The use of cyber campuses to support online learning for students experiencing barriers accessing education

Abstract

Attendance and participation in education are important for students to obtain the experiences necessary to develop their knowledge. However, there are some students who experience challenges hindering their access and participation in Higher Education. To support students, Universities utilise E-Learning. One of the many E-Learning tools is the use of virtual worlds in the form of cyber campuses. This paper investigates the extent to which cyber campuses can help to mitigate barriers and support students experiencing them. A prototype has been developed and a series of empirical studies have been performed. The results of this research suggest that a cyber campus environment can be used as an alternative learning support tool that can enhance online learning experiences, and help to mitigate some of the barriers that hinder access and participation to education. The associated limitations of this research and the future work planned out are also presented.

The Development and Evolution of Transactive Memory System Over Time in MUVEs

“…To conduct this investigation, the 'VirtualSHU' (Fig 1, 2) has been developed using the Opensimulator MUVE. The design of VirtualSHU is based on the educational MUVEs design guidelines proposed by Nisiotis [8]. The environment is representing a common educational setting with recognisable facilities.…”

“…The avatar is the virtual presence of the user, as well as the viewpoint of the environment, acting as a mean of social interaction [2]. MUVEs enable users to immerse and communicate, interact and synchronously collaborate in the same shared space, and are identified as effective tools to support access and participation in learning activities [3], allowing teachers to develop immersive experiential and problem based learning activities to support and engage students in the learning process [4]. The educational efficacy of MUVEs has been previously evaluated with very positive results [3,[5][6][7][8].…”

“…MUVEs enable users to immerse and communicate, interact and synchronously collaborate in the same shared space, and are identified as effective tools to support access and participation in learning activities [3], allowing teachers to develop immersive experiential and problem based learning activities to support and engage students in the learning process [4]. The educational efficacy of MUVEs has been previously evaluated with very positive results [3,[5][6][7][8]. There are many studies suggesting that MUVEs are considered as unique and flexible learning environments [9], offering a range of unique characteristics that support and contribute to the student's online learning experience.…”

“…Moreover, the environment provides the ability to establish communication, offer opportunities for socialization that enable the development of the feeling of belonging to a group, and also to be aware of the existence and actions of others [7]. Furthermore, the environment allows to create realistic and/or abstract experiences, in which students can immerse and participate, to enrich, enhance and make learning engaging and enjoyable [3]. MUVEs are different from other online learning tools with varied characteristics associated with them [12].…”

The Development of Transactive Memory Systems in Collaborative Educational Virtual Worlds

“…These environments can enable educators to replicate pedagogical activities that happen in the real world classroom [12], and provide opportunities to support experiential learning, in which students can engage in problem based solving activities [13,14,15]. Cyber campuses also have the potential to effectively support participation in online learning activities for all students, even those experiencing barriers hindering access to education [16]. A cyber campus can provide access and synchronous participation in immersive online learning activities characterised by social interactions [17], making learning more interesting [18], and engaging students in educational activities [19].…”