Immersive learning

Immersive learning is a learning method which students being immersed into a virtual dialogue, the feeling of presence is used as an evidence of getting immersed. The virtual dialogue can be created by two ways, the usage of virtual technics, and the narrative like reading a book. The motivations of using virtual reality (VR) for teaching contain: learning efficiency, time problems, physical inaccessibility, limits due to a dangerous situation and ethical problems. Most of the immersive learning activities are supported by virtual tools including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and virtual learning environment (VLE). Immersive VR here specifically refers to the occasions where participants feel "being there" in a virtual place. For educational purpose, the most mentioned virtual projects include Second Life, CAVE VR system, AET Zone are being used in a wide range of disciplines. Among all the technical tools supporting immersive learning, the CAVE, which defined as a room-like environment with projection screens is well discussed. The CAVE was first studied by the University of Illinois's Electronic Visualization Lab in 1992, which allows huge screens to involve a large number of audiences. Sherman and Craig define CAVE as a theater-like VR venue, which is visually created by computer-generated imagery. Most of the CAVEs today contain 3-6 walls (including ceiling and floor), shaped as a cube or cylinder. It is supported with multisensory channels for human-content interaction, mainly visual, also produces other sensory engagements such as tactile, audio and smell. At this stage, visual and spatial audio appear to be the most-used combination to achieve a certain level of immersion. The term textual immersion is used to describe this kind of cognitive immersion, as everyone has the so-called daydream, to image themselves actually being in the story and become the protagonist. This phenomenon is described as getting lost, involved, or drawn into a story, by imagination or other media engagement such as literature and film.