Virtual Exhibit Hall

About the Virtual Exhibit Hall

The virtual exhibit hall is a fully 3-dimensional space designed by the Auburn Online creative and software development teams to showcase student work. It is meant to be an immersive experience - one in which students who had never participated in an academic research poster session could feel like they were presenting to and discussing with one another in an actual academic presentation environment.

The virtual exhibit hall can be useful for:

Large lecture classes with projects and presentations that need to be displayed, but have limited time and space.
Fully online classes that have no physical space or particular time allotted to conduct presentations and need to do so asynchronously.
Studio classes where student work or portfolios can be displayed more broadly, such as art galleries.

Key Features

The virtual exhibit hall allows for a variety of different display types within the environment, including 2D graphics/images, 3D models/simulations, and even video displays. In addition to showcasing the actual work, there are a number of other features to make the interaction more engaging. Presenters can upload either audio or video explanations for the work being displayed, there is a discussion board available to allow visitors to ask questions and presenters to respond, and there is the option to include a synchronous Zoom session for presenters and visitors to interact in real time. All of these features can be included or turned off individually. And this entire learning experience can be integrated within a Canvas assignment so that it is tied directly to the gradebook or can be shared externally if needed.

Try It

Instructions

Click and drag your mouse cursor to look around the hall.
Click on the circle images of the posters to access the full poster presentation.
Use your mouse to zoom in and out of the poster for better visibility.
Using the "full-screen" mode is recommended for reading the posters. To enable "full- screen" mode, click on the arrow at the bottom of the Virtual Hall to see the Full Window Expander option. Click on the "full-screen" button to expand and the "esc" button on your keyboard to close full-screen view.
Click on the speaker icon to access the audio presentation.
Click the chat icon to ask questions or make comments on the posters
Click the video icon to interact live with the poster presenter(s) via Zoom.

Read More about Immersive Learning Experiences for Students at Auburn

Immersive learning experience: Exploring undergraduate education use cases

Implementing immersive learning environments in education is a good example of how the learning process can be significantly improved by using new technological tools and features. Immersive learning is when the use of a simulated or artificial environment allows learners to be completely immersed in the learning in a way that feels like experiencing the actual environment. This presentation highlights two use cases in which the immersive technology has been implemented successfully to improve the learner experience.

In the traditional, factory classroom model of education, there is often a disconnect between the ideas and concepts being taught and their real-world application. “Even in higher education contexts where arguably there are numerous opportunities to providing learning opportunities beyond the walls of the lecture hall, teaching has largely been limited to abstract talk, text, and tests” (Herrington, Reeves, & Oliver, 2007). Advancements in media and technology have helped to introduce more complex learning activities and resources.

Immersive technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), create tremendous opportunities for educators to provide students with authentic learning environments to explore and to share knowledge and experiences. “Studies have shown that immersion in a digital environment can enhance education in at least three ways: by allowing multiple perspectives, situated learning, and transfer“ (Dede, 2009).

These immersive learning environments allow for a different kind of educational experience through interacting with the content in ways that might not be possible otherwise. In the theatre use case, rural distance students may not have had access to an actual theatre in the vicinity or online high school dual enrollment students may have faced challenges with trying to visit the campus theatre. The virtual theatre provides that opportunity for them.

Additionally, these immersive environments provide students with a level of comfort and familiarity when they have an opportunity to see these places in real life because they are able to connect back to their virtual experience. “Situated learning through immersive interfaces is important in part because of the crucial issue of transfer. Transfer is defined as the application of knowledge learned in one situation to another situation and is demonstrated if instruction on a learning task leads to improved performance on a transfer task, ideally a skilled performance in a real-world setting” (Dede, 2009). In the biology use case, students may have never experienced an academic poster setting and would have missed out on the setup and flow of that experience. After the virtual exhibit hall experience, they will feel more comfortable in a real live academic poster hall because they will know what to expect – both as a presenter and as an audience member.

While these virtual spaces are not identical replicas of the real spaces, they are more than sufficient to accomplish their intended learning goals. “Research into the realism of learning environments indicates that maximum fidelity does not necessarily lead to maximum effectiveness in learning, particularly for novice learners” (Herrington, Reeves, & Oliver, 2007).

Works Cited:

Dede, C. (2009). Immersive interfaces for engagement and learning. Science, 323(5910), p. 66-69. DOI: 10.1126/science.1167311. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/323/5910/66

Herrington, J., Reeves, T.C. & Oliver, R. (2007). Immersive learning technologies: Realism and online authentic learning. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 19, p. 80–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033421