From Design to Evaluation: Inclusive Animated Avatars for Deaf–Hearing Collaboration in the DALverse Educational Metaverse

Adson Damasceno; Saymon Holanda; Vinícius Vieira; Eduardo Caldas; Francisco Oliveira

doi:10.5753/jis.2026.6325

Authors

Adson Damasceno State University of Ceará https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6570-4103
Saymon Holanda Ceará Federal University https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2881-6986
Vinícius Vieira State University of Ceará https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6161-9374
Eduardo Caldas Ceará Federal University https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5568-3525
Francisco Oliveira State University of Ceará https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3389-3143

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5753/jis.2026.6325

Keywords:

Educational Metaverse, Human-Computer Interaction, Accessibility, Gestural Avatars, Distance Education

Abstract

Context: Educational metaverses are emerging as a promising avenue to make Distance Education (DE) more immersive; however, accessibility gaps persist—particularly for learners with disabilities. A preliminary study involving 30 students and four tutors (N = 34) confirmed that the DALverse increases motivation and participation, yet revealed barriers for students with disabilities, highlighting the need for inclusive refinements. Goal. This study aimed to (i) evaluate the usability of the DALverse as a collaborative environment and (ii) assess whether animated avatars with gestures enhance communication between hearing and deaf participants in DE contexts. Method. A three-stage sequential design was adopted: (1) An exploratory observational study to inform the refinement of the DALverse design; (2) Pilot Experiment with three hearing participants, focused on gesture usability and technical robustness; and (3) Main Experiment with five deaf participants, centered on communicative clarity of animated gestures. The sessions included collaborative tasks on a digital whiteboard and application of the System Usability Scale (SUS), along with qualitative analysis of participant feedback. Results. Pilot Experiment reached an average SUS score of 92.5, rated as “Excellent”, indicating high participant acceptance. Main Experiment achieved a SUS score of 62.0 (“Acceptable”), reflecting the impact of latency and the absence of some gesture features. Nonetheless, deaf participants reported autonomy in navigation, communicative richness, and unanimous preference for DALverse as a means of interaction. Conclusion. Within the scope of this small case study, the combination of chat, voice, and gestural avatars in DALverse was perceived by participants as supporting engagement and collaboration in DE, including among deaf participants. These findings should be interpreted cautiously given the limited sample sizes and the primarily qualitative nature of the evidence. However, the moderate usability observed in the group with disabilities underscores the need to expand the gesture repertoire aligned with Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), incorporate facial expressions, and optimize graphical performance. These enhancements are essential to transform the metaverse into an inclusive and scalable educational tool.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alfaisal, R., Hashim, H., and Azizan, U. H. (2022). Metaverse system adoption in education: a systematic literature review. Journal of Computers in Education, pages 1–45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-022-00256-6.

Ball, M. (2020). The metaverse: What it is, where to find it,and who will build it. [link]. Accessed: 2026-07-02

Barbosa, S. D. J., Silva, B. S. d., Silveira, M. S., Gasparini, I., Darin, T., and Barbosa, G. D. J. (2021). Human–Computer Interaction and User Experience. Self-publishing.

Beane, A. (2012). 3D Animation Essentials. John Wiley & Sons.

Bersch, R. (2008). Introduction to assistive technology. Porto Alegre: CEDI, 21.

Brooke, J. (2013). Sus: A retrospective. Journal of Usability Studies.

Caivano, D. S., Traverso, A., and Rodríguez, M. (2008). El brief de diseño: teoría y práctica para la elaboración de estrategias de diseño gráfico. Ediciones Infinito, Buenos Aires.

Cartaxo, B., Pinto, G., and Soares, S. (2018). The role of rapid reviews in supporting decision-making in software engineering practice. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering 2018, pages 24–34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3210459.3210462.

Daly, J. and Reitmayr, G. (2018). Avatar distinction in virtual environments: Identity, recognition, and interaction. Journal of Virtual Reality and Broadcasting, 15(1).

Damasceno, A., Silva, L., Barros, E., and Oliveira, F. (2024a). Dalverse: Assistive technology for inclusion of people with disabilities in distance education through a metaverse-based environment. In 2024 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), pages 142–146. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICALT61570.2024.00047.

Damasceno, A., Soares, P., Santos, I., Souza, J., and Oliveira, F. (2023). Assistive technology for distance education in metaverse-based environment: A rapid review. Anais do XXXIV Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação, pages 693–706. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbie.2023.234543.

