ftp://ftp.hitl.washington.edu/pub/scivw/pubs/VR-in-Schools.txt _VR in the Schools_ September 1995 Volume 1 Number 2 ****************************************************** * * * _VR in the Schools_ is published quarterly, in * * both print and electronic forms, by the Virtual * * Reality and Education Laboratory (VREL). For * * Further Information, please contact: * * * * Dr. Veronica S. Pantelidis or * * Dr. Lawrence Auld * * Co-directors * * Virtual Reality and Education Laboratory * * School of Education * * East Carolina University * * Greenville, NC 27858-4353 USA * * * * Telephone: 919-328-6621 * * Fax: 919-328-4368 * * Email: lspantel@ecuvm.cis.ecu.edu * * lsauld@ecuvm.cis.ecu.edu * * * ****************************************************** If you wish to receive _VR in the Schools_, please send us the following information, indicating whether you prefer the ____ print and/or the ____ electronic version: Name ___________________________________________ Address ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ City __________________ State ___________________ Zip Code _____________ Country __________________ email _____________________________________________ phone __________________ fax ____________________ ******************************************************* * * * The first issue of _VR in the Schools_ is avail- * * able in print form from VREL and electronically * * at: ftp.hitl. washington.edu/pub/scivw/pubs/VR- * * in-Schools-v1-n1 * ******************************************************* In this issue: - Welcome - Updated Resource List Now Available - What is Virtual Reality? - Virtual Reality and Education: Where Imagination and Experience Meet, by Kimberley M. Osberg - Fifteen VR-Schools Teachers - VR in the United Kingdom: A Greek History VR Project, by Jonathan Grove - Text-Based VR - What is a MOO? - Grassroots, A New Educational MOO, by Dr. Bob Zenhausern - MundoHispano, by Lonnie Turbee - Graphics-Based VR - VR in New Zealand, by Bruce Carey - A-Mazing Maze, by Gene Hendershot - Making a Place, by David Warlick - Science Fair Award for VR Project, by Gloria King - Initial Thoughts on Using Virtus WalkThrough Pro, by John Ouelette - Virtual Environment Science Laboratory (VESL(TM)), by Dr. Ken Nemire - Virtual Reality Taught at Haywood Community College, by Tony Gaddis - Virtus Player and Virtus WalkThrough VRML - Planning Your Virtual Reality Lab, by Tony Gaddis - _In Search of the Virtual Class_, Book Review by Dr. Veronica S. Pantelidis - Hardware and Software Mentioned in This Newsletter ******************************************************* Welcome Welcome to the second issue of _VR in the Schools_, the quarterly newsletter published by the Virtual Reality and Education Laboratory (VREL) at East Carolina University. _VR in the Schools_ offers articles about the educational applications of virtual reality, particularly in kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) schools. In this issue we are pleased to be able to include reports on both text-based and graphics-based virtual reality (VR) applications. These reports demonstrate the synergy between these two different but complementary aspects of VR. The first of three major articles featured in this issue is "Virtual Reality and Education: Where Imagination and Experience Meet," a report by Kimberley M. Osberg on some of her work at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory. Jonathan Grove's "VR in the United Kingdom: A Greek History VR Project," describes his research at Sheffield Hallam University in which he is looking at ways of embedding a virtual environment into the history curriculum of British schools. Tony Gaddis, in "Planning Your Virtual Reality Lab," has written an extensive guide which will interest anyone considering setting up a VR lab. This issue of _VR in the Schools_ was co-edited by Lawrence Auld, Ph.D., and Veronica S. Pantelidis, Ph.D. We welcome your contributions for future issues. ******************************************************* Updated Resource List Now Available _Virtual Reality and Education: Information Sources_ is an annotated listing of resources relating to the educational applications of VR. The August 1995 revision, totalling 35 pages, includes citations to 297 articles, papers, and Internet sites and materials, plus journals and newsletters, videotapes, Internet listservs, and some educational MUDs and MOOs. The list is available in print form from VREL and electronically at ftp://ftp.hitl.washington.edu/pub/ scivw/citations/VR-Ed.html. For rich-text file, use "rft" in place of "html; for text file, use "txt" in place of "html". ******************************************************* What is Virtual Reality? The Virtual Reality and Education Laboratory at East Carolina University is dedicated to finding ways to use virtual reality in education. Virtual reality is the computer-generated simulation of a real or imagined environment or world. It can be graphics based (for example, a walkthrough of a building) or text based (for example, a description of a city where participants can interact with one another). Virtual reality has the potential to change the way we learn. The question is, how can this new medium be incorporated productively into the learning process? ******************************************************* Virtual Reality and Education: Where Imagination and Experience Meet by Kimberley M. Osberg email: kmo@hitl.washington.edu Hidden in the rain and mist of Seattle is one of the more unique educational outreach programs that this nation has to offer. The Virtual Reality Roving Vehicle (VRRV) project is the current incarnation of a 5-year effort to study the effects of virtual reality (VR) as a learning tool. Researchers at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Lab (HIT Lab), one of 6 research facilities located at the Washington Technology Center, have been working directly with children and VR since 1990. Our activities have centered around providing VR technology to a wide variety of students in multiple states, and we are continuing to conduct research in the areas of learning, motivation, science and technology attitudes, interface issues, and presence, the sense of being in a particular place or time. Technology Camp, a Good Beginning In 1990, the HIT Lab was just starting to explore various human/computer interface issues, with special emphasis on virtual reality. One of the focal points of this inquiry has always been education. The Director of the facility, Dr. Thomas Furness, had seen the power of VR as a learning tool for fighter pilot training and wanted to extend those capabilities into more traditional education. One of our first forays into VR/educational research was conducted in conjunction with the Pacific Science Center~s summer Technology Camp program. The Pacific Science Center is nationally acclaimed for their science and technology educational outreach program, which features vans that go out into the school environment, taking exhibits and knowledgeable staff directly to the student population. In addition to the Science Center and the van program, Science Center staff have also offered summer programs for students. The Technology Camp provided students with an in-depth look at four technologies: computer music, robotics, animation, and virtual reality. What we found in working with these students is that children are excellent designers and can use their creativity to develop virtual worlds with guidance and support. However, it isn't enough to know that children can think creatively and use 3-D modeling software. Since we are interested in the educational value of the technology, we had to develop a new paradigm for exploring critical issues such as metacognition, semiotics, constructivism, and, of course, content absorption and transfer. To this end, we chose to seek funding for our own educational outreach program where we could take the technology directly to students and teachers in school, where the bulk of formal school learning takes place. U.S. West and Division Provide Assistance Through the generosity of the U.S. West Foundation, we were able to buy two vans and train and fund a staff of 14 individuals. Division, Ltd. provided us with state- of-the-art virtual reality hardware and software in the form of two ProVision 100s. What was left to us was to develop a curriculum that would allow us to provide the technology to a wide variety of students in both rural and urban areas, and in public, private, parochial, and alternative school settings. To this end, we worked directly with teachers from 26 schools to determine a course of action that would suit their needs and would provide us with the kind of research base that would allow us a glimpse of what the technology might provide in an educational sense. Since last November, we have provided almost 2,900 students with an educational discussion, followed by a hands-on demonstration in which they went under the helmet. In addition to the demonstrations, we also worked directly with 365 students and 24 teachers to develop curriculum-based virtual environments that related directly to their classroom activities. The Virtual Learning Environment Virtual reality as a learning tool provides a rich, multisensory, experiential environment in which students can work directly with information in a very real sense. We see VR as a very special communications tool, one that has the power to present information in three dimensions and in a manner that allows the participant to be an active part of the environment rather than a passive observer. It is this active partnership that we have found to be so very valuable. In addition, VR does not constrain the designer to presenting information in a manner consonant with the real world, nor does it constrain the participant in terms of his or her