What is Aesthetic Computing

Multimedia technology for personal computers has undergone a radical transformation over the past two decades with significant changes made in hardware-assisted audio and three-dimensional graphics processing. These changes suggest new possibilities for educational environments. The area of computer gaming represents one type of emerging technology since first- and third-person games have saturated the market over the past 10 years. We have taken an offshoot of computer games in the form of the multi-user, meta-gaming Second Life virtual environment, and explored its use for performing basic algebra operations such as the distributive property and computation of expressions. We leveraged the inherent multi-user collaborative-building capabilities within Second Life to explore how simple algebra manipulations can be accomplished. We also allowed students in a Spring 2007 class to build similar expressions as well as tool-based environments to facilitate the construction of virtual algebraic manipulatives. Our results suggest that while the current technology presents some key human interface challenges inherent to three-dimensional user interfaces, multi-user environments can be successfully used to construct algebraic expressions in ways not possible with prior technologies. Specifically, these environments provide real-time distance communication, the ability for multiple users to collaborate spatially toward creating and positioning algebraic components, sensory and cognitive immersion, and the possibility of personalizing representations in ways not easily accomplished with two-dimensional environments.