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Transactions on Computational Science XVIII pp 81–100Cite as

Asynchronous Immersive Classes in a 3D Virtual World: Extended Description of vAcademia

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((TCOMPUTATSCIE,volume 7848))

Abstract

vAcademia is a 3D virtual world designed for collaborative learning. It enables a new approach to educational activities in virtual worlds, which is based on a new vision of content and learning process. The most distinct feature of vAcademia is 3D recording which allows capturing everything in a given virtual world location in dynamics. The resultant recordings can be not only watched later, but also visited, providing students with a collaboration space and giving a sense of presence. 3D recording is conceptually different from video recording or screen capturing. In such a manner, vAcademia supports a new type of digital content – 3D recording or virtcast which is created based on synchronous activities. In addition, this platform has an integrated set of tools for collaborative learning which substitute those commonly used in physical classrooms, but also allows implementing new learning scenarios that are not possible or costly in reality. In this paper, we present the functionality, scenarios of use, and the initial evaluation results of the vAcademia virtual world.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Multimedia Systems Laboratory, Volga State University of Technology, Yoshkar-Ola, Russia

    Mikhail Morozov, Alexey Gerasimov & Andrey Smorkalov

  2. Program for Learning with ICT, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Mikhail Fominykh

Authors
  1. Mikhail Morozov
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  2. Alexey Gerasimov
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  3. Mikhail Fominykh
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  4. Andrey Smorkalov
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W., T2N 1N4, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Marina L. Gavrilova

  2. Exascala Ltd., Unit 9, 97 Rickman Drive, B15 2AL, Birmingham, UK

    C. J. Kenneth Tan

  3. Institut für Graphische Datenverarbeitung, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Fraunhoferstraße 5, 64283, Darmstadt, Germany

    Arjan Kuijper

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Morozov, M., Gerasimov, A., Fominykh, M., Smorkalov, A. (2013). Asynchronous Immersive Classes in a 3D Virtual World: Extended Description of vAcademia. In: Gavrilova, M.L., Tan, C.J.K., Kuijper, A. (eds) Transactions on Computational Science XVIII. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7848. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38803-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38803-3_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-38802-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-38803-3

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