Abstract:

Background:
The Center for Distributed Learning at the University of Central Florida (UCF) provides technical and instructional design support for faculty seeking to enhance global learning through digital technologies, particularly those pursuing a high impact practice designation for global learning in their courses. [1] Wendy Howard, Director of the Pegasus Innovation Lab (iLab), leads this effort in collaboration with Associate Instructional Designer, Shelly Wyatt and a multimedia specialist on the iLab team. One such way to introduce a hands-on global learning activity is with an immersive 360 cultural experience online.

Impact of Interactive 360 Cultural Experiences Online:
The development of 360-degree photography allows the user to explore an environment by clicking and dragging on an image; the experience is seamless, reproducing the “experience of being at the original point from which the picture was taken.” [2, p327] The two major dimensions of 360 photography include vividness (the extent to which the sense are engaged) and interactivity (the degree to which users can manipulate the visual environment). [2] There are many documented benefits of active learning, which “makes the student a partner in the learning process.” [3, p566] Advances in development tools have led to greater opportunities to engage in active learning; more interactive elements may be embedded within the environment to guide students through a series of exploratory tasks within a collection of connected 360 scenes captured on location. Immersive 360 activities can be used to enhance all course modalities by providing students with opportunities to interact with course content rather than passively consuming it. These online, asynchronous experiences allow students to explore restricted areas they normally would not have access to, prepare for high-stakes labs, or even travel to foreign destinations without ever boarding a plane.

Focus of the Session:
In this session, we will demonstrate an immersive 360 environment that was originally designed and developed for a humanities course and then discuss how the same environment is being redesigned for a Spanish Language course. Using media assets captured on location in Argentina under a Fulbright Hays grant, students are transported into a museum in Luhan, Argentina, where they can explore the art and displays and hear directly from the instructor at a time that is convenient for them and from the comfort of their own home. This is just one of many immersive activities we are producing with the footage captured on the many tours and excursions connected to this grant. We’ll discuss the design and development process, the technology used to produce this immersive learning environment, and applications for just about any discipline or destination.

References:
[1] Ucf Division of Student Learning and Academic Success. “HIP Course Designations.” https://academicsuccess.ucf.edu/hip/hip-course-designations/
[2] E. Greussing, “Powered by immersion? Examining effects of 360-degree photography on knowledge acquisition and perceived message credibility of climate change news.” Environmental Education, vol. 14. no. 3, pp. 316-331, 2019.
[3] Petress, Ken. “What Is Meant by ‘Active Learning?’” Education, vol. 128, no. 4, pp. 566–69, 2008.

Keywords:

Emerging technology, 360 camera, Immersive learning environment, global learning, digital learning.