movement. Therefore, abstract concepts can be presented metaphorically in a very creative yet accessible fashion, and simulations can be created that allow the participant to be a part of environments that would be impossible to visit under other circumstances. One of the more compelling features of VR is the sense of presence: that the hardware and software in combination work to fool our perceptions to the point that we are present in the environment presented via the technology, rather than present in the environment in which our body is standing. This is not to say that all virtual environments need to be completely immersive to be valuable, but it is an important point when looking at engagement and absorption in the material presented in the virtual world. Motivation and Engagement There are two levels of engagement that we have noticed. One is the sense of presence, as described above. The other has to do with motivation. There is no doubt that the technology still has a bit of magic carpet appeal, for it is not nearly ubiquitous enough to have become old hat. Therefore, it is easy to engage students in trying the technology, and the motivation to try something new is very high. Interestingly enough, the motivation remains high even after the first few experiences. The novelty effect has yet to wear off, at least in terms of what we've seen thus far. When you begin to look at world- building students, i.e. being part of a team that actually creates educational environments, the motivation increases exponentially. When a student actively participates in creating that environment, the high-stakes nature of that engagement has been proven to make a large difference in how the student views that environment. The sense of ownership is palpable, and the desire to share their creation is very real. We have seen this again and again when students are explaining their environment to a new participant. It is indeed an exciting trend. Meaning Making: Students Create Their Own Reality We see the world-building process as involving four steps: planning, modeling, programming and experiencing. To help teachers and students through the process, I wrote a technical document entitled _A Teachers Guide to Developing Virtual Environments_. The focus of the guide is to help teachers and students consider fully what needs to be in an environment to teach an individual effectively about the subject area at hand, or, in other words, what is meaningful in the environment. The most critical mistake that we see being made during the planning and programming phases is that it is not just a question of objects-in- environment. It is, instead, objects and behaviors of objects and participants in environment. Designing a virtual world requires some holistic and systemic thinking. It is like designing a stage from all directions, combined with the fact that you need to deal with the fact that your audience is constantly moving. What we have found is that students can develop this ability to change perspective, especially when the design process takes place in a team environment. Another tool that we developed is a Behavior Matrix, a Supercard stack written by two of my colleagues, Howard Rose and Ari Hollander. This program allows students to string together cause and effect relationships without having to write the actual code that will make those actions happen. The programming aspect has been the most difficult phase for students, regardless of age. They seem to be quite able to plan out the gross goals of the environment effectively. It is the finer points of meeting those goals that becomes problematic. This is an area where I would like to see a great deal of improvement in terms of how we assist teachers and students to think about behaviors during the planning phase. Research Results Although we do not have all of the statistical analyses completed, there are a number of trends that have emerged from both the demonstration and the world- building portions of the VRRV project. Most of these trends are age, ability, or gender specific. Some general findings: _ As students get older (ages 16-18), they enjoy their experience, but slightly less than younger students. Elementary students enjoyed themselves the most, followed by middle school students. High school students seemed slightly more jaded about the technology, or at least inclined to be more cool in their response to their experience. _ These findings, interestingly enough, were inversely proportional to the sensation of malaise; the younger the child, the greater potential for malaise, though this occurred in less than 5% of the total population. _ In terms of learning, we found that curriculum-based world development and experiencing helped less cognitively-apt boys the most in terms of content mastery, and less cognitively-apt females the least. This finding needs to be taken with a grain of salt, since all of the worlds developed over the course of the year (17 of them!) varied widely with regard to content and to quality as well. In addition to the variation in the worlds, there were extenuating circumstances that precluded a lot of girls from taking part in the program, including everything from after- school sports to more social aspects of male/female interaction in the classroom. Finally, there were simply more boys who were interested in the technology to start with. In several of the schools that we worked with, the VR program was run as an optional after school activity. Most of the applicants for these programs were boys, and the girls who did sign up were not as numerous as we would have hoped. All in all, one of the areas of continuing research that I would like to see would address this issue directly by creating classes strictly for girls. _ Other findings include higher motivation and more positive attitudes towards science and technology for those students who built their own environments, an increase in content knowledge about VR in general for world builders vs. world experiencers, and demonstration that the interface can certainly get in the way of any learning whatsoever. The Future of VRRV This school year we will be looking at more specific aspects of interface design, greater process control in terms of world building, more comparisons between world building and world experiencing, comparisons between content areas, and presence. We will also be studying what is known as augmented reality in which the participants are still in a virtual space but may have other real cues that assist them while in the virtual environment. The research that we conducted last year has pointed us in the right direction, but we are a little older and wiser now, and are hoping that we can refine our questions to get at the underlying assumptions regarding our findings. I think we are also much more aware of what activities require a lot of human interaction and what can be left to software tools. The whole process is not as simple or straightforward as we would hope even though the technology has certainly increased in power and decreased in price during the course of the project. The interface still leaves quite a bit to be desired, and it still takes time to learn how to think in 3-D, let alone model or program. In addition to continuing our research, we will also be sending a van and a Provision 100 to Omaha, Nebraska, to continue the demonstration program there. Our dream is to create multi-participant environments that can be accessed via the World Wide Web with the HIT Lab as a major repository for our and other groups' work. This last point is what sustains us, since we know the technology works for many students. The goal is to provide this form of information presentation to many students, yes, but also to make sure that the information is well presented and that the interface, at minimum, does not preclude the participant from interacting with his or her environment. Conclusion All in all, this has been an excellent project to date. We have learned a lot about the technology and its applications. We have seen how students' thinking was enhanced through the use of the technology, and we have a strong platform from which to move forward. We look forward to working collaboratively with others on some of these issues, and if you have an idea that you would like to explore, please feel free to contact me directly. ===== Kimberly Osberg is Operations Manager for the Virtual Reality Roving Vehicle (VRRV) project and a doctoral student at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory, University of Washington, Box 352142, Seattle, Washington 98194-2124 USA Telephone: 206-616-1497 Wayne Taylor Telephone: 206-616-3074 email: waynet@u.washington.edu Ari Hollander Telephone: 206-616-1480 email: ari@hitl.washington.edu Rose Yu Telephone: 206-616-1420 email: rose@hitl.washington.edu ******************************************************* Fifteen VR-Schools Teachers A total of 15 teachers are now collaborating in the Virtual Reality and Schools Project. In each, Virtus WalkThrough software has been placed in the hands of an interested teacher or educator who is using it, with specific teaching objectives, in the classroom or teaching environment. Fred Bisel (Jones County, North Carolina) Math Teacher (9-12 school) Jones Senior High School 2500 Hwy 58S Trenton, NC 28585 Phone: 919-448-2451 Email: fbisel@jcss.jones.k12.nc.us Lina Christopher (Beaufort County, North Carolina) Media Coordinator (6-8 school) P. S. Jones Middle School 230 East 8th St. Washington, North Carolina 27889-4526 Phone: 919-946-0874 Richard Gallo (Pender County, North Carolina) Technology Teacher (6-8 school) West Pender Middle School 10750 NC Hwy 53 West Burgaw, North Carolina 28425-9802 Phone: 919-283-5626 Email: gallor@aol.com DeEtte Gray (Johnston County, North Carolina) Science Teacher (4-6 school) Smithfield Elementary