Title: Inferring interaction to support collaborative learning in 3D virtual environments through the user's avatar Non-Verbal Communication

Authors: Adriana Pena, Angelica De Antonio

Addresses: Universidad Politecnica de Madrid – Computer Science School, Campus Montegancedo s/n, Boadilla del Monte, 28660 Madrid, Spain. ' Universidad Politecnica de Madrid – Computer Science School, Campus Montegancedo s/n, Boadilla del Monte, 28660 Madrid, Spain

Abstract: When a group of students, placed around a shared workspace and working on a predefined task, is observed, the teacher can intuitively, to a certain extent, understand the collaboration that is taking place within the group without listening to the students| discourse. Following this analogy, we propose that some Non-Verbal Communication (NVC) cues, adapted to 3D virtual environment features, could be useful to infer the quality of collaborative interaction to such an extent that collaborative learning can be automatically fostered. The NVC cues that have been selected for that purpose and the related collaborative learning indicators that can be inferred will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: collaborative learning; virtual environments; virtual learning; learning; NVC cues; non-verbal communication; collaborative interaction; collaboration; avatars; e-learning; electronic learning; online learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTEL.2010.031261

International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 2010 Vol.2 No.1/2, pp.75 - 90

Published online: 27 Jan 2010 *

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