Virtual Reality: Active Worlds in Education

Abstract

This page examines the use of the Active Worlds virtual universe in education. It particularly looks at the Quest Atlantis site of the University of Indiana that aims at K-12 education, especially the subject areas of the environment and the arts. The Quest Atlantis site features game-like quests that involve students in interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence, forming a hypothesis and testing out their ideas. It demonstrates there is great potential for virtual reality in education. However, the future of Active Worlds is less clear because of competition from other organizations such as Second Life, though Active Worlds does have the advantage of less demanding computer hardware requirements. In addition, organizations can use the Active Worlds software to host worlds privately on their own servers.

Main Aims

This page investigates the use of virtual worlds in education. In particular I want find out about the pedagogical metbhods that can be used and what content is already available. I've used the Active Worlds environment as my starting point though my interest is much more general.

Contributing to and using this page

What is Active Worlds?

Active Worlds is an online virtual reality environment used for games, business and education. It's similar to the Second Life virtual world though some users claim it is not as convincing. I chose Active Worlds so that I would have something to compare with Second Life, which is being investigated by other students on this course. In addition, it has less demanding computer system requirements - important considering the age of my computer.

Education in Active Worlds

Active Worlds has a separate universe of educational worlds at http://edu.activeworlds.com/tour/worlds.html . Unfortunately of the twelve worlds listed, less than half of them are accessible or active. It may be that Active Worlds is struggling to compete with its younger competitor Second Life. Other Active Worlds exist on private servers and are not generally accessible to the public. However, I did manage to get into a few of them, notably the Quest Atlantis site of Indiana university. It is possible that interest may pick up in Active Worlds as more people get broadband access and more powerful computers.

Examples of Virtual Worlds

Many virtual worlds are hosted privately, perhaps for the staff of a company or for a particular student group. This allows the organization in question greater control over the costs and access to the world. IBM. Sun Microsystems, Wells Fargo bank and the universities of Cornell and Indiana are all cases in point.

Stagecoach Island

Stagecoach Island is operated by Wells Fargo bank. Its aim is to teach money management skills to school children. A few years ago the bank had an island in Second Life but later decided to move over to a privately hosted Active Worlds environment.

To visit the island it is necessary to complete a form then download and install the Stagecoach Island browser. The island is only open to residents of the USA so I had to give a false address to get access.

Arrival on Stagecoach Island commences with a descent from the sky as if coming in to land by plane. No doubt this is to make you feel like a multi-millionaire playboy/girl. Once on the ground you see signs directing you to the welcome centre. To the right side of the screen is a tab that opens out giving useful information on getting started and using the avatar.

In order to function on the island you will need virtual money. To obtain this you must first click on a virtual cash machine (fig. 1). On the screen you see various options that give information about different types of accounts, mortgages and credit cards. Then you need to study a lesson (about four pages long) and then answer some multiple choice questions. If you get a good mark a sum of money is credited to your account. This money can then be used to buy services, hire cars, jet skis etc. Participants earn daily interest on their money and can increase their wealth by going to the nearby job centre and taking virtual employment. The money is virtual money so it cannot be transferred out into the real world.

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fig. 1: Virtual ATM and chat box at the bottom of the screen.......fig. 2: Example screen on the virtual ATM

The island does have good ideas but I feel it can be improved. Instructions could be much clearer and the study lessons shorter. Movement on the island was frustratingly slow though I believe this was partly due to the limitations of my computer setup (Pentium 3, 600 Hz, 512KB RAM / 2MB broadband). Furthermore, I was unable to use the chat facility (possibly because I was operating from outside the United States. Overall, the island does have potential as an educational tool.

Quest Atlantis

Quest Atlantis is a universe of several worlds and villages run by the Indiana University for students aged 9-12 years. It's not open to the public though I was able to get a guest account. If you want to try the Quest Atlantis site read the section "Want to try Active Worlds?" further down this page.

