Developing and Assessing Immersive Content for Naval Training: Lessons Learned in the Virtual World

Abstract

Content was developed in an immersive, 3-D virtual world (SecondLife Enterprise) as a pilot project to support a Navy training need to teach complex, highly visual concepts in an engaging fashion. An avatar-based virtual world was used due to their unique social and content creation properties. This project consisted of a series of modules designed to teach the naval concept of target motion analysis. The resulting “immersive learning trail” augmented a two-week unit that was part of a longer course. Students from a Naval schoolhouse participated in classes that used this content, and several assessments were performed. Students gained the most from the content when complex spatial concepts were taught, though impressions of the entire trail were positive. Several lessons learned are reported, including the need to consistently make the experience as immersive as possible and the kind of content that benefits most from immersion.