School S. 3rd St. Smithfield, North Carolina 27577 Phone: 919-934-8320 Deborah Hamill (Nash County, North Carolina) Technology Teacher Rocky Mount Senior High School 408 S. Tillery Street Rocky Mount, North Carolina Phone: 919-977-0716 Email: debi hamill@aol.com Gene Hendershot (Beaufort County, North Carolina) Media Coordinator (K-8 school) S. W. Snowden Elementary School Highway 306 North Aurora, North Carolina 27806 Phone: 919-322-4889 Matthew Hoynes (Pitt County, North Carolina) English Teacher, Football Coach (9-12 school) Ayden-Grifton High School Box 172, Route 3 Ayden, North Carolina 28513 Phone: 919-746-4183 Email: pihoynes@eastnet.educ.ecu.edu Lisa Horner (Duplin County, North Carolina) 2nd grade Teacher (K-8 school) B. F. Grady Elementary School RR 1 Box 39, Hwy 11 Albertson, North Carolina 28508-9801 Phone: 919-568-3487 Marilyn Mayo (California) Social Studies Teacher Palo Alto High School Home address: 404 Oxford Ave. Palo Alto, California 94306 Email: Water45@aol.com Patrick McCarty (Pender County, North Carolina) Technology Teacher (9-12 school) Pender High School 5380 NC Hwy 53 West Burgaw, North Carolina 28425-9616 Phone: 919-259-5761 Janet McLendon (Our first collaborating teacher) (Carteret County, North Carolina) Technology Specialist Broad Creek Middle School (6-8 school) RR1, Box 13M Newport, North Carolina 28570-9801 Phone: 919-247-3811 Email: ctmclend@eastnet.educ.ecu.edu John Ouellette (Washington County, North Carolina) VoCATS Coordinator (Vocational Education) Washington County Schools 802 Washington St. Plymouth, North Carolina 27962 Phone: 919-793-5171 Lance Pfeifer (Cabarrus County, North Carolina) Technology Specialist (K-5 school) Coltrane-Webb Elementary School 61 Spring St. NW Concord, North Carolina 28025-9298 Phone: 704-782-5912 Frances Pressley (Pitt County, North Carolina) Media Specialist (9-12 school) J. H. Rose High School 600 W. Arlington Blvd. Greenville, North Carolina 27834 Phone: 919-752-3169 Peter Zohrab (New Zealand) Language Teacher New Zealand Correspondence School 74 Wellington Road Wainuiomata Lower Hutt 6008, New Zealand Email: zohrab_p@actrix.gen.nz ******************************************************* VR in the United Kingdom: A Greek History VR Project by Jonathan Grove email: j.m.grove@shu.ac.uk The beginnings of my interest in the educational applications of virtual reality are difficult to trace. For me they have always gone hand in hand, probably because VR perhaps offers more to education than it does any other area. Virtual Reality has the potential to influence education at all levels from Nursery (Kindergarten) to Post-Graduate and vocational. However, as exciting as VR is, we still have little real understanding of what it is good at, how it relates to what we know about learning, and how we can go about getting the best from what is still a relatively under-developed technology. As history has demonstrated, the potential of VR in no way guarantees its success. Microcomputers are undoubtedly powerful educational tools; however, their introduction into the classroom in the early 1980s was fraught with problems, problems which have led some teachers to reject computers altogether in favour of older, more reliable and cheaper methods of teaching. My fear is that, like multimedia computers and the instructional technology that came before them, VR will appear in the classroom leaving teachers to struggle, with no real idea of how to exploit the technology in the context in which they work - a situation which will put many, already jaded teachers, off the use of VR in their classroom. An obvious solution, and one advocated by some more visionary academics, is the complete reconstruction of the curriculum around the potential of technology and the demands of modern society. However, in the UK at least where the recent emphasis has been on a return to "traditional" teaching methods, this is unlikely to occur. I think it is more likely that when VR begins to appear in the classroom, it will be expected to fit with the established curriculum rather than demand the curriculum's reshaping. And it is this pragmatic approach to VR that guides my work. The aim of my research is to look at ways of embedding a virtual environment into National Curriculum Key-Stage 2 (ages 9-11) History. At the moment, the majority of the work being done into the use of VR in education is centred on science and technical subjects; however, the "softer" parts of the curriculum could also benefit from the use of VR. History, a subject area which calls for learners to try and experience the past through the eyes of those who lived it, seems perfectly suited to "virtualising." The focus of my work is a two-week case-study in which children will use a virtual representation of a Greek villa. The villa is being constructed using Superscape Ltd's VRT3.60 software running on an IBM compatible 486-66PC (which are more common than Apples in UK schools). At the time of writing, the environment is only in the preliminary stages of development; however, it is likely that the building will contain a range of Greek artefacts, some 2D, some 3D. Children will also have limited interaction with virtual people, scanned in and placed in the environment as cardboard cut-outs. I also hope that I can include atmospheric sounds and, perhaps, sampled speech (in Ancient Greek!). Their exploration of the environment will not be unstructured; rather, children will be asked to take on the role of time-travellers and to see aspects of the virtual environment as "evidence" from which deductions about the Greeks can be made. The role of evidence is obviously crucial to history, and this has been recognised in the National Curriculum. Several writers argue that the exploration of evidence can facilitate the development of skills which are central to historical enquiry. It is hoped that the notion of VR as evidence will help me slot the technology into the curriculum and also act as a basis for an examination of pragmatic issues around the successful implementation of Virtual Reality. And, given that the relationship between the past and the ways and means in which the past is represented is a controversial one, I am also aiming to consider Virtual Reality's role in learning about history in a more abstract sense. Before concluding, I would like to highlight the role of language in my study. I decided early in my work that I would like to examine the effect that VR has on learning. I realised that establishing the contribution made by any technology or experience is very difficult. And, in my case, this situation was going to be made almost impossible, because my field work was only very small scale (and very short-term). In recent months my attention has turned to the role of language in learning. In particular, I have been interested in the notion of "types" of talk as examined by Neil Mercer and other academics at the United Kingdom's Open University (OU). I won't go into detail here (interested readers can contact me for references), but essentially it is argued that a certain type of pupil-pupil discourse called Exploratory Talk (ET) can contribute to learning more than other patterns of interaction. For the OU workers, it is hoped that computer-based education can be facilitated through the understanding and exploitation of the phenomena of ET. This aspect of my work is not particularly well developed at this time (hence my tentative tone); however, it seems to me that, given that ET is seen to contribute to learning, the presence of this type of discourse in a particular interaction could be seen as an indicator that learning has taken place. In other words, I am hoping to use the process of using VR as an indicator of its educational value. This notion (and indeed the idea of ET) is controversial and, given that ET has (to my knowledge) never been used in this way before, I don't really know how it is going to work out. So, this is a brief outline of my research. Interested readers are quite welcome to contact me to discuss my work, or any VR/Education-related matters. ===== Jonathan Grove is a doctoral student at Sheffield Hallam University. He can be reached at Department of Communication Studies, Sheffield Hallam University, Collegiate Campus, Collegiate Crescent, Sheffield S10 2BP, United Kingdom ******************************************************* ***************** * Text-Based VR * ***************** ******************************************************* What Is a MOO? A MOO (MUD Object Oriented) is a virtual environment created with text rather than with graphics. MOO is derived from MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). Both MOOs and MUDs support almost real-time interactive use among multiple users. ******************************************************* Grassroots, A New Educational MOO by Bob Zenhausern, Ph.D. email: drz@sjuvm.stjohns.edu I want to invite anyone working in a school setting to participate in a new project called Grassroots. The purpose of this project is to create a text-based simulation (virtual reality) of a neighborhood in a MOO combined with a WWW page for the multi-media presentation of that neighborhood. This will make it possible for anyone to walk down the streets of your community, see and hear its flavor, and chat with the actual residents. MOO stands for MultiUser Object Oriented environment. It is similar to the text adventure games like Zork, except it is the participants who create the rooms and exits. It is a role-playing game in which you create a character who is a virtual persona of yourself who can interact with other characters in the environment. We have the MOO and WWW resources on a Unibase node at no charge for anyone who has telnet access. Training in the use of MOO and WWW will be provided for those who need this instruction. Grassroots reached its one-month