ITR/EIA: Adapting Massively Multi-user Technologies for Collaborative Online Interactive Science Laboratories

University Of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro NC

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract EIA -0325211 PI Gerald Meisner Institution: University of North Carolina at Greensboro Title: Adapting Massively Multi-User Technologies for Collaborative Online Interactive Science Laboratories This ITR medium award provides support to develop a three dimensional virtual undergraduate science laboratory environment named COURSELab. The environment is based on massively multiplayer online gaming engines (MMOG) adapted to learning scenarios. COURSELab can be used both as an online instructional tool and as a learning research tool. The environment is a 3 dimensional world in which students meet and conduct collaborative scientific investigations as they proceed through a series of learning modules. The project leverages research and development outcomes from prior NSF and DED funded projects on the development and dissemination of online science resources. The virtual world that is to be developed is not merely a scientific instrument, it is as literally as possible an actual place. Students in one of the COURSELab laboratories can see other areas of the world and move to those areas to engage other students. The COURSELab system development is to be highly scalable and cost effective, extensible to many disciplines, modifiable and multipurpose, and capable of reaching a broad group of diverse users. The intellectual merit of this project lies in its innovative approach, the use of MMOG technology applied to learning. The project has the potential to contribute to the research base in human computer interaction as well as on MMOG technologies and online learning environments. Collaboratively designing, conducting, discussing, and interpreting experiments is a promising approach to blending communities of learners into communities of practice. The broader impacts center around the highly scalable and cost effective design. The environment can thus reach broad groups of users and increase the opportunities for individuals to participate in scientific endeavors while simultaneously overcoming many of the limitations imposed by traditional lecture settings using online resources. This research should bring creative and engaging developments from education, business, entertainment, and technological worlds together to focus on providing access to quality laboratory investigations in a cost effective and equitable manner and should provide guidance for future virtual learning environment projects that use the multi-user approach.