Abstract
During the last several decades, the cultural pressures exerted by urban societies on the rural ones have led to a loss of cultural identity in the villages of South-East Europe. We believe that e-learning represents a solution for the preservation and continuation of the cultural identity in rural communities, as defined by traditional technologies and crafts. The present approach is based on a learning-by-playing teaching method and mobile-learning in real and virtual contexts. An original software application was designed for mobile devices making use of Augmented Reality technologies and delivering as main educational content 3D reconstructions of traditional environments and objects. The application integrates AI elements in the form of software agents. In this chapter the authors present the application prototype focusing on the role of software agents for the development of narrative e-learning tools and on the evaluation of the educational outcomes. Conclusions of this research and future work are also presented.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
2006–2007, Grant CNCSIS 945, Space, water, fire. The Hydrostrategies and protechnologies of the traditional habitat, Romania; Gheorghiu [18].
- 2.
2000–2002, Gant World Bank and CNCSIS, The revitalization of ceramic tradition, Romania; 2003–2005, Grant CNCSIS 1612, The revitalization of traditional technologies, Romania.
- 3.
3D reconstructions by Assis. Prof. Alexandra Rusu (National University of Arts, Bucharest).
- 4.
Video footage: Lect. Adrian Şerbănescu (University Spiru Haret, Bucharest).
- 5.
Weaving experiments: Assist. Prof. Alexandra Rusu and technician Elena Haut (National University of Arts, Bucharest).
- 6.
3D reconstructions by: arch. Andra Jipa, Cristina Kudor and Inga Bunduche (National University of Arts, Bucharest).
References
Alsheail, A.: Teaching English as a second/foreign language in a ubiquitous learning environment: A guide for ESL/EFL instructors (2010)
Azuma, R.: A survey of augmented reality. Presence Teleoperators Virtual Environ. 6(4), 355–388 (1997)
Balcisoy, S., Kallmann, M., Torre, R., Fua, P., Thalmann, D.: Interaction techniques with virtual humans in mixed environments. In: Proceedings of International Symposium on Mixed Reality (ISMAR 2001), Tokyo, Japan (2001)
Barakonyi, I., Weilguny, M., Psik, T., Schmalstieg, D.: Monkey bridge: Autonomous agents in augmented reality games. Adv. Comput. Entertainment Technol., 172–175 (2005)
Barber, E.J.W.: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean. Princeton University Press, Princeton (1992)
Broudy, E.: The Book of Looms: A History of the Handloom from Ancient Times to the Present. Hannover and London (1979)
Cassell, J., Ananny, M., Basu, A., Bickmore, T., Chong, P., Mellis, D., Ryokai, K., Smith, J., Vilhjálmsson, H., Yan, H.: Shared reality: Physical collaboration with a virtual peer. In: Proceedings of Human Factors in Computing System (CHI 2000), pp. 259–260. The Hague, The Netherlands (2000)
Cavazza, M., Charles, F., Mead, S.J., Martin, O., Marichal, X., Nandi, A.: Multimodal acting in mixed reality interactive storytelling. IEEE Multimedia 11(3), 30–39 (2004)
Clark, R.: Media will never influence learning. Educ. Technol. Res. Dev. 42(2), 21–29 (1994)
Conrad, R., Donaldson, A.: Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco (2004)
Costanza, E., Kunz, A., Fjeld, M.: Mixed reality: A survey. In: Invited Book Chapter in Human Machine Interaction, LNCS 5440, pp. 47–68. Springer, Berlin (2009)
Dede, C.: Immersive interfaces for engagement and learning. Harvard Graduate School of Education (2009)
Dobrincu, D., Iordachi, C. (eds.): Taranimea si puterea. Procesul de colectivizare a agriculturii in Romania (1949–1962). Iasi, Polirom (2005)
Duffy, T.M., Jonassen, D.H.: Constructivism: New implications for instructional technology. In: Constructivism Technology of Instruction, pp. 1–16. Routledge, London (1992)
Geddes, S.J.: Mobile learning in the 21st century: Benefit for learners. Knowl. Tree e-journal: An ejournal Flex. Learn. VET 30(3), 214–228 (2004)
Gheorghiu, D.: Le projet Vădastra. Prehistorie Europeenne 16–17, Liège (2001)
Hildebrand, A., Daehne, P., Christou, I.T., Demiris, A., Diorinos, M., Ioannidis, N., Almeida, L., Weidenhausen, J.: Archeoguide: An augmented reality based system for personalized tours in cultural heritage sites. In: International Symposium of Augmented Reality 2000 (2000)
