TY  - JOUR
A1  - Glémarec, Yann
A1  - Lugrin, Jean-Luc
A1  - Bosser, Anne-Gwenn
A1  - Buche, Cédric
A1  - Latoschik, Marc Erich
T1  - Controlling the stage: a high-level control system for virtual audiences in Virtual Reality
JF  - Frontiers in Virtual Reality
N2  - This article presents a novel method for controlling a virtual audience system (VAS) in Virtual Reality (VR) application, called STAGE, which has been originally designed for supervised public speaking training in university seminars dedicated to the preparation and delivery of scientific talks. We are interested in creating pedagogical narratives: narratives encompass affective phenomenon and rather than organizing events changing the course of a training scenario, pedagogical plans using our system focus on organizing the affects it arouses for the trainees. Efficiently controlling a virtual audience towards a specific training objective while evaluating the speaker’s performance presents a challenge for a seminar instructor: the high level of cognitive and physical demands required to be able to control the virtual audience, whilst evaluating speaker’s performance, adjusting and allowing it to quickly react to the user’s behaviors and interactions. It is indeed a critical limitation of a number of existing systems that they rely on a Wizard of Oz approach, where the tutor drives the audience in reaction to the user’s performance. We address this problem by integrating with a VAS a high-level control component for tutors, which allows using predefined audience behavior rules, defining custom ones, as well as intervening during run-time for finer control of the unfolding of the pedagogical plan. At its core, this component offers a tool to program, select, modify and monitor interactive training narratives using a high-level representation. The STAGE offers the following features: i) a high-level API to program pedagogical narratives focusing on a specific public speaking situation and training objectives, ii) an interactive visualization interface iii) computation and visualization of user metrics, iv) a semi-autonomous virtual audience composed of virtual spectators with automatic reactions to the speaker and surrounding spectators while following the pedagogical plan V) and the possibility for the instructor to embody a virtual spectator to ask questions or guide the speaker from within the Virtual Environment. We present here the design, and implementation of the tutoring system and its integration in STAGE, and discuss its reception by end-users.
KW  - virtual reality
KW  - virtual agent
KW  - behavior perception
KW  - public speaking
KW  - education
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-284601
SN  - 2673-4192
VL  - 3
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hein, Rebecca M.
A1  - Wienrich, Carolin
A1  - Latoschik, Marc E.
T1  - A systematic review of foreign language learning with immersive technologies (2001-2020)
JF  - AIMS Electronics and Electrical Engineering
N2  - This study provides a systematic literature review of research (2001–2020) in the field of teaching and learning a foreign language and intercultural learning using immersive technologies. Based on 2507 sources, 54 articles were selected according to a predefined selection criteria. The review is aimed at providing information about which immersive interventions are being used for foreign language learning and teaching and where potential research gaps exist. The papers were analyzed and coded according to the following categories: (1) investigation form and education level, (2) degree of immersion, and technology used, (3) predictors, and (4) criterions. The review identified key research findings relating the use of immersive technologies for learning and teaching a foreign language and intercultural learning at cognitive, affective, and conative levels. The findings revealed research gaps in the area of teachers as a target group, and virtual reality (VR) as a fully immersive intervention form. Furthermore, the studies reviewed rarely examined behavior, and implicit measurements related to inter- and trans-cultural learning and teaching. Inter- and transcultural learning and teaching especially is an underrepresented investigation subject. Finally, concrete suggestions for future research are given. The systematic review contributes to the challenge of interdisciplinary cooperation between pedagogy, foreign language didactics, and Human-Computer Interaction to achieve innovative teaching-learning formats and a successful digital transformation.
KW  - foreign language learning and teaching
KW  - intercultural learning and teaching
KW  - immersive technologies
KW  - education
KW  - human-computer interaction
KW  - systematic literature review
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-268811
VL  - 5
IS  - 2
ER  -