birthday on Saturday, October 7. At this point it had 75 members from 6 countries. There are 5 major sites under development: _ Brooklyn is a recreation of the various sections of Brooklyn, NY - past, present, and future. Tony Giordano, a community leader in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and teacher of emotionally disabled children, is coordinator. _ Barrow is a simulation of Barrow, Alaska, where Inuit, other American, and Philippine children are creating their representation of that Northern State. Ryan Miller, a 5th grade teacher, is developing this site. _ Moominvalley is a simulation of Finland. Kaisa Vahahyyppa, a high school teacher is creating this site and is in close contact with Barrow. The children can compare two versions of the Land of the Noon Moon. _ Anne Pemberton, a pioneer K-12 networker from Virginia, is creating a Civil War battle (The Battle of Five Forks) that took place near her home and led to the final surrender at Appomattox. _ Sarah Inkpen, a university professor from Toronto, Canada, has her class in aviation creating an aviation lab that will be accessible to all five of the communities. The best way to understand a MOO is to actually experience it, and here are the instructions on how to access Grassroots. I have set up a group account at rdz.stjohns.edu for those who are ready to explore. Telnet to rdz.stjohns.edu At the login screen, type in "grass" (without the quotes) as the userid and "changeme" as the password. (Note that if you make a mistake, do not use the delete or backspace keys to correct, but hit enter and start again.) When you are prompted for your full name, type it. When you are asked for a password, create one. (This is the password ONLY for your name and has no bearing on the "changeme" password for the Grass group.) You will go through several screens that you can ignore and you will ultimately come to the main menu. - Select "13" from the main menu and "5" from the Internet menu. - Select "1 -- Grassroots" This should bring you to the login screen for Grassroots. - Type: "co guest guest" or your character name and password if you have been given one. You will then be connected to the Welcome Room where instructions on getting started will be shown on the screen. (Note that there is considerable construction underway, and there is mention of Diversity University (DU).) The database core is based on an August, 1994, version of DU, and some of the highlights of that MOO are available as models. If you do a little exploring, you may find them. In the near future we will set up tutorial sessions where I and others experienced with MOO will provide real-time tutorials on its use. - To quit the MOO, type "/quit" That will bring you back to rdz system. - Just type "q" and enter, until you have exited from the whole system. The MOO is under constant repair, and if you get an error message of I/O error or broken socket, log off and try again later. Grassroots has a web page. Please go to it and explore thoroughly: http://www.hiwaay.net/sunrise/grassrts/home.htm ===== Dr. Bob Zenhausern is a professor in the Psychology Department, St. Johns University, SB 15 Marillac, Jamaica, New York 11439 USA Telephone: 718-990-6447 Fax: 718-990-6705 ******************************************************* MundoHispano by Lonnie Turbee email: lmturbee@mailbox.syr.edu I don't know if you're familiar with Syracuse University's School of Information Studies at Syracuse University and the work they're doing with virtual reality. They are the ones who provided me with the disk space for MundoHispano and a couple other MOOs my son, Mike Mudge, has developed for the AskERIC MOO. The department will be using AskERIC MOO for a number of classes. You can find information at http://istweb.syr.edu/Project/Research/Projects.html where you can "AskERIC" about "Assessing Virtual Reality for Education." As an aside, Mike is 15 years old and is probably one of the better MOO programmers around. In fact, many of the MOO "wizards" are very young. I see text-based virtual reality as being something quite appropriate for children, from as soon as they can type a few words right up through high school. Their activities can range from "just" talking to building MOOs from the ground up (not an easy task, but obviously within the range of some of them!). I welcome the use of MundoHispano by high school teachers at this time and will work closely with anyone from lower grades to ensure that their time on the MOO is useful and appropriate for their level. We would like to make MundoHispano available to a wide audience. The best place to start is our web page: http://web.syr.edu/~lmturbee/mundo.html. Then, visit Mundo Hispano at io.syr.edu 8888 where you will meet her persona, "Colega." ===== Lonnie Turbee is a master's student in linguistics and English as a second language and teaches English as a second language and Spanish at Syracuse University. She can be reached at HBC 322, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244 USA. Visit her home page: http://web.syr.edu/~lmturbee ******************************************************* ********************* * Graphics-Based VR * ********************* ******************************************************* VR in New Zealand by Bruce Carey email: careyb@schools.minedu.govt.nz I am a newcomer to using VR. I looked at it in my studies with the Communications Department at Victoria University and, from there, developed a desire to introduce the concept and practical applications to my students - a group of 34 ten-to-thirteen-year olds. We have not got very far yet, but this will give you an idea of what we are doing. I have a PC in the classroom, a DX266 with 8Mb of RAM. Earlier this year I decided to explore the feasibility of integrating some VR into my classroom programme and units of work. The packages I have used are: _ Vistapro - an early version which I used to look at contour lines and their interpretation _ Virtus WalkThrough Here is one task from a unit where we studied _Sport: Design a New Sports Stadium. (Virtual Reality)_ As my notes say, "This work leads directly on from the work you did in the Birth of an Island unit, where you designed the research station. You will use the Virtual Reality software Virtus WalkThrough on the IBM. To use this software you need a good understanding of scale and top, back, front, and side views. Once constructed (on the computer) you will be able to walk through (in virtual reality) the stadium complex that you have designed. You can even record movies of your walkthrough. Begin by preparing some sketches of your ideas. You are an architect who has been employed to design a brand new stadium for Wellington. Because millions of dollars are involved, the council wants the public to be able to see what the finished stadium will be like to go to. The council realises that most people do not understand plans very well. They want a movie of a walkthrough so that the public can get a real feel for what the new stadium will be like. Your firm can offer virtual reality walkthroughs of all the plans that you prepare so the council decides to employ you." Here is another unit we are undertaking called Expedition Icebound. We are communicating with an Australian couple who are wintering over in Antarctica. We communicate by teleconference, email, and fax. Again, extracted from my notes, _Virtual Reality_: "A small group of students will be involved in designing an Antarctic research station for a hypothetical permanent habitation of Antarctica. They will use fax and email to consult with Don and Margie at Cape Dennison on this particular issue. It may be possible to set up another teleconference. The research station/base will be designed using virtual reality software (Virtus WalkThrough) that enables a real time walkthrough of the finished plans. The walkthrough can be captured as a movie. The students have no problem using the software. I am very interested in the application of this technology and intend to pursue further ideas. ===== Bruce Carey teaches at Evans Bay Intermediate School, Kemp Street, Kilbirnie, Wellington, New Zealand. Telephone: (04) 387-9532 **************************************************** A-Mazing Maze Gene Hendershot When my son, Benjamin, became interested in the virtual reality program Virtus Walk-Through, he almost immediately began creating a maze with it. I had never thought of using it in that way, and I was glad that I had not tried to guide him too controlledly in his use of the program. The maze is very interesting, and it's a challenge to get through it without going through the walls. Also, in teaching 6th and 7th graders to use the program, I find that the maze is good practice for them in learning to manipulate the environment. It's fun for them and good practice for a beginner. My middle school students are enjoying experimenting with the program, and I wish they had more time to spend with it. Some of the "weaker" students have been able to do as well as the "better" students, because it's a different type of learning. ===== Gene Hendershot is media coordinator at the S. W. Snowden Elementary School (K-8), Highway 306 North, Aurora, North Carolina 27806 USA Telephone: 919-322-4889 ******************************************************* Making a Place by David Warlick email: david@nando.net A few years ago, I purchased a copy of Virtus WalkThrough as a result of a project I had been involved in at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Shortly after installing the software, I sat down with my son, who was at the time five years old. Martin had been independently using a Macintosh since he was two-and-a-half, so all I had to show him was how to bring up the various perspective and rendering windows, and how to use the tools. During this session, I at no time mentioned the word