Embodiment of the Communicative “Other”

EMBODIMENT OF THE COMMUNICATIVE “OTHER”

Mode of Communication and Social Presence in Educational Virtual Environments

Nikiforos M. Papachristos, Ioanna Bellou, Tassos A. MikropoulosThe Educational Approaches to Virtual Reality Technologies Lab

The University of IoanninaGreece

The University of Ioannina

Tampere, Finland: June 23-26, 2014


Introduction: VR in Education… not yet

Over twenty years after Bricken described the pedagogical affordances of virtual reality environments, her prediction that virtual reality would be “commonplace” in our days, seems not to have come true.

The use of virtual reality in classroom based teaching and learning is reported almost solely in the context of educational research projects.



The dominant, “technocentric” approach to educational technology poses difficulties for research and development of VR environments to reach the level of widespread application in education.

Technocentrism is an epistemological approach to the study of the role of computers in human learning that reduces “what are really the most important components of educational situations - people and cultures - to a secondary, facilitating role”, while treating “computers” “as agents that act directly on thinking and learning” (Papert, 1990).



In order “to understand (or influence) the change, you have

to center your attention on the culture - not on the

computer” (Papert, 1990).

Such a shift of focus entails research efforts that would try

to shed light on the socio-cultural phenomena that take

place in Virtual Environments (VE).



Since learning is also a socially driven act that takes place

in a cultural context, it is important to know how this context

is being transferred and represented in the VE.

A key notion for this research is social presence.


Introduction: Social Presence

Presence: “the perceptual illusion of non-mediation”, the phenomenon where a person fails to perceive or acknowledge that a mediated experience is mediated (Lombard & Ditton, 1997).

Presence consists of interrelated phenomena: Spatial Presence and Social Presence (Biocca et al., 2003).

Spatial presence refers to the “the sense of being physically located somewhere”.


Introduction: Social Presence

Social Presence (SP): major definitional approaches

“the degree of salience of the other person” in a mediated interaction (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976)

the sense of “being with others” (Heeter, 1992)

a form of presence emerging when a user acts as social actor inside Virtual Environments (Lombard & Ditton, 1997)

“the feeling of being together (and communicating) with someone (Ijsselsteijn, et al., 2000)

the “level of awareness of the copresence of another human, being or intelligence” (Nowak & Biocca, 2003).


Introduction: Social Presence Factors

Categories of factors that determine presence (spatial & social) (Ijsselsteijn et al., 2000):

The extent and fidelity of sensory information The match between sensors and the display Content factors User characteristics

Social Presence is more likely to be affected by content factors and user characteristics (Mikropoulos & Strouboulis, 2004).


Introduction: SP & Embodiment

Embodiment, the graphical representation of the user in the environment, has been noted as important for social presence in VEs (Dalgarno & Lee, 2010), but

• limited empirical data regarding its role has been reported (mostly focusing on user embodiment)

• regarding the embodiment of the “communicative other”, only one study regards communications in a VE.


Introduction: SP & communication

Communication over voice seems to make VEs more human-like compared to text messaging but

• only few studies report on the relation of mode of communication with social presence

• Sallnäs (2005), compared audio and video conference with text-chat in a virtual environment (audio via telephone). Social presence was rated higher in the video and audio conditions than in the text conditions.


Introduction: Aim of study

Investigate the impact of:

embodiment of the communicative “other” (embodiment vs. non-embodiment) and

communication mode (voice chat vs. text-chat)

on social presence in an educational Multi- User Virtual Environment (MUVE).


Method: Educational VE and Learning Activity

An educational virtual environment was developed to teach and learn about stereoisomerism, a topic from organic chemistry that demands high spatial and cognitive skills, as it deals with molecule structure in the three-dimensional space.

Understanding stereoisomerism and the related concepts is usually hindered by the use of two dimensional (2D) representations in books or 2D desktop educational software.



Designed and developed in Second Life.The learning scenario was based on the content and learning goals of the Chemistry curriculum on stereoisomerism for grade 12 of the Greek educational system.The instructional design followed a structured teaching approach.Every single student was guided through the topic of stereoisomerism by the teacher (one of the researchers) who also was the communicate “other”.



The teacher introduced the various concepts through mini-presentations, dialogue and small guided activities, performed by the students.The participants interacted with the VE by using the mouse and the keyboard.


In the embodiment condition, the students could see the avatar of the teacher,


while in the non-embodiment condition the avatar of the teacher was invisible.



