The Experience of Physical and Social Presence in a Virtual Learning Environment As Impacted by the Affordance of Movement Enabled by Motion Tracking
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2015 The Experience of Physical and Social Presence in a Virtual Learning Environment as Impacted by the Affordance of Movement Enabled by Motion Tracking Aleshia Hayes University of Central Florida Part of the Engineering Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Hayes, Aleshia, "The Experience of Physical and Social Presence in a Virtual Learning Environment as Impacted by the Affordance of Movement Enabled by Motion Tracking" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 5014. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/5014 THE EXPERIENCE OF PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL PRESENCE IN A VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AS IMPACTED BY THE AFFORDANCE OF MOVEMENT ENABLED BY MOTION TRACKING by ALESHIA TAYLOR HAYES B.S. Purdue University, 2001 M.A. Purdue University, 2008 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Modeling and Simulation in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2015 Major Professor: Charles E. Hughes © 2015 Aleshia Hayes ii ABSTRACT This research synthesizes existing research findings that social presence (sense of connection with others) and physical presence (sense of being there) increase learning outcomes in Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) with findings that traditional motion tracking of participants wearing head mounted displays in virtual reality increases both physical and social presence. This information suggests that motion tracking in mixed reality VLEs has a positive impact on social presence and on physical presence. For this study, the affordance of free movement among virtual objects is enabled by Microsoft Kinect tracking of the user’s position that is translated to movement of the virtual camera to simulate user movement and proximity to elements of the virtual environment. This study used a mixed method, multimodal approach including qualitative, subjective, objective, and physiological data to measure social and physical presence. The testbed for this research was TLE TeachLivE™, a mixed reality classroom populated with virtual students. The subjective measures are 1) modified Witmer and Singer Questionnaire and 2) Social Presence Instrument (Bailenson, 2002b). The objective measure is a literature based Social Presence Behavioral Coding sheet used to record frequency of occurrences of factors of social presence. Finally, the physiological measure is heart rate as recorded by the MIO Alpha. The primary contribution of this study was that the hypotheses that the affordance of movement in a mixed reality classroom has a positive impact on user perception and experience of a) physical presence and b) social presence in a VLE were supported. This hypothesis was supported in all three measures. The secondary contribution of this iii research is the literature based Social Presence Behavioral Coding. The final contribution of this research is a research framework that integrates subjective, objective, and physiological measures of social presence in one study. This approach can be applied to various user experience research studies of various VLEs. Finally, in addition to general alignment of the physiological, objective, and subjective measures, there were anecdotal instances of factors of social presence occurring simultaneously with increased heart rate. iv To Taylor and Jasmine- Anything I can do, you can do! I love you. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my family, especially my daughters for the sacrifices that they endured of my time, attention, energy and industry during this process. Thanks to my family members and friends who, in addition to helping me keep up with my real world responsibilities, have also been my counselors, cheerleaders, editors, research assistants, and occasional chauffeurs during this process. Thank you to my parents and grandparents who instilled and reinforced a mantra that education was the key to success in life. I must give special thanks and honor to my mother, whose wisdom resounded, “Knowledge is power” and whose aspirations and accomplishments have guided my way and still serve as a northern star to my dreams. Thank you to my dissertation chair and mentor, Dr. Charles E. Hughes who could always see where I was heading before I got there. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members, Drs. Bailenson, Dieker, and Marino who have inspired and guided me, while also patiently enduring my search for self-actualization through research. I would also like to thank the TeachLivE team for allowing me into the inner circles of technological innovation at its finest and allowing me to use the virtual classroom simulation to support my research objectives. Finally, I would also like to acknowledge Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose gift, in part, supported the TeachLivE team, my Ph.D. dissertation study, and the execution of this study. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................................... xii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................................................... xiv LIST OF ACRONYMS (OR) ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................. xv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Need for the Study ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research and Scope Statement of the Problem .............................................................................................. 5 1.3 Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................................................................. 8 1.4 Training the Elements of Effective Teaching ................................................................................................... 9 1.5 Research Questions .................................................................................................................................................. 10 1.6 Contributions .............................................................................................................................................................. 11 1.7 Thesis Organization ................................................................................................................................................. 11 1.8 Definition of Terms .................................................................................................................................................. 12 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Advances in VR Technology ................................................................................................................................. 18 2.1.1 Visual Displays .................................................................................................................................................. 19 2.1.2 Motion Tracking in Virtual Environments ............................................................................................. 20 2.2 Importance of Fidelity ............................................................................................................................................ 21 2.3 Trifurcation of Presence: Physical, Social and Co-presence .................................................................... 22 2.3.1 Physical Presence ............................................................................................................................................. 24 2.3.2 Co-Presence ........................................................................................................................................................ 25 2.3.3 Social presence .................................................................................................................................................. 26 vii 2.3.4 Factors of Social Presence ............................................................................................................................ 33 2.3.5 Confounds to Understanding Social Presence ..................................................................................... 41 2.4 Measuring Physical Presence, Co-presence, and Social Presence ........................................................ 42 2.4.1 Measuring Presence ........................................................................................................................................ 43 2.4.2 Challenges to Subjective Measures of Presence .................................................................................