages the viewer. The sense of presence and of collaboration is directly beneficial to our goal of placing the student in the mind set of Darwin.

Regarding Evolution

Lastly comes a benefit that only Darwin can provide. His theory of Evolution and Natural Selection charted the historic development of the human form. As we now stand at the edge of cyberspace, the questions arise about our form, our bodies and of our innate consciousness. Our design practices serve as one response to the digital evolution of humanity. Our proposal reshapes our form and redefines the role of our body in a virtual space.
 
The Geologist, Charles Lyell, is presented

Like the Robert Bakewell model, a video is incorporated with the image of the person shown.
The teacher becomes an interactive landscape

The Temple of Seraphis helped proved Lyell's theory of "Gradualism"
From landscape to object

Rock strata are exploreable in this three dimensional model. The question is: "How is the fossil record interpreted within the religiously bound English society?"


The Malthus Section

The third (and for purposes of this demo) final subject is introduced. Just prior to this the teacher, in human form, answered questions and led the student discussion towards the mechanism of natural selection.


The Reverend Malthus is introduced.

Welfare laws and the "Perfecting of Society" led the Reverend to conclude that helping the poor just leads to more poor people.

Malthus's Population Chart

With welfare, the poor would overrun England. Unaided the poor would fight to survive. Only the best would have children.

The dire prediction is made real

The previous slide rotates beneath the student's feet. Animated figures numbers of poor people appear and multiply.


Closing

The Internet serves unprecedented amounts of information from around the globe to those logged on. Into this vastness, virtual reality offers a level of personal contact and context that is unparalleled. The promise of the virtual classroom has always been true, only the methods were false. In using the teacher’s avatar as a content delivery platform, we offer a truly effective means of bringing knowledge to a group of students. We rely on the media to do what the media does best, what the media was designed to do – present multimedia content.
The presentation ends and the teacher becomes human once more

Closing statements are made, final questions are answers and plans for next week's lecture are made.


Enter the Immersive Darwin Lecture

To try a "single user" version of this methodology you'll need a Windows PC.
A Pentium 4, 1.4+ Gigahertz machine or better is recommended.

A VRML plugin Cortona  http://www.parallelgraphics.com/products/
And for Video  Real Player  http://www.real.com

Bespace is at  http://bespace.lcc.gatech.edu/single/

Note this is a single user version of what is primarily a multi user process. The full effect is best appreciated by attending a live demonstration.
 


Authors

Steve Guynup    email   http://www.pd.org/~thatguy

One of the most controversial developers of virtual spaces in the world, Steve's works confront ideas and issues that represent the bleeding edge of three dimensional design. A seven year veteran in web3D, he has presented at SIGGRAPH in 1998,1999 and 2000, won awards from Blaxxun and the Contact Consortium, and recently worked with 1996 Ars Electronica winner Andy Best on his Iceborg Project. Currently he is pursing a PhD in Communication at Georgia State University.

Ron Broglio http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~broglio/

An assistant professor in 18th century literature in Georgia Tech's School of Literature, Communication and Culture, Ron is a boundary breaking scholar. With technical skill and a wealth of knowledge he uses the new media not to reinvent or reinterpret the past, but to reestablish it. He holds a PhD in Romanticism and Literary Theory from the University of Florida and a Masters in British Literature from Boston College.

Josquin Bernard http://www.mondesvirtuels.com/

The websmaster and lead developer of one the best french Web3D, Josquin blends a strong sense of intuitive design with no nonsense computer programming. From 1999 to 2001 he led the Web3D development team of Andy Best's Iceborg. Currently he doing projects for Canal+