Art Education Students’ Responses to 3-D Embodied Learning Environments: New Curricula, Pedagogy, and Challenges in a Virtual Age

• In Event: Embodied Epistemologies and Methodologies in the Digital/New Media Curriculum

Abstract

1. Research Questions

The study aimed to provide initial empirical data to address these questions:

How can a 3D embodied learning environment (EVE) enhance students’ learning about contemporary art and the digital visual culture?
- What are the benefits and limitations of using 3D Virtual Worlds (VWs) for teaching and creating digital visual culture?

- What are the effective in-world pedagogies (activities and facilitative strategies)
that can enhance student learning in 3D ELE?


2. Perspectives or theoretical framework

3D VWs feature hyper-real 3D visual images, super immersive power, and intensive interaction and are totally built and conceptualized based on information visualization (Lu 2008) and visual metaphors (Taylor 2009). The primary representations of textual and visual information usually are presented as visual objects such as an avatar, object, or environment as well as through actions such as an animated object and/or a gesture by an avatar. These virtual representations are the embodiments that direct user attention, create the immersive environment, and enhance the realism of the virtual experience.

Avatars, their interaction with objects and other avatars, and the sense of presence within the environment not only contribute to the user’s immersive experiences (Dalgarno & Lee 2010), but they also provide occasion for multiple engagements and “embodied” learning (Atkinson et al. 2005; Jarmon 2008).


3. Methods and 4. Data Sources

The participants in this study were 27 students in an art education program at a mid-west university between 2008-2010. For at least 7 weeks, they participated in a series of designed in-world events/activities and created artistic content (objects and virtual environment) at the Art Café in SL. The data collected for this study included surveys, interviews, observations, transcripts of online conversations, assignments, photos of events, and participant reflections. The data were analyzed with content analysis utilizing clustering and counting methods (Miles & Huberman, 1994).


4. Results



Educational benefits of using 3D VWs as ELEs for art education were found including 1) A 3D VW can serve as a new art medium, exhibit ground, and social collaboration and networking site, 2) Discovering and interacting with people from different cultures, greater interaction between a teacher and students and among students, visiting virtual art museum, galleries, and visual culture sites, applying 3D modeling skills, and personalizing individual space were identified as affordances by participants, 3) The variety of VWs in SL represented different visual cultures of the virtual communities and provided rich resources for students to explore and interpret the avatar culture based on their first-hand virtual experience, and 4) Participants enjoyed the autonomy of customizing virtual identities, presenting their persona, creating 3D objects, and recreating their virtual spaces in the ELEs.


5. Significance of the Study


The main findings in this study provided the initial evidence to confirm the potential and educational application of 3D VWs as embodied learning environments for art education and to document the best practices. The limitations, concerns, and suggestions addressed in this paper are helpful for future researchers or art educators when integrating 3D VWs into art education.

Author

• Lilly Lu, Northern Illinois University