Real-time Collaborative Virtual Interactive E-Learning Environment

The fusion of Virtual Reality, Collaborated Virtual Environments and e-learning provides a novel platform for both the teacher as well as students by creating a setting that is very close to the real educational environment. In this paper, we propose a framework based on the mapping between the real entities and the virtual entities in a typical educational environment. In particular, we emphasize on the design of key components like Virtual Classroom and Virtual Laboratory. As a case study, we describe how interactive 2D/3D animations can be used to better understand the laboratory experiments in a collaborative fashion while providing the teachers and the students with the ability to control these animations in realtime. We also stress the need for an educational Collaborated Virtual Environment to be both useful and fun, in order to enhance its usability and adaptability in various contexts. Last but not the least, we discuss the need for an educational body/network that manages the identities and roles of virtual actors, authenticates various parts of virtual environment and moderates communication happening within the Collaborated Virtual Environment. KeywordsE-Learning; Collaboration; Interaction; Virtual Environment; Real-time collaboration; Virtual Interactive Elearning environment; ACE; A-VIEW.