VITAL Lab: Immersive Learning at OU
Uploaded by
sozercanVITAL Lab: Immersive Learning at OU
Uploaded by
sozercanVITAL Lab @ Ohio University
Virtual Immersive Technologies and Arts for Learning
Director: Dr. Chang Liu
liuc@[Link]
[Link]
VITAL Lab
VITAL Lab is a multi-disciplinary research and development facility at Ohio
University in Athens, Ohio.
We specialize in creating immersive three-dimensional virtual environments
and mobile applications for teaching, learning, training, and process
improvement purposes.
Our mission is to develop new underlying technologies to facilitate learning and
communication, deploy innovative immersive applications to showcase their
potential, perform rigorous studies to measure the effectiveness of new
paradigms, and actively disseminate our innovations to benefit the general
public.
People
Dr. Chang Liu
Director and Associate Professor in Computer Science
En Ye
Computer Science, Ph.D. Student
Ying Zhong
Computer Science, Ph.D. Student
Sertac Ozercan
Computer Science, Ph.D. Student
People (cont.)
Qing Zhu
Computer Science, Ph.D. Student
Xin Ye
Computer Science, Ph.D. Student
Nathan Andre
Computer Science, Master’s Student
Jonathan Maple
Computer Science, Master’s Student
People: The NSF BooKS Virtual Boat Project Team
Dr. Tiao Chang
Civil Engineering
Dr. Chang Liu
Computer Science
Dr. Teresa Franklin
Education
Dr. Kelly Johnson
Biological Sciences
Dr. David Diggle
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Current Project:
Virtual Boat for Environmental Education
A 5-year, $2.8M NSF-funded project.
A learning game that aims to increase student player’s
appreciation of the real-world relevance of the Ohio River
and enhance awareness of water pollution prevention.
Players can navigate the virtual boat along the virtual Ohio
River.
Satellite data from Marietta to Gallipolis, Ohio were used to
display accurate terrain in game.
Students can collect water quality data of temperature,
dissolved oxygen, E. coli, pH, total phosphate, nitrate, and
turbidity.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0947813.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Recent Project:
STEAM (Science and Technology Enrichment for Appalachian Middle-schoolers)
A 4-year, $1.6M NSF GK-12 program.
This project aims to broaden graduate education for
engineering students at Ohio University and improve
learning in science courses for middle schoolers at
surrounding middle schools.
STEAM Graduate Fellows work with school teachers to
create and deliver engaging digital curricular content that
can produce learning with engagement among students in
grades six through eight.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0538588. Any opinions,
findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Recent Project:
Financial Literacy Game
The Financial Literacy Game is a 3-D multi-player
online game aiming to teach teenagers how to manage
their finances in real life.
Provides teenagers with an opportunity to safely
experiment with personal finances.
Takes players through a virtual lifetime and allows them
to see the results of various life decisions.
Automatically keeps track of players’ income and gives
them feedback about their own financial health.
Recent Project:
SecondWATCH (Second Life Workspace Awareness Toolkit)
Informs developers of real-time and history artifact
and co-worker information by monitoring team
members’ activities on their local workspaces, and
version control repository.
Extracts, analyzes and visualizes the information in
Second Life as a common view shared by the whole
team using a 3-D city metaphor.
Implemented as an Eclipse plug-in by integrating
Eclipse with a modified open-source SL client
viewer.
Current Project:
iVirtualWorld: Virtual Worlds Made Easy
Aims to enable end-users to create 3D virtual worlds
using a non-technical, template-based approach.
Users can use their web browsers to upload digital media,
place them in the virtual world template, generate their
own virtual world, and share it with their colleagues,
students, and friends.
[Link]
Current Project:
BMM (Behavioral Migraine Management) on iPad
The iPad BMM app helps migraine patients learn the skills of
migraine management from clinically-proven behavioral
migraine management materials in the form of text, images,
audio and videos.
The BMM app enables migraine patients to update a headache
diary and worksheets anytime, anywhere so that it’s easier for
therapists and patients to identify headache patterns.
The app also helps patients stay in contact with their therapists
via email and other communication means.
This project is a collaboration between the VITAL Lab and Dr.
Ken Holroyd’s Headache Treatment & Research Lab.
Research and Development Directions
Research
How to improve learning effectiveness and increase engagement through immersive
learning technologies
How to improve teamwork of knowledge workers through immersive project awareness
tools
Development
iOS and Android mobile applications
Motion control and movement tracking with Kinect and other devices
Cross platform development with the Unity3D game development tool
OpenSim and other Second Life-like 3D virtual worlds
Application of Augmented Reality technologies
For More Information
Web:
[Link]
Email:
vitallab@[Link]
Voice:
+1.740.593.1249
YouTube:
[Link]