AudienceMR: Extending the Local Space for Large-Scale Audience with Mixed Reality for Enhanced Remote Lecturer Experience
AudienceMR is designed as a multi-user mixed reality space that seamlessly extends the local user space to become a large, shared classroom where some of the audience members are seen seated in a real space, and more members are seen through an extended portal. AudienceMR can provide a sense of the...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/19/9022 |
| _version_ | 1827680950736125952 |
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| author | Bin Han Gerard Jounghyun Kim |
| author_facet | Bin Han Gerard Jounghyun Kim |
| author_sort | Bin Han |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | AudienceMR is designed as a multi-user mixed reality space that seamlessly extends the local user space to become a large, shared classroom where some of the audience members are seen seated in a real space, and more members are seen through an extended portal. AudienceMR can provide a sense of the presence of a large-scale crowd/audience with the associated spatial context. In contrast to virtual reality (VR), however, with mixed reality (MR), a lecturer can deliver content or conduct a performance from a real, actual, comfortable, and familiar local space, while interacting directly with real nearby objects, such as a desk, podium, educational props, instruments, and office materials. Such a design will elicit a realistic user experience closer to an actual classroom, which is currently prohibitive owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper validated our hypothesis by conducting a comparative experiment assessing the lecturer’s experience with two independent variables: (1) an online classroom platform type, i.e., a 2D desktop video teleconference, a 2D video screen grid in VR, 3D VR, and AudienceMR, and (2) a student depiction, i.e., a 2D upper-body video screen and a 3D full-body avatar. Our experiment validated that AudienceMR exhibits a level of anxiety and fear of public speaking closer to that of a real classroom situation, and a higher social and spatial presence than 2D video grid-based solutions and even 3D VR. Compared to 3D VR, AudienceMR offers a more natural and easily usable real object-based interaction. Most subjects preferred AudienceMR over the alternatives despite the nuisance of having to wear a video see-through headset. Such qualities will result in information conveyance and an educational efficacy comparable to those of a real classroom, and better than those achieved through popular 2D desktop teleconferencing or immersive 3D VR solutions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:06:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3f1ad7a049454419b36c3a4ca3a2ad10 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:06:32Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-3f1ad7a049454419b36c3a4ca3a2ad102023-11-22T15:46:39ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172021-09-011119902210.3390/app11199022AudienceMR: Extending the Local Space for Large-Scale Audience with Mixed Reality for Enhanced Remote Lecturer ExperienceBin Han0Gerard Jounghyun Kim1Computer Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, KoreaComputer Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, KoreaAudienceMR is designed as a multi-user mixed reality space that seamlessly extends the local user space to become a large, shared classroom where some of the audience members are seen seated in a real space, and more members are seen through an extended portal. AudienceMR can provide a sense of the presence of a large-scale crowd/audience with the associated spatial context. In contrast to virtual reality (VR), however, with mixed reality (MR), a lecturer can deliver content or conduct a performance from a real, actual, comfortable, and familiar local space, while interacting directly with real nearby objects, such as a desk, podium, educational props, instruments, and office materials. Such a design will elicit a realistic user experience closer to an actual classroom, which is currently prohibitive owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper validated our hypothesis by conducting a comparative experiment assessing the lecturer’s experience with two independent variables: (1) an online classroom platform type, i.e., a 2D desktop video teleconference, a 2D video screen grid in VR, 3D VR, and AudienceMR, and (2) a student depiction, i.e., a 2D upper-body video screen and a 3D full-body avatar. Our experiment validated that AudienceMR exhibits a level of anxiety and fear of public speaking closer to that of a real classroom situation, and a higher social and spatial presence than 2D video grid-based solutions and even 3D VR. Compared to 3D VR, AudienceMR offers a more natural and easily usable real object-based interaction. Most subjects preferred AudienceMR over the alternatives despite the nuisance of having to wear a video see-through headset. Such qualities will result in information conveyance and an educational efficacy comparable to those of a real classroom, and better than those achieved through popular 2D desktop teleconferencing or immersive 3D VR solutions.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/19/9022mixed realityaugmented realityhuman-computer interactionpublic speakingsocial presence |
| spellingShingle | Bin Han Gerard Jounghyun Kim AudienceMR: Extending the Local Space for Large-Scale Audience with Mixed Reality for Enhanced Remote Lecturer Experience Applied Sciences mixed reality augmented reality human-computer interaction public speaking social presence |
| title | AudienceMR: Extending the Local Space for Large-Scale Audience with Mixed Reality for Enhanced Remote Lecturer Experience |
| title_full | AudienceMR: Extending the Local Space for Large-Scale Audience with Mixed Reality for Enhanced Remote Lecturer Experience |
| title_fullStr | AudienceMR: Extending the Local Space for Large-Scale Audience with Mixed Reality for Enhanced Remote Lecturer Experience |
| title_full_unstemmed | AudienceMR: Extending the Local Space for Large-Scale Audience with Mixed Reality for Enhanced Remote Lecturer Experience |
| title_short | AudienceMR: Extending the Local Space for Large-Scale Audience with Mixed Reality for Enhanced Remote Lecturer Experience |
| title_sort | audiencemr extending the local space for large scale audience with mixed reality for enhanced remote lecturer experience |
| topic | mixed reality augmented reality human-computer interaction public speaking social presence |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/19/9022 |
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