virtual reality nor talked about the process in terms of virtual environments. A couple of hours later, a friend from the neighborhood (a boy who at the time was four) came by and my son went to meet him at the door. He grabbed his friend by the arm and yelled, "Come on, let's use the computer to make a PLACE!" Now, this struck me in that he had intuitively related aspects of what he was creating, using the computer, with characteristics of our real environment, coming to the conclusion that he was constructing virtual "places." By the time our friend's mother was calling on the phone, they had created a new game. One would construct overlapping boxes of different shapes and colors, and then he would challenge the other to find a room with red walls, or with blue walls. Both of these boys showed not only an eager willingness to maneuver within virtual environments, using traditional computer control tools (keyboard and mouse), but also a desire to create experiences and challenges using this tool. ===== David F. Warlick is an independent consultant. He can be reached at The Landmark Project, 5009 Yadkin Drive, Raleigh, North Carolina 27609 USA Telephone and Fax: 919-571-3292 ******************************************************* Science Fair Award for VR Project. by Gloria R. King email: kingg@bull.ncdcc.cc.nc.us Douglas King, a sophomore at Bethel Christian Academy in Kinston, North Carolina, won an award at a recent science fair for his project on virtual reality. Using Virtus WalkThrough Pro, Douglas designed a house complete with furniture, carpets, and window dressings. His private bedroom included a big screen TV with his own image projected on the monitor. The students and faculty alike enjoyed "walking" through the house and viewing the grounds outside. The new texture galleries available with Virtus WalkThrough Pro enabled Douglas to create more realistic outside environments as well as adding features like carpets, wall hangings, flooring, and ceilings. ===== Gloria King is Chairperson, Business Computer Programming, Roanoke-Chowan Community College, Route 2, Box 46-A, Ahoskie, North Carolina 27910 USA Telephone: 919-332-5921 ******************************************************* Initial Thoughts on Using Virtus WalkThrough Pro by John Ouellette Initially, I had grand ideas about establishing a virtual reality lab in one of our high schools in Washington County. I received my copy of Virtus WalkThrough Pro which I loaded on my laptop computer. I worked with the program for only a couple of short periods since then, and I've become aware of several factors that will limit my "grand ideas." I think the program is excellent; however, time constraints and slow learning on my part inhibit my performance. (And my laptop is going back to California for an upgrade.) My goal now is to establish a virtual house, following a set of real blueprints. The students in the electrical-trades class will attempt to "walk" through the virtual house and indicate to their instructor where the electrical wiring and outlets should be installed in accordance with the blueprint. This is certainly less than I had initially envisioned, but I believe this could be the beginning. If I could find funding for several computers and programs for this electrical-trades class of ten students, perhaps we could develop my initial concept of a virtual reality lab to be used by all the vocational classes. ===== John Ouelette is VoCATS Coordinator for the Washington County Schools, 802 Washington St., Plymouth, North Carolina 27962 USA Telephone: 919-793-5171 ******************************************************* Virtual Environment Science Laboratory (VESL(TM)) (Copyright 1995 Interface Technologies Corporation) by Ken Nemire, Ph.D. email: knemire@netcom.com Imagine that you can learn physics concepts while piloting a spacecraft or riding a comet, rather than in a traditional science laboratory. Imagine that everywhere you look - up, down, or behind - you see the blackness of the universe filled with colorful stars and planets. Imagine that you can control the comet and everything else in your world with the slightest of hand or arm movements or with your voice. You can do this today in the Virtual Environment Science Laboratory (VESL(TM)). Interface Technologies Corporation is developing the Virtual Environment Science Laboratory (VESL(TM)) for the home and school education markets. VESL(TM) represents the state-of- the-art in affordable, effective, and entertaining VE technology. The current VESL(TM) prototype combines computer-generated, three-dimensional sights and sounds that completely surround the student. Students can interact with the VESL(TM) through a number of manual devices, such as a joystick, as well as through speech commands. A computer-generated speech system allows the computer to "talk back" to the student by giving instructions and providing help. Interface Technologies is developing VESL(TM) for PC-compatible platforms so it can be affordable for homes and schools. The current prototype includes several experiential tutorials in high school physics. The VESL(TM) enables students to explore environments they otherwise could not, such as quasars and atoms, and to interact with these worlds in ways that enhance discovery of critical concepts using a game-like paradigm. Interface Technologies is developing virtual worlds to facilitate exploration and discovery of other sciences, as well as for other ages. Evaluations of VESL(TM) have been overwhelmingly positive. Teachers are excited about the possibilities for motivating students and effecting positive changes in educational outcomes. Students who have used the system are motivated to learn physics, and they find that it is fun to learn in the virtual world. Equally important is that post-testing has shown that students actually learn critical concepts from the lessons (Nemire, 1995a). The Virtual Environment Science Laboratory also has been designed to accommodate the needs of students with physical disabilities, providing access to science education that has been unavailable for them. Interface Technologies conducts studies to determine what system design will best suit these students. All aspects of the virtual-environment system are evaluated to match the tasks and capabilities of students with physical disabilities with the characteristics of the system components. The study results have led to the creation of usable, educational, and entertaining virtual worlds for both disabled and nondisabled students (Nemire, 1994; Nemire, 1995a; Nemire, 1995b; Nemire, Burke, & Jacoby, 1994; Nemire & Crane, 1995). Acknowledgments: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under award number III-9361888 and by the U. S. Department of Education under contract number RA94129013. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the U. S. Department of Education. References: Nemire, Kenneth. (1994). Building usable virtual environment products. _CyberEdge Journal_, 4, (5), 8-14. Nemire, Kenneth. (1995a). Learning in a virtual environment: Access by students with physical disabilities. _Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities_. Northridge: California State University. Nemire, Kenneth. (1995b). Virtual Environment Science Laboratory for students with physical disabilities. _Ability_, 15, 22-23. Nemire, Kenneth; Burke, Adam; and Jacoby, Richard. (1994). Human factors engineering of a virtual laboratory for students with physical disabilities. _Presence_, 3 (3), 216-226. Nemire, Kenneth, and Crane, Rebecca. (1995). Designing a virtual science laboratory to accommodate needs of students with cerebral palsy. In H. J. Murphy (Ed.), _Proceedings of the Third Annual International Conference on Virtual Reality and Persons with Disabilities_. Northridge: California State University. ===== Dr. Kenneth Nemire is Founder and President of Interface Technologies Corporation, a consulting and R&D firm specializing in ergonomic design, creation, and evaluation of virtual environment systems and other human-computer interfaces. They have worked with the largest hardware and software companies in the world, including Apple Computer, Sun Microsystems, and Hewlett Packard, as well as with U.S. government agencies such as NASA and the Department of Education. To learn more about the Virtual Environment Science Laboratory, contact Interface Technologies Corporation, 1840 41st Ave., Suite 102, Capitola, California 95010 USA Telephone: 408-688-3084 Fax: 408-688-3087 ******************************************************* Virtual Reality Taught at Haywood Community College by Tony Gaddis email: tony@daystrom.haywood.cc.nc.us What is virtual reality? What can it be used for? Isn't it just for playing games? These are all questions commonly asked by people who have seen VR portrayed in the movies but really don't know the truth behind the technology. Haywood Community College in North Carolina is continuing its efforts to answer these questions as it enters its second year of teaching this technology to the general public, including students at the high school level. An introductory course, which is taught at the College's Regional High Technology Center, reveals what the exciting field of virtual reality is all about. It provides a careful study of the enabling technologies used to create virtual worlds, an overview of the relevant physiological and psychological factors, and an up-to-date survey of the people and organizations that have made significant contributions to the field. In addition, students get an opportunity to create virtual worlds of their own and to experience immersive VR systems. Because there are no prerequisites, the course is open to anyone with a desire to learn. An added bonus is that the college's admission policy allows qualified high school students who are 16 and older to enroll