Virtual worlds vs books and videos in history education
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In this paper, we investigate an application of virtual reality and artificial intelligence (AI) as a technological combination that has a potential to improve the learning experience and engage with the modern generation of students. To address this need, we have created a virtual reality replica of one of humanity's first cities, the city of Uruk and populated this city with AI-controlled 3D avatars, which re-enact everyday life of ancient Sumerians in the period around 3000 B.C. Our hypothesis is that by immersing students into this environment and allowing them to learn by browsing through it and interacting with its virtual citizens can be more engaging and motivating than simply reading the corresponding history text or watching an educational video. To confirm this assumption, we have designed a study with three groups of students. One group was given a historical text about Uruk and everyday life of its citizens (created by our subject matter experts), the second group was shown a documentary video on Uruk and the third group was immersed into virtual Uruk and engaged into interactions with its virtual inhabitants. The outcomes of the study suggest that not only did people in the third group provide much more positive qualitative feedback about the learning experience, but they also showed a better comprehension of the study material by performing (on average) 20% better than the first two groups on the mini-exam that was conducted as a part of this study.
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Immersive environment can be coupled with immersive collaboration with gestures, emotions, and nonverbal communication.
“Immersive environment can also be coupled with immersive collaboration with gestures, emotions, and nonverbal communication [14].”
From A Review of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education from 2010 to 2020 (2021) · cites this paper as [14]
By fostering interactive cultural experiences for learners, these technologies can enhance the comprehension and retention of cultural information.
“By fostering interactive cultural experiences for learners, these technologies can enhance the comprehension and retention of cultural information 85 .”
From Machine culture (2023) · cites this paper as [85]
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A Review of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education from 2010 to 2020
Zhai, X., Chu, X., Chai, C. S., Jong, M. S. Y., Istenic, A., Spector, M., Liu, J.-B., Yuan, J., & Li, Y. (2021) · Complexity · doi:10.1155/2021/8812542 · Cited by 1,364 · see citing works
“Nonetheless, they may fail to use suitable AI techniques appropriately for a specific learning context, which would result in negative attitudes towards learning [14].”
BackgroundAI technologies for education: Recent research & future directions
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- Authors
- Ijaz, K., Bogdanovych, A., & Trescak, T.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Western Sydney University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Ijaz, Kiran
- Venue
- Interactive Learning Environments
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2016-09-12
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 904-929
- ISSN
- 1049-4820 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-5191
- OpenAlex
- W2518907001
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 8.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Interactive Learning Environments (publishedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Augmented Reality Applications
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy
- Keywords
- virtual reality, history education, artificial intelligence, 3D avatars, Uruk, immersive learning, student engagement, learning comprehension
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