Informática e Sistemas de Informação | Comunicações em congressos, conferências, seminários/Communications in congresses...
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- A domain-agnostic virtual choreography framework for digital twins: an oil spill applicationPublication . Cassola, Fernando; Cavaleiro, Vitor; Lacet, Demetrius; Correia, Miguel; Oliveira, Marco Amaro; Carvalho, Alexandre Valle de; Morgado, LeonelDigital Twins (DTs) for the ocean are rapidly emerging as essential tools for understanding, forecasting, and managing environmental phenomena. However, most existing DT visualization solutions are tightly coupled to specific platforms and lack semantic coherence and interoperability—challenges that are particularly critical in federated and distributed DT systems. Furthermore, visualizing dynamic and spatio-temporal behaviors, such as oil spills, across multiple rendering environments remains a complex, platform-dependent task. In this paper, we present VChor, a domain-agnostic virtual choreography framework designed to address these limitations. Our approach integrates model-driven engineering, semantic web technologies, and platform-independent representations to support the declarative specification of behaviors and visual mappings. A single VChor instance describes spatio-temporal dynamics and associated actions, and can be interpreted by multiple visualization engines (e.g., Unity3D and CesiumJS) without the need for code recompilation or platform-specific programming. We demonstrate our approach through a real-world oil spill monitoring use case, developed in the context of the ILIAD H2020 project, and encapsulated within a modular Application Package. This package automates the generation, validation, and transformation of virtual choreographies from raw data to platform-specific outputs. The framework promotes interoperability, reusability, and scalability, while supporting FAIR principles in environmental Digital Twin workflows. The findings highlight VChor’s potential to streamline scenario modeling, enable cross-platform visualization, and support decision-makers with accurate, flexible, and reusable visual representations of ocean dynamics.
- A integração da realidade virtual na educação: necessidades e desafiosPublication . Castelhano, Maria; Morgado, Leonel; Pedrosa, Daniela; Coelho, AntónioÉ desafiante a implementação na educação da Realidade Virtual com recurso a headsets, que designo por Realidade Virtual Imersiva (iVR, immersive virtual reality), especialmente quanto à sua integração no currículo e práticas pedagógicas do ensino superior online. Entre os principais obstáculos estão a falta de orientações práticas e modelos pedagógicos claros, como modelos de design instrucional específicos. Os atualmente disponíveis são escassos e pouco descritivos: 1) o XR ABC Framework e o iVR Learning (M-iVR-L) Framework foram concebidos para o ensino superior online com iVR, destacando aspetos como segmentação das sessões para evitar sobrecarga cognitiva, exploração prévia da tecnologia e acompanhamento pedagógico; 2) modelos como o TESLA e o modelo Castronovo et al. Design Model (2019), mais genéricos, focam-se em criar objetivos direcionados ao público-alvo, elementos de avaliação, definição de recursos e propósitos com base em estruturas clássicas. Oferecem uma visão sistemática, mas pouco adaptada às especificidades da iVR. Para suprir essa ausência, seria pertinente utilizar um modelo de design instrucional que combine as particularidades da iVR dos primeiros modelos com os elementos tradicionais dos segundos modelos (Castelhano et al., 2023). A literatura reforça o potencial da tecnologia: há vasta oferta de ferramentas e ambientes iVR aplicáveis à educação em áreas como geografia, ciência, arte e entretenimento, mas sua aplicação exige fundamentos instrucionais sólidos. Tipologias comuns incluem Manipulação Interativa e Exploração, Interação Multimodal e Treino de Competências (Castelhano et al., 2024). Contudo, é imperativo desenvolver e validar modelos instrucionais específicos para iVR que aliem inovação tecnológica, cenários de aprendizagem e práticas educativas (Beck et al., 2020), delineadas para o currículo. Assim, torna-se fundamental avançar para a criação e validação de modelos instrucionais direcionados à iVR no ensino superior online, garantindo que o investimento na imersão se traduza num recurso integrado (Castelhano et al., 2023; Castelhano et al., 2024).