Students can undertake quests individually or in groups. I believe it works best if students work together because there is a lot of work to be done and much to be gained by the students learning to work as a team. They can collaborate online so it’s not necessary for them to talk to each other in the real world though it’s not a problem if they are actually sitting next to each other.

The Quest Atlantis site is presented as a fictional world with similar problems and experiences to our own world. The main subject areas covered are: the environment, wildlife, culture and health. The quests are structured very much like a computer game. The participants are required to carry out various tasks in order to earn credit points called lumens. At various stages they are required to submit small written reports or answer multiple choice questions in order to progress further in the game. The AW program will accept these reports regardless of their quality, content or length, so ideally these reports should be assessed by the teacher who receives them online.

In order to start on the exercise you must first launch the Quest Atlantis adaptation of the Active World 4.1 browser. After signing in you find yourself in the “Otak Hub”.



fig. 3: The OTAK Hub - The path on the left leads to the teleports to other worlds.
The coloured buttons on the right enable you to access mail, instructions etc.

The “Otak” is a fictional all-powerful computer that controls access to the various virtual worlds. From here the students can click on the appropriate door in order to “teleport” into a particular world. First, though, they have to use the arrow keys on their computers to travel along the pathways in the Otak Hub to find the teleport doorway – that’s all part of the fun. The teleports themselves look just like any normal lift doors. After clicking on the doors you find yourself a new world with usually with a few signs and notice boards.



fig. 4: The teleport to Ecology World

Once inside the new world it helps to follow a few general guidelines. For example, whenever you see a spinning Q sign it’s a good idea to click on it to get more information about some feature or the current world. Also, if you see a human avatar just waiting around, you should click on that too – It may well answer you back with instructions on where to go next. Sometimes you may see suspicious looking objects such as a scroll of paper on the ground – click on it to see if it’s a map. A computer on a desk could have important information on it. When you see a building click on the door and it will probably open, allowing you to explore inside.

Picture Perfect Village - Inside a van Gogh Picture

fig. 5: Entrance to van Gogh's house

This is a fascinating exercise. Somewhere in the Culture World of the Quest Atlantis project I found a group of about thirty buildings presented in the style of a van Gogh painting. I wandered past a café that looked like a scene from one of his works and came across a sign pointing to his house. At first I couldn’t see how to get inside but after barging into the door I heard a loud creak as it opened. Once inside I could see no furniture, just red and green walls, and a staircase. Up the stairs and along a few metres I found the room depicted in his painting “La chamber de van Gogh a Arles”. It was truly strange to feel I was inside the room. I wandered around, stood on the bed, examined the pictures on the wall and looked out the window; the view is different from what van Gogh must have seen, but then there is no view visible in the original painting.

I have to say I have seen images of this painting before but never did I take so much notice of the contents. Such an effect did it have on me, I felt the need to search an image on the Internet to find a photo of the original, and then compare. The differences in colour and texture are substantial (see images below), but nevertheless, I was inspired enough to investigate further.

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fig. 6: Active Worlds version..........................................fig. 7: Original version

Inside the room is one of the familiar information signs to click on. This prompts visitors to ask why van Gogh painted this picture and supplies Web links to get more information. These links connected to the Van Gogh Museum, a biography and transcripts of letters he wrote. Students are then encouraged to submit short reports within the Active Worlds program environment for their teachers to mark. It all adds up to a much more compelling educational experience than a teacher with a PowerPoint presentation.

Taiga World - River Pollution Quest

This is another world in the Quest Atlantis site. In this webquest the participants are required to investigate why the fish are dying in the local river system. When they first teleport to Taiga World they see an avatar called Salik. She briefly explains the problem and suggest where to look for solutions. Near to Salik is a map op the area showing important features such as the logging station, tribal village, farms, laboratory, and water sample points. Various people (automated avatars) are spread around the site and most have something to say. The questers glean information from each avatar and collect clues such as water samples by clicking on them. It’s not possible to complete the game without carrying out all the critical tasks.