as well. The class meets for seven hours each week and engages the students in a variety of activities. Four of the seven hours are dedicated to lively lectures built around multimedia presentations. The remainder of the time is spent in a computer lab constructing virtual worlds with special software. When the students are ready to step into a three-dimensional world, they put on a professional-quality head-mounted display. The display, a General Reality CyberEye 100s, blocks out the student's view of the real world and presents a computer-generated virtual world. Because the display is stereoscopic, the world appears to have life-like depth. Two small liquid-crystal screens present a slightly different view of the virtual world for each eye, tricking the brain into seeing a three-dimensional image. The school also owns a pair of high-tech goggles called CrystalEyes, made by StereoGraphics Corporation. The goggles are used with a special monitor and software and create the illusion that objects leap off the screen in true 3D. Because the student is viewing a monitor and can still see the real surroundings, the sensation of being immersed in the virtual world is not as great. However, the graphical quality is extremely good, and, since the lightweight goggles are wireless, the student is not encumbered with heavy equipment. To give the students greater interactivity in the virtual world, they learn to use special gloves made by Fifth Dimension Technologies. The gloves are wired with fiber optics which accurately track hand movements. When the students wear one of the gloves, they see a computer-generated hand in the virtual world that mimics the movements and gestures of their real hand. Virtual objects may be touched, picked up, and moved, and gestures become commands to the computer. In the future, the college hopes to expand its use of virtual reality by incorporating the technology into classes in other disciplines such as literature, health, electronics, and 3D design. There are also plans for a fully developed certificate program in virtual reality through which students will learn to construct not only virtual worlds but many of the hardware devices used in immersive applications. ===== Tony Gaddis is the Computer Systems Coordinator for Haywood Community College's Regional High Technology Center in Waynesville, North Carolina. Among his many duties, Tony teaches courses on virtual reality and manages the college's VR development projects. Address: Regional High Technology Center, 10 Industrial Park Drive, Waynesville, North Carolina 28786 USA Telephone: 704-452-1411 Fax: 704-452-3353 ******************************************************* Virtus Player and Virtus WalkThrough VRML Gaining access to 3D virtual environments via the Internet is facilitated with two software packages available from the Virtus Corporation: _ Virtus Player enables you to build a virtual environment using Virtus WalkThrough Pro, then to select the Virtus Player file-export option to create a file that can be distributed on a floppy disk, sent by email, or uploaded to an Internet site. Your friends who don~t yet have Virtus WalkThrough Pro can still enter your environment by downloading, free of charge, a freeware copy of Virtus Player from http://www. virtus.com. Virtus Player allows full interaction in terms of movement throughout your environment; however, because no changes can be made, your environment is secure. If you want the persons viewing your environment to be able to make changes, send them a Virtus WalkThrough Pro file. _ Virtus WalkThrough VRML was released in August as a "lite" version of Virtus WalkThrough Pro with VRML export added as its main feature. VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) is a developing standard for describing interactive 3D scenes delivered across the Internet. With Virtus WalkThrough VRML, virtual environment models are easily exported to VRML format with a single menu selection. Email your favorite model (in VRML format, but not too huge, please) to Virtus Corporation~s Model of the Month contest at webmaster@virtus.com. Read the contest rules and view the winning models on their homepage: http://www.virtus.com. ===== Virtus Corporation, 118 MacKenan Drive, Suite 250, Cary, North Carolina 27511 USA Telephone: 919-467-9700 Fax: 919-460-4530 Sales: 800-841-8871 ext. 21 Virtus Corporation has distributors in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Japan, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. ******************************************************* Planning Your Virtual Reality Lab by Tony Gaddis email: tony@daystrom.haywood.cc.nc.us Today, the virtual reality industry resembles the personal computer industry in its early years; there are many products, but few come with everything a buyer needs. Because the price of putting together a VR system has dropped considerably in the past few years, many schools are finding themselves in a position to start a VR lab. Putting together a VR lab requires a good bit of pre-purchase planning, particularly with immersive systems. Although the prices continue to drop, VR systems are still costly enough that mistakes can be traumatic, and financially recovering from those mistakes is sometimes difficult. Whether your lab is to have one system, or an entire roomful, the purpose of this article is to point out not only the obvious, but many of the hidden pitfalls that can send you scrambling for extra dollars to complete your project. Define the Application The first step in planning a VR system is to define the application for which you wish to use it. It is important to begin with a clear vision of the system and how it will work. The virtual world you wish to build should be visualized, along with all the devices that will be used to view, navigate, and interact with the environment. The behavior of objects in the virtual world must be planned, as well as all the ways the user will be able to manipulate them. It is from this picture that you will be able to determine the features of your application and the capabilities of your system. Here are some specific things to consider while forming this vision. Immersion The sense of immersion that is created by a VR system depends largely upon the amount of sensory input it is capable of providing. At one end of the immersion spectrum are desktop systems that display monoscopic views of the virtual world on a monitor. At the opposite end of the spectrum are highly immersive systems with stereoscopic head-mounted displays, position and orientation tracking devices, and other specialized peripherals. Not all applications are best served by the same level of immersion. Some work just as well at the low end of the spectrum as they do at the high end. If it does not detract from the quality or functionality of the application to have the view of the virtual world confined to a computer monitor, decide on a non- immersive system with robust development software. If your application demands immersion, however, you will need to carefully choose the combination of hardware and software that will fit your budget and come as close to your original vision as possible. Since the cost and complexity of VR systems go up dramatically as the level of immersion increases, it is important to find your application's ideal location in the spectrum. Viewing Devices At the mere mention of the term "virtual reality," the image of a person wearing a head-mounted display usually comes to mind. Despite the fact that it has become the icon of VR, the head-mounted display is not the only VR viewing device to choose from. Head- coupled displays, shutter goggles, and viewing hoods are also available. A comparison of each of these devices can be helpful. _ Head-mounted displays block the view of the real world and present the user with the computer-generated images of the virtual world. They are usually strapped onto the head so the display turns as the user looks in any direction. Head-coupled displays do not strap or fasten to the head. The user observes the virtual world by looking through eyeholes on a box that house the displays. Head-coupled displays are convenient because the user can easily look away to access the keyboard or mouse. Many of them have the added benefit of being mounted to a mechanical arm that not only counterbalances the weight of the display, but also provides position and orientation tracking. _ If stereoscopic images are desired, but a high level of immersion is not critical to your application, shutter goggles are what you want. Rather than presenting the user with two separate display panels (like a head-mounted display), shutter goggles allow stereoscopic images to be displayed on a desktop computer monitor. The left and right eye images are very rapidly displayed, one after the other. The user wears a pair of goggles that use two clear LCD panels for lenses. The goggles filter the images by darkening the panel over the right eye while the left eye image is on the screen, and then darkening the panel over the left eye while the right eye image is on the screen. Since the user can still see the surrounding room, the sense of immersion is not as great. The quality of the graphics, however, is usually much higher since they are being displayed on a computer monitor. _ Viewing hoods are enclosures that attach to the front of a computer monitor and provide optics and eyeholes for the user to look into. Essentially, the monitor is converted into a stereoscopic head-coupled display, but without the benefit of position or orientation tracking. Tracking Capabilities The next option to consider is the type of body movements your system should track. Some applications require only tracking of the rotational movement of the head. If this is the case, a simple 3 degrees-of- freedom (3-DOF) tracker, which senses