Using Multimedia and Virtual Reality for Web-Based Collaborative Learning on Multiple Platforms

Abstract

Since the advent of the Internet, educators have realised its potential as a medium for teaching. The term e-learning has been introduced to describe this Internet-based education. Although e-learning applications are popular, much research is now underway to improve the features they provide. For example, the addition of synchronous communication methods and multimedia is being studied. With the introduction of wireless networks, mobile devices are also being investigated as a medium to present learning content. Currently, the use of 3-dimensional (3D) graphics is being explored for creating virtual learning environments online. Virtual reality (VR) is already being used in multiple disciplines for teaching various tasks. This chapter focuses on describing some VR systems, and also discusses the current state of e-learning on mobile devices. We also present the VR learning environment that we have developed, incorporating many of the techniques mentioned above for both desktop and mobile devices.