- An explosion of the uses of immersive learning environments: a mapping of reviews updatePublication . Beck, Dennis; Morgado, Leonel; O'shea, Patrick; Krüger, Jule; Schmidt, Matthew; Mikropoulos, Anastasios; Koutromanos, George; Pedrosa, Daniela; Beck, Dennis; Mystakidis, Stylianos; Smith-Nunes, Genevieve; Pena-Rios, Anasol; Richter, JonathonSince the publication of the 2020 paper, “Finding the Gaps About Uses of Immersive Learning Environments: A Survey of Surveys,” the landscape of immersive learning environments (ILEs) has continued to evolve rapidly. This update aims to revisit the gaps identified in that previous research and explore emerging trends. We conducted an extensive review of new surveys published after that paper’s cut date. Our findings reveal a significant amount of new published reviews (n = 64), more than doubling the original corpus (n = 47). The results highlighted novel themes of usage of immersive environments, helping bridge some 2020 research gaps. This paper discusses those developments and presents a consolidated perspective on the uses of immersive learning en vironments.
- Realidade virtual imersiva: uma análise do design instrucional com base nas Diretrizes da AECTPublication . Santos, Daniel Bóia; Castelhano, Maria; Pedrosa, Daniela; Morgado, LeonelCom a evolução da Realidade Virtual (RV), recomenda-se que educadores e designers instrucionais reformulem as suas abordagens para potenciar benefícios educativos da utilização de ambientes imersivos. O Design Instrucional (DI) aplicado à Realidade Virtual imersiva (iVR, immersive virtual reality) permite refletir acerca das estratégias educativas, da experiência do utilizador e das potencialidades tecnológicas. No projeto REVEALING – REalisation of Virtual rEality LearnING Environments, foram realizados pilotos de aulas do Ensino Superior com a utilização da iVR baseadas nos princípios de Merrill e nos objetivos pedagógicos segundo a taxonomia de Bloom. Neste trabalho, apresenta-se uma análise às planificações de aulas (n=4) de acordo com as diretrizes da Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). Os resultados evidenciaram que, embora as planificações analisadas integrem princípios de DI, subsistem lacunas significativas no alinhamento com as diretrizes da AECT, especialmente no que respeita à avaliação do design, personalização da aprendizagem, preparação dos estudantes e incorporação de momentos de reflexão. Conclui-se que a aplicação da iVR no Ensino Superior exige a formulação de um modelo de DI mais sistemático, fundamentado e centrado no estudante, sendo recomendada a adoção rigorosa dos padrões da AECT adaptados às especificidades pedagógicas da imersão.
- Challenges in the adoption of virtual reality in education: an action research approachPublication . Sacavém, Ana; Morgado, Leonel; Sacavém, António
- Implementation of virtual reality in teacher training: a case study with VRChat and Oculus Quest 2Publication . Castelhano, Maria; Pedrosa, Daniela; Morgado, Leonel; Messias, Inês; Economou, Daphne; Lazou, Chrysoula; MacDowell, Paula; Pedrosa, Daniela; Beck, Dennis; Smith-Nunes, Genevieve; Mystakidis, Stylianos; Peña-Rios, Anasol; Richter, JonathonThe growing adoption of immersive learning technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR), demands a transformation in lesson planning and pedagogical practices. In this case study, 13 teachers enrolled as students in the Digital Resources in Education Master's program at the School of Education of the Santarém Polytechnic University, Portugal, participated in a practical VR experience as part of the Digital Resources II course. During the activity, participants explored learning scenarios in VRChat using Oculus Quest 2. The primary objectives were to provide teachers with hands-on experience in VR, enable them to design VR-integrated lesson plans based on instructional design principles, and facilitate critical reflection on the pedagogical implications of VR.
- Frontiers of the past in the digital world: multidisciplinary collaboration in the 3D reconstitution of medieval border townsPublication . Cuesta-Gómez, Fabián; Trindade, Luísa; Silva, Gonçalo Melo da; Alves, Tiago; Filipe, João; Lacet, Demetrius; Morgado, Leonel; Prata, Sara; Coelho, António; Costa, Adelaide Millán; van Zeller, MariaThe virtual reconstitution of Castelo de Vide, Portugal, within the FRONTOWNS project, highlights the challenges and successes of multidisciplinary collaboration in heritage preservation through 3D modeling. The goal was to reconstruct the town’s urban evolution, focusing on its role as a border settlement from the 13th to 16th centuries. The project combined archaeological evidence, historical sources, and digital technologies like photogrammetry and 3D scanning. Co-creation workshops aligned diverse knowledge, leading to creative solutions that balanced historical accuracy and technical feasibility. Despite budget constraints, it produced a highquality digital reconstitution with insights for future virtual heritage projects.
