This instructional design case describes the author's process for creating an augmented reality learning experience for library instruction at an academic library. With no budget, no team, and little experience with this type of technology, this design case describes the development of an instructional design utilizing emerging technologies. It…

In this design case, we report our design and playtest of a form of alternative reality, educational simulation that we call a playable case study (PCS). One of the features that make our simulations unique is how they are designed to implement a principle called This Is Not a Game, or TINAG, meaning that the affordances we design into the…

"Ghosts of the Argonne" is an interactive virtual reality (VR) recreation of the World War 1 (WW1) M1897 "French 75" field artillery gun, intended to teach learners about WW1 and its impact on the world, the role of artillery and artillerymen in this war, and the stories of real soldiers who served. The "Ghosts of the…

Pandemic-related lockdowns and school closures took education into the virtual sphere. Hence, educators of all grades had to adapt to the challenges of remote learning by including digital tools in their teaching strategies. The global pandemic added a mandatory digital layer to the task of motivating students. Education technologies (edtech) and…

Facilities are the foundation for safe and effective STEM teaching and learning, and the manner in which they are initially designed can either enhance or impede the quality of a program. This new focus on facilities in the U.S, and particularly in Texas, is needed to engage students in relevant and meaningful learning experiences that are aligned…

This design case describes the tensions and resolutions related to the iterative design of a virtual STEM peer mentoring program for White and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women in STEM study programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). Stakeholder feedback, along…

The presented design case gives examples of designing an Augmented Reality learning scenario about the Solar System with 6th grade. The case connects the physical and virtual worlds in Augmented Reality, like 3D planetary globes floating above the textbook. This way, students can interact with digital information embedded in the physical…

In this UniCollaboration plenary session, Barbara Moser-Mercer speaks on setting up education classrooms in refugee camps with University of Geneva students. She starts off with a video which speaks to the virtual exchange idea and how students from the University of Geneva are working together with students in Macau and how that could be…

Recently, Cosmopolitan English and Transliteracy won the 2018 Research Impact Award from the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), the largest international organization that specializes in the teaching and studies of composition. This recognition seems to signal a turn to transliteracy education, i.e., English writing…

The growing need for intercultural literacy in an increasingly interconnected and computer-mediated world contrasts with the dearth of investigation in best practices when designing simulations aimed at improving intercultural communication. Synthetic cultures inspired by real-world cultural traits, problem-based learning, and a social…

In this invited autobiography, the author describes the impact that educational gaming and simulation has had on his professional career. He begins by reviewing his early life and education in Aberdeen and his subsequent work as a research scientist, schoolteacher, and physics lecturer. He then shows how he changed disciplines from physics to…

This article discusses activities carried out in the virtual world of Second Life (SL) as part of a compulsory class in the first year of an undergraduate programme. The paper identifies the contribution of SL to the students' learning environment and an Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) approach to programme design. The reasons for taking an IBL…

This paper outlines and analyses some key design issues we encountered in the process of creating an online role-play simulation (RPS) for a course targeting personnel involved in crisis management. Titled "Black Blizzard" the RPS aims to enable an exploration of typical issues and problems that arise in cross and multi-cultural international…

Web-based education and training provides a new paradigm for imparting knowledge; students can access the learning material anytime by operating remotely from any location. Web3D open standards, such as X3D and VRML, support Web-based delivery of Educational Virtual Environments (EVEs). EVEs have a great potential for learning and training…

This article describes an evolution of training programs to use first-person interaction in virtual reality (VR) situations to teach safety skills to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Multiple VR programs for children aged 2 to 9 were built and tested between 1992 and 2007. Based on these…