SBIR Phase I: Instructor-friendly intelligent VR platform for secondary and post-secondary distance learning and STEAM education

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使用虚拟现实（VR）来创建沉浸式的，高度参与的协作远程学习环境。随着越来越多的学生至少在线上一些课程，有必要开发虚拟学习环境，以支持具有不同优势，兴趣和学习偏好的不同学习者。该项目将通过利用VR提供的丰富数据来支持多样化的学习环境，以检测和分类沉浸式协作学习体验中的学习者参与度。作为一项重大的科学贡献，新系统将提供关于学习者参与程度的反馈，并最终为个性化学习活动提出建议。 这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在创建一个新颖的实时推荐系统，以保持学习者在协作，沉浸式VR学习环境中的参与度。该研究将收集行为数据，可以识别协作学习过程中的不同参与类型，以支持具有不同优势，不同兴趣和学习偏好的学习者。随后，元数据将允许开发算法，用于自动化实时，系统生成的个性化课程选项的建议。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to use virtual reality (VR) to create immersive, highly engaging environments for collaborative remote learning. As more students take at least some of their classes online, there is a need to develop virtual learning environments that support diverse learners with different strengths, interests, and learning preferences. The project will support diverse learning environments by leveraging the rich data available from VR to detect and classify learner engagement in an immersive, collaborative learning experience. As a major scientific contribution, the new system will provide feedback on levels of learner engagement and ultimately make recommendations for personalized learning activities. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to create a novel real-time recommendation system for maintaining learner engagement in a collaborative, immersive, VR learning environment. The research will collect behavioral data that can identify different engagement types during collaborative learning to support learners with different strengths, various interests, and learning preferences. Subsequently, the metadata will allow for the development of algorithms for automating real-time, system-generated recommendations for personalizing curriculum options. The knowledge gained will aid diversity and increase engagement in remote VR learning as well as other collaborative, digital environments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.