ALIVE: Avatar Learning Impact assessment for Virtual Environments

目前，在虚拟现实(VR)中准确地表示物理空间，特别是人与人的交互，往往感觉笨拙、不现实，并且需要专业知识和开发。我们的项目将通过虚幻元人类工具(一种非凡的新3D角色创建技术)来探索化身的使用，特别是测试现实化身在软技能培训和社交互动中的使用。我们将利用这笔赠款产生解决这一知识差距的想法，并进行快速、低成本的原型和用户测试，以加深我们对该领域的理解。我们将在VR中构建和测试各种具有社会影响力的场景(包括复杂性、内部和人际关系)，并试图了解这些化身是如何被感知的。我们将调查化身的现实主义是否会影响信任、参与度和临场感。这项工作旨在推进人工社交的研究，并指导行业实践。Edify是一个结合游戏技术、虚拟现实和用户生成内容的平台，提供可访问、身临其境和引人入胜的教育体验。教育工作者可以在虚拟环境中授课，并在参与者互动和协作的同时远程提供身临其境的课程。关于化身在教学中的使用，特别是沉浸式教育的研究很少。了解之前关于化身和化身研究的挑战，可以帮助我们理解如何增强沉浸式教学的好处。凭借前沿沉浸式技术(Edify.ac)、计算机科学和心理学(格拉斯哥大学)的专业知识，我们可以开始将这些单独的研究链连接起来。

Currently, accurate representation of physical spaces and, especially, human interactions in Virtual Reality (VR)can often feel clunky, unrealistic and require specialist knowledge and development. Our project will explore avatar use through the Unreal Meta Humans tool (an extraordinary new 3D character creation technology), specifically, testing the use of realistic avatars in soft skills training and social interactions. We will use this grant to generate ideas that address this gap in knowledge, and do fast, low-cost prototyping and user testing to further our understanding of the field. We will build and test a variety socially impactful scenarios (ranging in complexity intra- and inter-personal relationships) in VR and attempt to understand how these avatars are perceived. We will investigate whether the realism of the avatar impacts on trust, engagement, and a sense of presence. This work aims to advance the study of artificial social interactions, and guide industry practice.Edify is a platform that combines gaming tech, virtual reality and user generated content to enable accessible, immersive and engaging educational experiences. Educators can teach in virtual environments and deliver immersive lessons remotely - while participants interact and collaborate. Research in the use of avatars in teaching, specifically, immersive education, is sparse. Understanding the challenges from previous research on embodiment and avatars research can help us understand how the benefits of immersive teaching can be enhanced. With the expertise from cutting edge immersive technology (Edify.ac), computer science and psychology (University of Glasgow) we can begin connecting these individual research strands.