In the voice-chat condition, the participants communicated with the teacher via the SL voice-chat, while in the text-chat condition they used the instant messaging service of SL.In the conditions that required voice-chat, students were wearing a stereo-headset.


Method: Sample

87 students of the Department of Primary Education, the University of Ioannina, Greece.

They all had experience in Second Life (SL).

Their participation was voluntary, motivated by a small bonus in their marks. A total of 82 students (64 women, 18 men), aged between 19 and 28 years (Mean=20.87, SD=1.55) participated in the study.


Method: Procedure-Measures

Students were assigned randomly to one of the four experimental conditions (embodiment x communication mode).

The students were positioned in an isolated room, so that the only way to communicate with the teacher was through the virtual environment.

The duration of each session was approximately 40 minutes.



Before the session each student answered a questionnaire on demographics, computer and SL experience and previous knowledge related to the learning activity.

After the end of the activity the students answered the Temple Presence Inventory (TPI) translated into Greek(Lombard et al., 2000; Lombard, Ditton, & Weinstein, 2009).



The 7-point Likert subscales Social presence (SP), Presence as Social Richness (SRi), Presence as Social Realism (SRe), Presence as Engagement (E) and Spatial Presence (P) are dimensions of presence that the TPI measures and the relevant subscales were used.

The reliability of the scales SP, SRi, SRe, E, and P was verified in this study.


Results

A two way between groups analysis of variance was conducted to explore the impact of embodiment and communication mode on the levels of Social Presence, Presence as Social Richness, Presence as Social Realism, Presence as Engagement, and Spatial Presence.


Results

For Social Presence, there was a statistically significant main effect for communication [F(1, 92)=4.68, p=.03].Social presence was higher in the voice-chat communication condition (M.=6.148, SD=0,105) than in the text-chat condition (Μ=5.764, SD=0,110).The main effect for embodiment and the interaction effect did not reach statistical significance.


Results

For Presence as Social Richness [F(3, 78)=2.167, p=.145],Presence as Social Realism [F(3, 78)=1.825, p=.181],Presence as Engagement [F(3, 78)=3.156, p=.080] andSpatial Presence [F(3, 78)=.466, p=.497]the main effects for communication mode, embodiment and the interaction effect did not reach statistical significance.


Conclusions: Embodiment

Results show that embodiment through avatar of the

communicative “other” did not affect the levels of Social

presence, Presence as social richness, Presence as social

realism, Presence as engagement and Spatial Presence.



While this result is maybe not surprising for other

dimensions of presence, regarding Social Presence, it

contradicts many theoretical approaches that consider

the body as an important vehicle for communication and

interaction, as a means for transferring communicative

cues and as a positive social presence factor (Bente et al., 2008;

Biocca, 1997; Blascovich, 2002; Schroeder, 2006; Slater & Steed, 2002).



A possible interpretation should take into account that the

participants had already an established relation with the

communicative “other” (through other educational activities

at the University) which could explain why the levels of

social presence in the non-embodiment conditions did not

drop significantly.



It is also possible that the guided teaching design, which

did not allow for equivalent roles in the communication and

did not foster “open-ended” dialogue, may have not raised

the need for more communication channels that would put

social presence under pressure.


Conclusions: Communication mode

Communication mode had a significant impact on social

presence.

Participants who communicated via voice experienced higher

social presence than those who communicated via text.

This result is in line with theoretical assumptions regarding

the role of communication mode on social presence (Becker &

Mark, 2002; Erlandson, Nelson, & Savenye, 2010; Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997; Misha,

2002; Sallnäs, 2004, 2005).


Conclusions: Communication mode

This might be the first empirical study that reports data that

relates communication mode with social presence in an

educational MUVE.

Other presence dimensions, namely Presence as Social

Richness, Presence as Social Realism, Presence as

Engagement and Spatial Presence were not affected by the

experimental conditions.


More… conclusions

The levels of Social Presence, Presence as social richness

and Presence as engagement were relatively high, an

anticipated result, given the social nature of the activity and

the multi-user virtual environment.


More… conclusions

Presence as social realism had lower levels that the other

social dimensions of presence.

This might be due to the fact that participating in a virtual

chemistry lesson in virtual environment is not, yet, a usual

social activity.


More… conclusions

Spatial Presence levels were lower.

As SL is a virtual environment based on conventional

desktop VR technologies, it does not utilize immersive

technologies that enhance spatial presence.


Thank you for your attention!

Embodiment of the Communicative “Other”

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