Stealth assessment of situational interest in virtual & augmented reality learning

• Main Author: Tan, Jie Hui
• Other Authors: Cai Yiyu
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168355
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Virtual and augmented reality (VAR) technology can change the way students learn by providing them with engaging, interactive, and immersive experiences. VAR technology can improve learner situational interest, which is a psychological state of increased focus shown to enhance knowledge acquisition. However, a barrier to wider adoption of VAR learning is its lack of standardized assessment. Assessment in education is important because it evaluates learning outcomes, provides learner feedback, and improves pedagogy. By extension, proper assessment to measure learner outcomes of VAR learning is crucial for its adoption. A unique feature of VAR learning is the ability to incorporate stealth assessment, where gameplay data is analyzed without disrupting the learning process through technology-based tools. To the best of the author’s knowledge, there is no existing literature on implementation of stealth assessment in VAR education game in a classroom setting. As such, a data analysis engine was developed to analyse VAR hand motion data and implemented in a tertiary classroom tutorial session. A novel approach of applying k-means clustering on VAR hand motion gameplay data was used to derive percentage of gameplay containing anomalous motion. The data offers educators insights into student gameplay performance and reveals underlying gameplay issues faced the class. Situational interest was also inferred from percentage of anomalous motion and compared against self-reported questionnaire scores. Ultimately, the project serves as proof-of-concept of stealth assessment implementation in VAR education games and its benefits in improving VAR education pedagogy. In turn, this paves way for future work in development of stealth assessment tools and understanding of stealth assessment validity.