(1337) THE AFFORDANCES OF VIRTUAL COLLABORATIVE TOOLS AND AUGMENTED VIRTUAL REALITY GAMIFICATION TOOLS TO ENHANCE INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION LIVE ONLINE

摘要

In Europe, the authoritative NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Higher Education was published in 2014 andthis report investigates the potential impact of emerging technologies on teaching and learning, as wellas on the domain of 'creative inquiry' within the area of Higher Education. More interestingly, regardingthe significant developments in Educational Technology for Higher Education, the NMC HorizonReport: 2014 Higher Education predicts that games and gamification will be adopted within two tothree years, and that virtual assistants will be utilised in higher education in the next four to five years.Both predictions are closely related to this paper's research [1].NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Edition was published in 2015. Concerning the crucialtrends accelerating the utilisation of technology in Higher Education, the report reveals that rapidlydeveloping cultures of change and innovation, as well as advances in 'cross-institutional collaboration'will be of great importance to the task of driving forward with technology in the next five years [2].From a broader perspective, it is reasonable to consider that the impact of cross-cultural collaborativelearning tools developed for Higher Education will have a positive influence on the development oftechnology for universities across the world, as well as for the internationalization of education.SMARTlab research team, at the University College Dublin (UCD), devoted decades to explore thepotential adoption and integration of Virtual Worlds (VW)/Virtual Reality (VR) tools in a wide range offields such as Art, Business, Education, and Health Systems, et cetera. These studies have created aset of original Virtual Worlds focusing on the needs of specific communities of users (women, children,survivors of abuse, people arising from stroke or coma, and People with Physical Disabilities orNeurological Differences such as Autism Spectrum Disorder). Currently, one of the main works ofSMARTlab team is focusing on developing novel 3D virtual platforms for the field of education, andespecially for the higher education, such as universities' cross-cultural collaborative learning.This paper focuses on the potential advantages on using augmented gamified VW/VR tools topromote intercultural higher education and collaborative learning. Firstly, a brief history review hasbeen summarised on the field of Virtual Worlds/Virtual Reality. Then a discussion on how the theory ofgamification with VW technology is combined to improve the process of learning has been illustrated.And lastly, the idea of designing, creating, and testing a novel 3D Virtual Cross-cultural Game-basedCollaborative Space has been presented and this collaborative space will be implemented based on asecond generation of Virtual Worlds - Terf (3DICC). Existing research has already noted thatcollaboration in VR classrooms fosters social integration of learners. Virtual Reality makesconstructivism and game-based learning possible, which is not entirely possible in real worldclassrooms, while increasing students' motivation through game-based experiences. Virtual Realityintroduces new approaches for rewards and it also creates a new medium for inspiring creativelearning along with other immersive technologies. This paper will address the affordances of VRcollaborative tools and Augmented Reality to enhance intercultural education, live and online, throughthe utilisation of existing gamification tools. The term 'gamification' refers to the use of game elementsin non-game environments, like education. We will discuss the potential of "gamifying" educationalprocesses for VR/AR environments in education.