pitch, roll, and yaw, will be sufficient. A 3-DOF tracker attached to a head-mounted display senses the direction the user's head turns, but it does not detect the change in height of the head as the user bends over, or the change in position as the user walks around. Systems that use 3-DOF tracking are common, and usually require the user to "fly" around in the virtual world with a joystick (or other hand-held device) while changing the angle of the viewpoint by turning the head. If your application must allow more freedom of movement, like the ability to stoop under virtual desks and walk around virtual objects, you need a 6 degrees- of-freedom (6-DOF) tracker. These trackers sense both rotational and linear movement, detecting the direction the head-mounted display is turned and any change in its position. You should also be aware of how many tracking sensors you will need. A single sensor can track the part of the body it is attached to. If the system needs to track the movement of both the user's head and hand, you will need two sensors. Input Devices The user will need to navigate in the virtual world and interact with the objects that inhabit it. A variety of input devices are available for VR applications, and you should choose the one which is most appropriate for your needs. _ Although mice work best with 2D interfaces, like GUI's, they also can be used in VR applications for navigating and selecting objects. There are even mice that have 3-DOF or 6- DOF tracking capabilities. Once these mice are lifted off the desk, they can be used to control an object or cursor within a 3-dimensional virtual space. _ Since movement in the virtual world is not unlike flying, a simple joystick might be all you need. In addition to navigating by pushing and pulling the stick, joysticks also provide buttons which can be programmed to perform other functions. _ Isometric devices are popular among VR designers because they are intuitive to use and can control movement with 6 degrees-of-freedom. The user's hand grasps a ball or puck-like instrument and simply moves it in the desired direction. The device works by measuring the amount of force and torque being exerted on it. _ Wired gloves are appropriate for sensing the articulation of the user's fingers. If the user wants to touch virtual objects and manipulate them by hand, a glove device is desired. A glove might also be considered if your application is to follow gestural commands for navigating. Pointing, for example, might be a command for flying, while making a fist might indicate a desire to stop moving. Assess Your Resources and Capabilities Your VR system will be a tool for building and experiencing virtual worlds, a task demanding many specialized skills. The graphical objects that inhabit the virtual world must be constructed using a 3D design package. The textures that make virtual worlds life- like must be created, either from digitized photographs or rendering software or must be drawn by someone with artistic capabilities. The programming that gives action to objects in the virtual world and brings life to the simulation must be created by someone with programming skills. The extent of your capability to perform these tasks will greatly influence your decision of which VR development software package to buy. Take a careful inventory of the technical expertise and resources that are available to you. Choose Your VR Development Software Choose the right software for the job; then select the hardware. That's good advice for any computer application, including the development of virtual worlds. VR development software comes in various levels of complexity, capabilities, and price. Weigh a number of factors when making the decision. Here are some of the most important considerations. _ Geometry Creation and Editing When selecting a package, one of the first things to consider is the supported method of creating graphical entities. Some packages provide a drawing editor, with all the necessary tools for constructing 3D objects. Others, however, require that the geometry be imported from an external graphics program. In many cases the geometry will already have been constructed with a CAD program and it will be preferable to import it into the VR software. Be sure you know how your virtual world will be drawn and what options for importing geometry you will have with each package. _ Programming Requirements Another important consideration is the level of programming expertise required. For doing anything beyond a simple walk-through, constructing a virtual world usually requires some form of programming. In some packages, virtual worlds are programmed with simple scripting languages, while in others, all the work is meant to be done with a traditional programming language like C. If the package uses a scripting language, it should come with everything necessary to test and use your virtual world. If the package uses a traditional programming language, however, you'll need to know which compiler it supports. You'll also need to determine if any additional programming tools are required. _ Texture Creation and Editing As mentioned before, textures add more realism to objects in the virtual world. For example, a digitized photograph of a brick wall might be applied to the side of a virtual house. The VR software that you choose will require that textures be stored in a specific graphic file format like TIFF or TARGA. The external graphics program used to create and save textures must be capable of saving images in the supported file format. _ Stereoscopic Viewing Most immersive VR applications use a stereoscopic viewing device. This feature allows two separate images, rendered from slightly different angles to be presented to each eye, creating a 3-dimensional scene. If you plan to use such a device, determine how stereoscopy is accomplished with any software package you consider buying. Simply asking the salesperson if the software allows stereoscopic viewing is not enough. Some packages support stereoscopic goggles, but not head-mounted displays. _ Modeling of Physical Behavior Not all development packages provide simulation of physical laws. If the application demands accurate behavior based on the laws of gravity and other principles of physics, determine which packages provide built-in support. If a package does not provide this support, you will have to develop it yourself through programming, which could require more work and expertise than you can provide. _ Peripheral Support Before purchasing a VR package, check out all of the hardware devices that it supports. If your heart is set on using a wired glove, for example, you'll obviously need to select software that supports such a device. Also determine if the software supports all of the features of the devices you intend to use. For example, a number of stereoscopic head-mounted displays with integrated head tracking recently have become available. If a software package lists that it supports a head-mounted display, do not assume that it supports stereoscopic viewing and/or head-tracking. If the software package does not support all your peripherals, you will have to go through the trying experience of writing your own device driver, which means finding out how easily that can be accomplished and what software development tools are required. _ System Requirements Obviously, knowing the minimum hardware requirements for any software that you buy is essential. Remember, the minimum requirements are usually just that -- minimum. That means the application will run with minimum speed and minimum realism. Describe your application to the software vendor and ask what would be acceptable in terms of processor, speed, amount of memory, and operating system. _ Portability Portability will be an important issue if you intend to use your application on different hardware platforms or operating systems. A development package with a high degree of portability will provide a future upgrade path and give greater flexibility in distributing the application for others to use. If you foresee the need to run the application on systems other than the original development platform, investigate the portability options provided by each development package you consider. _ Network Support The ability for multiple participants using different computers to enter the same virtual world offers many exciting possibilities for VR designers. Even if you foresee the application as single user in the beginning, consider the likelihood that you will want to network it in the future. The VR development software you choose will have to be compatible with the network and packet drivers, so find out which ones are supported. _ Distribution The final consideration for software selection is the method of distributing your virtual world. What provisions are necessary if you plan to share the VR application or run it on a computer other than the one used to develop it? In some cases, especially when an interpreted scripting language is used, simulations will not run without a separate runtime module. The module must be installed with the virtual world on the computer that is to run it. Although the cost of the runtime module is usually only a fraction of the cost of the VR development software, it must be added to your budget. Even with packages that let you create stand-alone executables, sometimes you must pay licensing fees before you can distribute the program. Select the Hardware When it comes to hardware for the VR application, you obviously want as much horsepower as you can afford. Of course, you want a fast and capable processor, but having enough memory is of equal, if not greater, importance. Look at several configurations to come up with the best combination of processor, speed, and memory your budget will allow. As mentioned before, talk to your software vendor