- Method for evaluation and classification of self and co-regulation of learning in immersive narrativesPublication . Bonfim, Cristiane Jorge; Pedrosa, Daniela; Morgado, Leonel; Krüger, Jule; Pedrosa, Daniela; Beck, Dennis; Bourguet, Marie-Luce; Dengel, Andreas; Ghannam, Rami; Miller, Alan; Pena-Rios, Anasol; Richter, JonathonSelf and co-regulation of learning (SCRL) are strategies that students can adopt to become more active and committed to their learning. Encouraging students to adopt these strategies is a challenge for teachers that can be met by using narratives as a teaching resource. To support teachers in this process, we present a method for evaluating, classifying, and reflecting on excerpts from immersive narratives for SCRL, so that you can objectively base your decision when applying the method. The method was developed as an artifact of Design Science Research (DSR). In the Design stage of DSR, a 4-stage scheme was developed, and 38 criteria were described to identify and classify narratives that guide or encourage students to adopt SCRL strategies. In the DSR demonstration stage, we tested the method in an asynchronous e-learning curricular unit (UC) in Portuguese higher education, which uses a narrative-oriented immersive learning approach for SCRL, called e-Sim(Programming). The results show that the graphic visualization of the classification made it possible to perceive the occurrence of the SCRL categories in the narratives, enabling the teacher to be inspired and reflect on the categories to be enhanced for necessary changes in the narrative in line with their pedagogical objectives.
- Describing and interpreting an immersive learning case with the immersion cube and the immersive learning brainPublication . Beck, Dennis; Morgado, LeonelCurrent descriptions of immersive learning cases are often difficult or impossible to compare. This is due to a myriad of different options on what details to include, which aspects are relevant, and on the descriptive approaches employed. Also, these aspects often combine very specific details with more general guidelines or indicate intents and rationales without clarifying their implementation. In this paper we provide a method to describe immersive learning cases that is structured to enable comparisons, yet flexible enough to allow researchers and practitioners to decide which aspects to include. This method leverages a taxonomy that classifies educational aspects at three levels (uses, practices, and strategies) and then utilizes two frameworks, the Immersive Learning Brain and the Immersion Cube, to enable a structured description and interpretation of immersive learning cases. The method is then demonstrated on a published immersive learning case on training for wind turbine maintenance using virtual reality. Applying the method results in a structured artifact, the Immersive Learning Case Sheet, that tags the case with its proximal uses, practices, and strategies, and refines the free text case description to ensure that matching details are included. This contribution is thus a case description method in support of future comparative research of immersive learning cases. We then discuss how the resulting description and interpretation can be leveraged to change immersion learning cases, by enriching them (considering low-effort changes or additions) or innovating (exploring more challenging avenues of transformation). The method holds significant promise to support better-grounded research in immersive learning.
- Ancient greek technology: an immersive learning use case described using a co-intelligent custom ChatGPT assistantPublication . Morgado, Leonel; Kasapakis, VlasisAchieving consistency in immersive learning case descriptions is essential but challenging due to variations in research focus, methodology, and researchers' background. We address these challenges by leveraging the Immersive Learning Case Sheet (ILCS), a methodological instrument to standardize case descriptions, that we applied to an immersive learning case on ancient Greek technology in VRChat. Research team members had differing levels of familiarity with the ILCS and the case content, so we developed a custom ChatGPT assistant to facilitate consistent terminology and process alignment across the team. This paper constitutes an example of how structured case reports can be a novel contribution to immersive learning literature. Our findings demonstrate how the ILCS supports structured reflection and interpretation of the case. Further we report that the use of a ChatGPT assistant significantly sup-ports the coherence and quality of the team members development of the final ILCS. This exposes the potential of employing AI-driven tools to enhance collaboration and standardization of research practices in qualitative educational research. However, we also discuss the limitations and challenges, including reliance on AI for interpretive tasks and managing varied levels of expertise within the team. This study thus provides insights into the practical application of AI in standardizing immersive learning research processes.