Hoffman, S.: Elaboration theory and hypermedia: Is there a link? Educ. Technol. 37(1), 57–64 (1997)
Holza, T., Campbella, A.G., O’Harea, G.M.P., Stafford, J.W., Martin, A., Dragonea, M.: MiRA—mixed reality agents. Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud. 69(4), 251–268 (2011)
Jung, Y.: Building Blocks for Virtual Learning Environments. Fraunhofer IGD, Darmstadt, WSCG2008 (2008)
Jung, Y., Behr, J., Graf, H.: X3DOM as carrier of the virtual heritage (2011)
Laurel, B.: Interface agents: Metaphors with character. In: Bradshaw, J.M. (ed.) Software Agents, pp. 67–77. MIT Press, Cambridge (1997)
Lockard, J., Abrams, P.D., Many, W.A.: Microcomputers for Twenty-first Century Educators, 4th edn, p. 219. Longman, New York (1997)
Maes, P., Darrell, T., Blumberg, B., Pentland, A.: The ALIVE system: Wireless full-body interaction with autonomous agents. ACM Multimedia Syst. 5(2), 105–112 (1997)
Nwana, H.S.: Software agents: An overview. Knowl. Eng. Rev. 11(3), 205–244 (1996)
Opresco, G.: L’Art du paysan roumain. Roto-Sadag (1943)
Papagiannakis, G., et al.: VR & AR Frameworks for Virtual Character Simulation State-of-the-art. Brussels, AR Concertation Meeting (2002)
Perelman, L.J.: School’s out: A Radical New Formula for the Revitalization of America’s Educational System. Avon Books, New York (1992)
Richey, R.C.: The Legacy of Robert M. Gagné. ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, Syracuse, NY (2000)
Sánchez, J., Lumbreras, M., Bibbo, L.M.: Hyper stories for learning. In: Proceedings of International Workshop on Hypermedia Design, pp. 239–248. Montpelier (1995)
Sanchez, J., Lumbreras, M.: Hyper stories as a metaphor for educational software. Retrieved http://users.dcc.uchile.cl/~jsanchez/Pages/papers/metaphorforeducation.pdf (2009)
Santi, A., Guidi, M., Ricci, A.: Exploiting Agent-Oriented Programming for Developing Android Applications. University of Bologna, Bologna (2011)
Santi, A., Ricci, A.: A programming paradigm based on agent-oriented abstractions. Int. J. Adv. Softw. 5(1–2) (2012) http://www.iariajournals.org/software/
Sârbu, C., Gheorghiu, D.: From fragments to contexts: Teaching prehistory to village children in Romania. In: An Interdisciplinary Perspective Teaching Children About the Past, pp. 334–346 (2007)
Schlosser, C., Burmeister, M.: The best of both worlds. Tech. Trends 43(5), 45–48 (1999)
Schulmeister, R.: Hypermedia Learning Systems. Hamburg (2012)
Shoham, Y.: Agent-oriented programming. Artif. Intell. 60(1), 51–92 (1993)
Smith, R.G.: The contract net protocol: High-level communication and control in a distributed problem solver. IEEE Trans. Comput. C29(12) (1980)
Stahl, H.: Sociologia Satului Romanesc Devalmas Romanesc. Bucharest, Fundatia Regele Mihai I (1946)
Steinmetz, R.: Multimedia-Technologie: Einführung und Grundlagen. Springer, Berlin (1993)
Wild, J.P.: The Roman horizontal loom. Am. J. Archaeol. 91, 459–472 (1987)
Wooldridge, M., Jennings N.R.: Intelligent agents: Theory and practice. Knowl. Eng. Rev. (1994)
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank to the editor Professor Mirjana Ivanovic for her moral support during the elaboration of the text, Mrs. Laura Voicu, the principal of the Vădastra school, Vădastra village, Olt county, for the help during the summer campaigns, Professor Andreea Hasnaş, Professor Viorica Slădescu and technician Elena Haut (NUA) for their collaboration and to the art students and children who volunteered in the project. Last but not least, our gratitude goes to Mr. Bogdan Căpruciu for reviewing the translation.
The project was financed by an exploratory research grant PN II IDEI (The Maps of Time. Real communities, virtual world, experimented pasts, Director Prof. Dragoş Gheorghiu).
Images by D. Gheorghiu and A. Şerbănescu.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gheorghiu, D., Ştefan, L., Rusu, A. (2014). E-Learning and the Process of Studying in Virtual Contexts. In: Ivanović, M., Jain, L. (eds) E-Learning Paradigms and Applications. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 528. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41965-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41965-2_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-41964-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-41965-2
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)