Search for: All records

Not AvailableExtended Reality (XR) learning environments generate rich behavioral data through embodied interaction—head movements, gaze patterns, and spatial navigation—that could enable passive assessment without interrupting the learning experience. We investigate spatial exploration behavior in ACHIEVE, an XR environment for neural network visualization learning. In a between-subjects study (N = 56), XR participants exhibited significantly different spatial behavior than desktop users: over 14 times greater pointer movement (M = 132.5 m vs. M = 9.5 m), extensive head rotation (M = 9,818◦ ), and M = 22.5 m of head translation during the learning session. We visualize individual exploration patterns through head and pointer trajectory traces, revealing substantial variation in how learners navigate the 3D content. These spatial metrics, automatically captured during learning, represent a promising avenue for passive assessment of embodied engagement—enabling educators to identify struggling learners, provide personalized feedback, and adapt content delivery without intrusive testing. Full learning outcomes and user experience metrics are reported in companion publications; here we focus on spatial behavior as a novel contribution toward spatialized learning analytics in education 

The application of extended reality (XR) technology in education has been growing for the last two decades. XR offers immersive and interactive visualization experiences that can enhance learning by making it engaging. Recent technological advances have led to the availability of high-quality and affordable XR headsets. These advancements have spurred a wave of research focused on designing, implementing, and validating XR educational interventions. Limited literature focuses on the recent trends of XR within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Thus, this paper presents an umbrella review that explores the exploding field of XR and its transformative potential in STEM education. Using six online databases, the review zoomed in on 17 out of 1972 papers on XR for STEM education, published between 2020 and 2023, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The results highlighted the types of XR technology applied (i.e., virtual reality and augmented reality), the specific STEM disciplines involved, the focus of each study reviewed, and the major findings from recent reviews. Overall, the educational benefits of using XR technology in STEM education are apparent: XR boosts student motivation, facilitates learning engagement, and improves skills, for example. However, using XR in education still has challenges that must be addressed, such as the physical discomfort of the learner wearing the XR headset and technical glitches. Besides revealing trends of using XR in STEM education, this umbrella review encourages reflection on current practices and suggests ways to apply XR to STEM education effectively. 

In this paper, we demonstrate the Information Interactions in Virtual Reality (IIVR) system designed and implemented to study how users interact with abstract information objects in immersive virtual environments in the context of information retrieval. Virtual reality displays are quickly growing as social and personal computing media, and understanding user interactions in these immersive environments is imperative. As a step towards effective information retrieval in such emerging platforms, our system is central to upcoming studies to observe how users engage in information triaging tasks in Virtual Reality (VR). In these studies, we will observe the effects of (1) information layouts and (2) types of interactions in VR. We believe this early system motivates researchers in understanding and designing meaningful interactions for future VR information retrieval applications.