Abstract:

This work presents an innovative but natural approach towards teaching Computer graphics at university level. Computer graphics is one of the fields that makes the most advancements in the IT domain and as such it is ideal target for introducing technology enhanced learning. The virtual environment, called Meiro, employs the means of blended learning and virtual reality in order to experiment with a novel way of teaching the fundamentals of computer graphics. The ongoing Meiro project provides the students with a complete online experience for training and assessment. The software generates mazes which are populated with 3D virtual interactive models. For the first phase of the project a few hundreds of such models are being developed and already used for in-class demonstrations and off-class experiments. The second phase will focus on developing virtual models for self-studying, testing, and assessment.

The Meiro could be used both as a standalone web application and as a plugin for the popular LMS Moodle. The plugin is open-source as the LMS itself and gives the students possibility to be immersed in the 3D maze while experimenting with Computer graphics concepts and solving problems. It also provides the teacher with an easy way to assess students knowledge by generating unique maze per each student and passing back the grades to Moodle in a secure way.

The system is designed to be easily extendable for the purpose of other subjects and the way the content is defined is easily understandable even for non-technical people who want to employ modern technologies in their way of teaching.

Keywords:

Computer graphics, virtual reality, meiro.