to get an idea of what an acceptable hardware configuration would be. Here are some other factors to consider. _ Ports and Expansion Slots Immersive VR systems typically use a lot of peripherals. Viewing devices, tracking sensors, and input devices must all be interfaced to the computer. Many devices connect to a serial port while others require a special card. Consequently, you will need to determine how many serial ports and available expansion slots you will need. _ Graphics Options In order for a computer to generate stereoscopic images, two different views of the virtual world must be rendered for every frame of the simulation. Many graphics accelerators exist which are designed to generate quickly the two images and send them, by way of two separate video signals, to a stereoscopic viewing device. These are commonly used in systems with head-mounted or head-coupled displays which have a separate display panel for each eye. The graphics accelerator you choose will depend upon the software you select since it is written to support specific graphics cards. _ Signal Converters The video signal generated by the computer's graphics card might not be the same type of signal expected by the head-mounted display or other viewing device. For example, you might have a graphics card that generates RGB video signals and a head-mounted display that requires NTSC signals. A signal converter will be needed to make the two devices compatible. If your system generates two video signals, you will need two signal converters. _ Head-Mounted/Head-Coupled Display Deciding on the right immersive viewing device can be an aggravating experience. You should try as many as you can before buying one. Unfortunately, the only place you can shop and compare is at a VR conference. Some of the characteristics to consider carefully are the weight and balance of the unit, brightness of the displays, pixel and color resolutions, sturdiness of the enclosure, optics adjustability, field of view, sound capability, and, of course, price. _ External Viewing Monitor When someone else is immersed in a virtual world, you will want to see what they see. Besides, there may be times that you will want to demonstrate the system to a group of interested people. An external viewing monitor allows bystanders to observe what the user sees in the head-mounted display. (Of course, the images on the monitor will not be stereoscopic. Only one of the views will be displayed.) A standard television monitor with a Y cable should be sufficient. _ Shutter Goggles If the system is displaying 30 frames per second, shutter goggles actually depend on two images being displayed for every frame--one for the left eye and one for the right eye. This means your monitor must be capable of displaying 60 images per second (a 60Hz monitor). Some goggles can actually work at 60 frames per second, thus requiring a 120Hz monitor. If you decide to use shutter goggles, make sure that you get a monitor with a minimum frequency the goggles require. _ Tracking Devices Although many position tracking systems exist, the most commonly used ones are based on magnetic technology. Magnetic trackers are popular because they track many degrees of movement and the sensors are relatively small. However, magnetic trackers are sensitive to large metallic objects and devices that generate magnetic fields. You must be sure the area in close proximity to the tracker is clear of these objects. Not all magnetic trackers are created equally in terms of speed. Slower trackers increase the overall lag- time of the system (the delay between the user's movement and the rendering of a new scene on the display). Not all trackers support more than one sensor either. Remember that you must have one sensor for each part of the body that must be tracked. Sourceless, ultrasonic, and mechanical trackers are other possibilities. _ Sourceless trackers typically use a digital compass to sense the earth's magnetic field, and a liquid- filled inclinometer to sense pitch and roll. (They are called "sourceless" because they do not use a transmitter to emit a magnetic field.) These are 3-DOF devices, so they cannot track full movement. Also, some sourceless trackers are limited in the amount of pitch they can detect. The user will not be able to look straight up or down if the tracker is used on a head-mounted display. _ Ultrasonic tracking systems track many degrees of movement and have very quick response times. They do, however, depend on a clear line of sight between the transmitter and receivers. With an ultrasonic device tracking head movements, the user must be careful not to turn the head in such a direction that might point the transmitter (on the head) away from the receivers (on the ceiling or a wall). _ Mechanical trackers usually take the form of an arm with one end attached to a viewing device and the other end fastened to a desk or floor stand. Encoders in the joints of the arm quickly and accurately sense the user's movements as the position and viewing angle of the display is changed. This type of system's only disadvantage is that the user is physically encumbered by a rigid arm and can move only within a certain range. Plan For Success The addition of a virtual reality lab to your school can provide exciting new possibilities to your educational offerings. Nothing can be more disheartening, however, than the discovery of an overlooked hardware or software item. Unpleasant surprises and disappointments can stall your initial project and even doom your chances of future funding. With careful planning you can avoid these pitfalls and put together a lab that successfully serves you and your students. ===== Tony Gaddis is the Computer Systems Coordinator for Haywood Community College's Regional High Technology Center in Waynesville, North Carolina. Among his many duties, Tony teaches courses on virtual reality and manages the college's VR development projects. Address: Regional High Technology Center, 10 Industrial Park Drive, Waynesville, North Carolina 28786 USA Telephone: 704-452-1411 Fax: 704-452-3353 ******************************************************* Book review by Veronica S. Pantelidis, Ph.D. email: lspantel.ecuvm.cis.ecu.edu Tiffin, John, and Lalita Rajasingham. _In Search of the Virtual Class_. (London and New York: Routledge, 1995. 204 pp.) This well-written book is an extremely important addition to the growing literature on virtual reality and education. It deals with how telecommunications using virtual reality can be applied in the classroom. The authors are professors at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. Their breadth of knowledge about distance education is evident throughout the ten well-illustrated chapters, as they consider the question, "Can information technology provide an alternate communications system for learning that is at least as effective as the current system in use around the world?" Beginning with the vision of what education could become, using emerging technologies, they describe the virtual class today and tomorrow, including teleconferencing, telepresence, and televirtuality. The authors give suggestions as to how telelearning may be accomplished as they examine the virtual class, a class in a virtual school which can be accessed from anywhere at any time. They point out that everything detailed in their description of the virtual class will be technically feasible within the next ten years. They consider forms the virtual class could take and who will pay for a virtual education system. Throughout the book they give examples of how the virtual class and virtual reality could be used to enhance the instruction process instead of traditional fixed classrooms. The authors also consider the consequences of the virtual class. They believe that learning takes place through communications systems that bring together learning, teaching, knowledge, and problems in such a way that, from the learner's point of view, everything clicks into place. The virtual class, they feel, can be a means to bring about this learning in an effective manner. Finally, the authors state that the only thing we can be sure of in forecasting the future is that whatever happens will not be what is forecast. However, by attempting to visualize the shape we would like the future to have, we can influence the shape it actually takes. ******************************************************* Hardware and Software Mentioned in This Newsletter CrystalEyes is a registered trademark of StereoGraphics Corporation, 2171 East Francisco Blvd., San Rafael, California 94901-5536 USA Telephone: 415-459-4500 Fax: 415-459-3020 CyberEye is a registered trademark of General Reality Company, 124 Race St., San Jose, California 95126 USA Telephone: 408-289-8340 Fax: 408-289-8258 Email: GRCsales@aol.com 5th Glove is a registered trademark of Fifth Dimension Technologies. Distributed in the United States by General Reality Company, 124 Race St., San Jose, California 95126 USA Telephone: 408-289-8340 Fax: 408-289-8258 Email: GRCsales@aol.com VESL (Virtual Environment Science Laboratory) is a registered trademark of Interface Technologies Corporation, 1840 41st Ave., Suite 102, Capitola, California 95010 USA Telephone: 408-688-3084 Fax: 408-688-3087 Virtus WalkThrough, Virtus WalkThrough Pro, Virtus WalkThrough VRML, and Virtus Player are registered trademarks of Virtus Corporation, 118 MacKenan Drive, Suite 250, Cary, North Carolina 27511 USA Telephone: 919-467-9700 Fax: 919-460-4530 Sales: 919-841-8871 ext. 21 Vistapro is a registered trademark of Virtual Realities Laboratories, Inc., 2341 Ganador Court, San Luis Obispo, California 93401 USA Telephone: 805-545-8515 Fax: 805-781-2259 VRT is a registered trademark of Superscape, 2479 E. Bayshore Road, Suite 706, Palo Alto, California 94303 USA Telephone: 415-812-9380 Fax: 415-812-9390