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fig. 8: Map of Taiga World .........................................................fig. 9: Water samples awaiting collection by a quester


After the appropriate people have been interviewed and the water samples have been analysed at the laboratory the questers are encouraged to ponder the evidence and then form a hypothesis. Later they are able to go forward in time to see the results of their suggestions and then if necessary form a new hypothesis. Reports have to be submitted in the program environment which are presumably checked by the teachers.

The whole exercise is very addictive and I believe very effective at teaching participants to think critically about environmental issues. The program also encourages them to follow a systematic scientific approach to finding the source of the problems.

Sound of Music Village

This musical world was a disappointment for me. There are about a dozen strange pyramid like structures connected in series by a suspended path. The structures are hollow and intended to be listening spaces. Sometimes, music plays upon entering – a different genre for each pyramid. The interiors are generally sparse with, perhaps, one or two information boards on the walls. A couple of them have automated avatars (bots) inside to give clues to questers.

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fig. 10: Pyramid listening rooms in the sky and ............................fig. 11: Inside a pyramid listening room
virtual piano in the foreground

In the grounds between the buildings are musical instruments such as a piano, guitar and trumpet. Using the mouse in drag mode it is possible to rotate the instruments along any axis. Also, there are a virtual piano and harpsichord that can be played one note at a time.
However, I can’t see these virtual instruments have any advantage over real ones which most schools would have available.



fig. 12: Virtual trumpet with (revolving) circular information disc to the bottom left

Clicking on the quest signs along the route leads to various questions and tasks. For example, in one pyramid questers are asked to invent a musical instrument, photograph it and then submit a report describing it. To assist them they are offered links to a catalogue of unusual instruments. Other tasks include: writing about Mozart, Gloria Estefan, listing different types of music and describing a school song. Most of these tasks are supported by Internet links and require a written report.

Ecology World - The Environmental Awareness Talent Zone

In this virtual world, participants are required to help solve the environmental problems of a fictitious world. On arrival at the talent zone base they see Tetina the chief avatar in this zone. Tetina is a bot – a special type of avatar that operates in the program automatically, usually to give instructions and guidance to questers in the virtual world. When a quester clicks on her a test box opens up on the right of the screen representing her speech. It introduces the problem and gives the initial instructions. Questers then have to speak to other bots along the corridor who give training and further clues.

As part of their training the participants are required to help collect materials to control the process of energy production. To achieve this aim they have to visit one of two towns: Ontasia or Hendour. They reach there by travelling through a nearby teleport. On arrival they are presented by a sinister scene. An alarm is sounds constantly and a red warning light is flashing due to the radiation levels. The questers are told how this world uses “an environmentally friendly” energy source that needs to be controlled very carefully. However, as the quest is pursued it becomes clear that people are becoming sick for some unexplained reason.

Participants are guided through a process of collecting information from the avatars they meet, submitting reports, collecting items for the recycling process and learning about various tests. If they miss out any significant part of the quest it is noticed by the program and the quester is instructed to go back and complete the omitted task. Eventually the student completes all the required tasks and in so doing manages to explain the radiation problem. This earns them more credit points (lumens) and allows them to move onto another task elsewhere in the virtual world.

Clearly the problems of the virtual world bear a strong resemblance to problems with the nuclear industry in our own world and presumably results in a greater appreciation of the issues of that industry. In addition they learn to deal with various differing viewpoints which are sometimes in total contradiction.



fig. 13: Recycling Plant - click on the avatars to get information

Want to try Active Worlds?

It’s easy to try out Active Worlds. The obvious place to start is the Active Worlds website. Downloading and installing the Active Worlds browser takes about five minutes. To use the program you click on the Active World icon instead of your normal browser. Privately hosted worlds such as Quest Atlantis require you to download their own adaptation of the software (same program but different settings.) If you want to try out the Quest Atlantis site you will need to get a guest username and password. I received mine the next day. It was valid for about six months – you’ll need that long to properly explore the site.

Unfortunately I didn’t come across any good tutorials for how to function effectively in Active Worlds though much of it is fairly intuitive. Below are a few notes to get started:

Movement

Arrow keys are used for forwards, backwards and sideways, page-up and page-down keys for look up or down.If you feel you are moving too slowly then use the control key with the arrow key to run instead of walking.

