Virtual Environments - Improving accessibility to learning?

摘要

The Virtual Reality Applications Research Team (VIRART) has been developing desktop Virtual Environments for Special Needs Education since 1991. Many of these projects have been completed with support and collaboration from Shepherd School in Nottingham, a large day school catering for students aged 3-19 with severe or profound learning disabilities. This paper will, discuss the utility of these virtual environment applications as a teaching medium in schools. We will describe the virtual environments, why they were built and what the teaching purpose was. We will then discuss issues surrounding usage of completed applications; this will also touch upon issues relating to cognitive and physical barriers to student access to virtual environments. Finally, we will discuss the wider issues surrounding the relationship between researchers, educators and students in establishing ground rules for successful partnership in working together to produce useful and usable tools for education.