VIRTUAL REALITY PROVIDES MULTISENSORY ENVIRONMENTS for learners to interact in a context. Myron Krueger (1993, p.152) defines VR's instructional value saying, "...the body can be employed as a teaching aid.... The theme is not 'learning by doing' in the Dewey sense, but instead, 'doing is learning'...." J.J. Gibson's ecological psychology (1986) recommends VR's active and integrated perceptualizations -- not merely visualizations -- for learners to create, observe, and understand relationships within the environment. 

Virtual reality's new technology and theory makes it somewhat expensive and puzzling to practitioners. Effectively using its inherent characteristics requires understanding VR's terms and its variations.

"Virtual" refers to its computer-generated existence; some prefer the term "cyber" to reinforce the point.

"Reality" is the more controversial term. Realism debates whirl around what levels of realistic detail are needed and affordable. Practitioners can choose types and amounts of reality varying from "objective" to "novel" and from specific to variable, or nonspecific.

VR has five main components (Wicken and Baker, 1994) which are variable according per the instructional context requirements:

dimensionality,
motion or animation,
interaction,
viewpoint or frame of reference, and
immersion, or embodiment, through enhanced multisensory experiences.

Some instructional contexts depend on specific realities, i.e., contexts that never vary. Scientists seeking medical cures must observe atomic particles in specific places and with specific behaviors when manipulated.

Some instructional contexts require nonspecific realities; i.e., contexts with naturally varying conditions. Explorers encounter unspecified variations ranging from air quality to zoological specimens.

VR's range of realities enables instructional designers and practioners to increase contextual complexities as learners transition from novices to experts.

VR technologies address a wide range of interaction and immersion capabilities. Interaction varies learner control during the VR experience. Immersion varies from first-, second-, or third-person experiences and in physical, perceptual, and psychological options.

How are experiences within VR affected by its artificial nature? What are the effects of immersion on learner control? How do multisensory experiences affect the quality and rapidity of learning?

VR can engage learners at the emotional level through the "willing suspension of disbelief". Its immersion characteristic utilizes role-playing and varying perspectives as a fundamental way of knowing. Virtual "agents" or human-like avatars can be the dramatic characters if instructional designers desire more predictability and control than possible with human models. 

These are NICE avatars and virtual agents.

Tailored VR

Variations of the five VR components provide technologies to suit specific contexts. Instructional designers can choose from several types of VR technology (Brill, '93 and '94b):
Immersive First-Person and Augmented Reality: (head-mounted display, data gloves, tracking, audio, treadmill, smells),
Through the Window or desktop VR: 1st-person -- Virtus WalkThrough, forensic animation, dynamic visualization,
Mirror World: 2nd-person -- VIDEOPLACE, Mandala, InView, Virtual Hoops,
Waldo World: 3rd-person/ role-play,
Chamber World: 1st-person --CAVE™ (1992 Electronic Visualization Laboratory,University of Illinois at Chicago, produced by Pyramid Systems), Sony Omnimax 3-D Theaters,
Cab Simulator Environment: 1st-person -- SIMNET, BattleTech, Fighter Town,
and
Cyberspace and Telepresence/Teleoperation: 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-person -- MUDs, MUSEs, Groupware systems such as Habitat, ExploreNet, The Virtual Fishtank (MIT Media Lab), and SIMNET; the Jason project, TROV, and Satava surgery '92. 

'Multimedia Bob' with head-mounted display (HMD) and fiber-optic-wired data glove.

The CAVE™ Automatic Virtual Environment is a "VR Theatre Display" or a "Spatially Immersive Display (SID)".

The CAVE™ has 3D audio and video projected from four computers and seen through shutter glasses.

ImmersaDesk™ is portable and less costly than the CAVE™.

Through VR’s seemingly magical capabilities, learners experience a feeling of control, nullification of physical barriers, and active participatory learning almost as easily as clicking their heels together three times while saying, 

"There’s no place like VR."
The inherent characteristics of VR "humanize" instruction and technology for learners, making both more enticing. Its diverse user interfaces provide assistive technology for everyone, resulting in a leveling effect for people of varied means and abilities.

Marsh, Meisel, and Meisel (1993) consider VR a conscious reentering of the process of evolution, making differences among peoples far less arbitrary.
All citations are from Chapter 15: Virtual Reality of the Jonassen handbook. See also:
CyberVR website
Chapter 16: Virtual Reality, by Frank Biocca, Ph.D., Rita Lauria, and Mark McCarthy, on the Communication Technology Update
LIFE magazine for the Virtual Gallery
image at Apple Computer, Inc. for the general atom 3D manipulable model and the lighthouse QTVR movie
Ken Marushige for the Multimedia Bob claymation image
Virtual Reality at EVL (University of Illinois at Chicago) for the NICE avatars and virtual agents, CAVE, and ImmersaDesk images
Wizard of Oz, The (1939) website for the Emerald City artwork and the Ruby Slippers photo. Image touch-up and manipulation are by the author.

Roxanna Springer, Graduate, EdTec561, Spring'97