Navigation

It’s easy to get lost in Atlantis so try to understand the coordinate system at the top of your browser window which will be marked in units North, West etc. Sometimes a map is available.

Camera Positions

Different camera positions are possible in Active Worlds. The menu bar below includes the buttons for look-up, look-level, look-down, first person, chase camera and front camera.



fig. 14: Camera options on the menu bar

The two views below are referenced from the same avatar position.

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fig. 15: Using the front camera...........................................fig. 16: Using the first person camera
Notice the name tag above my avatar's head

Comparison with Second Life

When I first tried to enter the Second Life virtual world my seven year old computer froze up completely. Next, I tried the Active Worlds environment which was more successful. My movements were slow and jerky but at least I was able to function in Active Worlds. If we look at the system requirements for each of the worlds we can see that Second Life needs at least four times the computing power.

Comparison of minimum system requirements (simplified):
	Second Life	Active Worlds
Internet connection	cable or DSL	cable or DSL
operating system	2000, XP, Vista	98, ME, 2000, XP
processor	Pentium III 800 MHz	Pentium 300 MHz
RAM	512 MB	64 MB
grahics card	NVIDIA Geforce 2,or ATI Radeon 8500,or Intel 945 chipset....	normal onboard graphics

It has to be said, only having the minimum requirements will most probably result in a jerky, unsatisfactory experience. Nonetheless, it is clear that Second Life requires a much greater investment in hardware.

Another attraction of the Active Worlds has been the ability of companies to host a universe on their own private server, giving them greater security and control.

Second Life also has generally superior graphics though the Active Worlds graphics are satisfactory for most purposes. Furthermore, the avatars are more lifelike in Second Life and there is greater opportunity to adapt them to your taste.

Second Life is clearly more popular with hobbyists and computer gamers. It certainly gets a lot more newspaper headlines. However, I wonder if Active Worlds could find a niche in the educational field because of its lesser system requirements.

Other Research

Three-dimensional virtual worlds and distance learning

Michele Dickey has done some interesting research on virtual worlds. Her paper titled 'Three-dimensional virtual worlds and distance learning: two case studies of Active Worlds as a medium for distance education' is worth reading. One question it focuses on is: How is Active Worlds being used for distance learning? It made wonder what the FET8611 chat sessions could be like in the future. The paper is available at the online USQ library at EBSCOHost(education database). Just enter: Dickey, Michele D. in the search and you will get several readings on virtual worlds.

The Quest Atlantis Project: A socially-responsive play space for learning.

This paper by Sasha Barab et al explains the rational for the Quest Atlantis project. It is available on the Quest Atlantis resources page. Also available from the same page is "Making learning fun: Quest Atlantis, a game without guns."

Discussion

[+]
• • My answer to this question is probably no on both counts. I am answering from a purely selfish point of view.........The way I like to work online is to have my machine on most of the day with the course in the background enabling me to "dip in and out" . I don't want to and don't have the time to "chat" I have never found it particularly useful in the past , I find e-mail (and wiki) perfectly adequate. To actually go into a virtual world to attend a chat session or event seems to defeat the object of online learning. If I wanted real time interaction I would have attended a conventional university. Speaking to somebody "virtually" is more like to face to face teaching....... new tools...... old school. I've also posted some of my thoughts on virtual world at Second Life: more than just a game. Made by:Phil Marsh UserPage:Phil_Marsh?

Related knowledgeGarden pages

• http://knowledgegarden.usq.edu.au//tiki-index.php?page=FET+8611+Workgroup+%3A+Exploring+online+virtual+environments
• http://knowledgegarden.usq.edu.au//tiki-index.php?page=FET8611%20-%20Using%20Second%20Life%20in%20Education
• Second Life: more than just a game

Related web sites

• http://edu.activeworlds.com/tour/worlds.html
• Quest Atlantis: University of Indiana

References

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