User:Kerri Macchi

About

Research associate in University of Ulster within the Serious Games and Virtual World Research team. RL: Kerri McCusker Email:ka.mccusker@ulster.ac.uk Twitter: KerriMcCusker

Serious Games and Virtual Worlds Team

The Serious Games and Virtual Worlds team seeks to focus on world class research, supporting the growth of the industry in the north west of Ireland and attracting external investment. The activities of the team focus on the increasingly important medium of virtual worlds and the application/development of video games technologies in a range of domains.

The research within the team is currently focused on Experiential Based Learning in Virtual environments, VLE\Virtual World Integration, Hardware\Virtual World Integration and Optimal Hardware Architectures for Gaming Applications.

Currently involved in the promotion of STEM subjects in Second Life, with a dedicated island in Second Life “Engineering Education Island” hosting a collection of demonstrations and simulations.

Engineering Education Island

The "Engineering Education Island" project in Second Life developed by the Serious Games and Virtual World team investigates the effectiveness of 3D immersive virtual worlds for teaching complex engineering related material. It examines how computing, electronics/electrical engineering can be taught in new, engaging and interactive ways. Engineering Education Island is comprised of a dedicated virtual Island and virtual laboratories which house large scale interactive technology related simulations and demonstrations.

This project and interactive demonstrations facilitates the following;

Demonstrates how engineering material can be taught using new, innovative and highly interactive platforms. Allow users to participate in group activities/collaborative working. Allow users to interact with engineering related teaching material. Raise awareness of the potential uses of virtual worlds for education and industry.

SLOODLE Tracker

SLOODLE is a valuable tool to any Second Life educator, having undertaken some research into SLOODLE; it was evident that there was no functionality set in place to record avatars interactions in Second Life. As a result the plug-in SLOODLE Tracker was developed by the team which records and tracks interactions from Second Life and provides them on a SLOODLE webpage for facilitators and students to view.

As an example a student accesses a Moodle webpage, here they are given instructions on tasks to be completed in Second Life. Once the student accesses Second Life with their avatar, a sensor is in place which records the avatars name and the date and time they entered the virtual world. Additionally, any interactions with objects i.e. Slideshows, videos or buttons are also recorded in SLOODLE Tracker.

Project Fetch, Decode and Execute Process of a Central Processing Unit

An interactive simulation to assist in the teaching of an undergraduate topic – the Central Processing Unit of a computer (CPU), on a Computer Hardware Architecture module –this project was developed to visualise a topic/concept within engineering which is typically difficult for first year students to understand. By developing this project in Second Life, student is able to visualise and interact with the concept in a unique way, either alone / collaboratively with other students. A step by step dialog is provided for each student and at the end, the students are provided with a quiz – which pose questions about the process of the execution.

This project is was accepted for the Reward and Recognition Scheme to recognise and support staff who make, or have the potential to make, an innovative contribution in e-facilitated learning. Project has been linked with SLOODLE Tracker.

Hardware Integration

The Serious Game and Virtual World team have developed numerous projects involved with Hardware Integration have been recently developed in the Serious Games and Virtual World Research Team.

You may visit the demos at Ulster Magee 3 (158, 145, 125).

Other Projects

Other projects include the giant PC, virtual remote labs and interactive large scale electromagnets. All of which are connected to SLOODLE.