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Exploiting Extended Reality Technologies for Educational Microscopy

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Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (EuroVR 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNIP,volume 12499))

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Abstract

Exploiting extended reality technologies in laboratory training enhances both teaching and learning experiences. It complements the existing traditional learning/teaching methods related to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. In this work, we use extended reality technologies to create an interactive learning environment with dynamic educational content. The proposed learning environment can be used by students of all levels of education, to facilitate laboratory-based understanding of scientific concepts. We introduce a low-cost and user-friendly multi-platform system for mobile devices which, when coupled with edutainment dynamics, simulation, extended reality and natural hand movements sensing technologies such as hand gestures with virtual triggers, is expected to engage users and prepare them efficiently for the actual on-site laboratory experiments. The proposed system is evaluated by a group of experts and the results are analyzed in detail, indicating the positive attitude of the evaluators towards the adoption of the proposed system in laboratory educational procedures. We conclude the paper by highlighting the capabilities of extended reality and dynamic content management in educational microscopy procedures.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Covid-19 of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019.

  2. 2.

    Deployment as well as all the additional support material: http://www.ceti.gr/chairiq/xrlabs/.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the project XRLabs -Virtual laboratories using interactive technologies in virtual, mixed and augmented reality environments (MIS 5038608) implemented under the Action for the Strategic Development on the Research and Technological Sector, co-financed by national funds through the Operational program of Western Greece 2014–2020 and European Union funds (European Regional Development Fund).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Systems Institute, Athena-Research and Innovation Center in Information, Communication and Knowledge Technologies, Patra, Greece

    Helena G. Theodoropoulou & Aris S. Lalos

  2. Institute for Language and Speech Processing, Athena-Research and Innovation Center in Information, Communication and Knowledge Technologies, Xanthi, Greece

    Chairi Kiourt, Anestis Koutsoudis & George Pavlidis

  3. School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Patra, Greece

    Evgenia Paxinou & Dimitris Kalles

Authors
  1. Helena G. Theodoropoulou
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  2. Chairi Kiourt
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  3. Aris S. Lalos
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  4. Anestis Koutsoudis
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  5. Evgenia Paxinou
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  6. Dimitris Kalles
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  7. George Pavlidis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chairi Kiourt .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. VENISE team, LIMSI-CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Orsay, France

    Patrick Bourdot

  2. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Victoria Interrante

  3. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Regis Kopper

  4. University of Rennes 2, Rennes, France

    Anne-Hélène Olivier

  5. Department of Information and Computer Science, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan

    Hideo Saito

  6. University of Bremen, Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Gabriel Zachmann

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Theodoropoulou, H.G. et al. (2020). Exploiting Extended Reality Technologies for Educational Microscopy. In: Bourdot, P., Interrante, V., Kopper, R., Olivier, AH., Saito, H., Zachmann, G. (eds) Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. EuroVR 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12499. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62655-6_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62655-6_9

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