Damasceno, A. R., da Cunha, L. C. C., De Sampaio, J. V. F., Dantas, A. B., Barros, E. M., Maia, P. H. M., and Oliveira, F. C. (2022). A recommendation system framework for educational content reinforcement in virtual learning environments. In CSEDU (1), pages 228–235. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5220/0011032000003182.

Damasceno, A. R., Martins, A. R., Chagas, M. L., Barros, E. M., Maia, P. H. M., and Oliveira, F. C. (2020). Stuart: an intelligent tutoring system for increasing scalability of distance education courses. In Proceedings of the 19th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 1–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3424953.3426640.

Damasceno, A. R., Silva, L. C., Barros, E. M., and Oliveira, F. C. (2024b). Metaverse4deaf: Assistive technology for inclusion of people with hearing impairment in distance education through a metaverse-based environment. In CSEDU (1), pages 510–517. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5220/0012700200003693.

Damasceno, A. R. P., Lima, J. V. V., Caldas, E. A. L., Silva, L. C., and Oliveira, F. C. d. M. B. (2025). Understanding collaborative interaction and inclusion of people with disabilities in metaverse-based distance education environments: A quasi-experiment and its implications for dalverse. Brazilian Journal of Computers in Education (RBIE). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/rbie.2025.5140.

Davis, A., Murphy, J., Owens, D., Khazanchi, D., and Zigurs, I. (2009). Avatars, people, and virtual worlds: Foundations for research in metaverses. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 10(2):1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00183.

de Classe, T. M., de Castro, R. M., and de Oliveira, E. G. (2023). Metaverse as a learning environment for hybrid education. RIED. Ibero-American Journal of Distance Education, 26(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.26.2.36097.

de MB Oliveira, F. C., de Freitas, A. T., de Araujo, T. A., Silva, L. C., Queiroz, B. d. S., and Soares, É. F. (2016). It education strategies for the deaf-assuring employability. In International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, volume 3, pages 473–482. SCITEPRESS.

Fernandes, F. and Werner, C. (2022). Accessibility in the metaverse: Are we prepared? In Proceedings of the 13th Workshop on Aspects of Human–Computer Interaction for the Social Web, pages 9–15. SBC. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/waihcws.2022.226618.

Jovanović, A. et al. (2022). Vortex metaverse platform for gamified collaborative learning. Electronics, 11(3):317. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11030317.

Kendon, A. (2004). Gesture: Visible action as utterance. Cambridge University Press.

Kye, B., Han, N., Kim, E., Park, Y., and Jo, S. (2021). Educational applications of metaverse: possibilities and limitations. Journal of educational evaluation for health professions, 18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2021.18.32.

Lin, H., Wan, S., Gan, W., Chen, J., and Chao, H.-C. (2022). Metaverse in education: Vision, opportunities, and challenges. In 2022 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data), pages 2857–2866. IEEE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/BigData55660.2022.10021004.

McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought univ.

Mori, M., MacDorman, K. F., and Kageki, N. (2012). The uncanny valley [from the field]. IEEE Robotics & automation magazine, 19(2):98–100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2012.2192811.

Nascimento, M. D., Queiroz, B., Guimaraes, M., Silva, L. C., Soares, E., Oliveira, F., Ribeiro, D., and Ferreira, C. (2017). Accessible learning. In Proceedings of the Workshops of the Brazilian Congress on Computers in Education, volume 6, page 110. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/cbie.wcbie.2017.110.

Nielsen, J. (1994). Usability engineering. Morgan Kaufmann.

Onggirawan, C. A., Kho, J. M., Kartiwa, A. P., Gunawan, A. A., et al. (2023). Systematic literature review: The adaptation of distance learning process during the covid19 pandemic using virtual educational spaces in metaverse. Procedia Computer Science, 216:274–283. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2022.12.137.

Palomino, P., Araújo, A., Silva, A., Araújo, R., Dermeval, D., Porto, G. L., Simanke, S., Cordeiro, T., and Lisboa, R. (2025). Beyond detection: A framework for transforming accessibility evaluations into implementable fixes. Journal on Interactive Systems, 16(1):461–472. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/jis.2025.5518.

Quek, F. and Oliveira, F. (2013). Enabling the blind to see gestures. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 20(1):1–32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/2442106.2442110.

Radianti, J., Majchrzak, T., Fromm, J., and Wohlgenannt, I. (2020). A systematic review of immersive virtual reality in education: State of the art and future research agenda. Computers & Education, 147:103778. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103778.

Reeves, B. and Nass, C. (1996). The media equation: How people treat computers, television, and new media like real people. Cambridge, UK, 10(10):19–36.

Rodrigues, C. S. C., Nazareth, V., Azevedo, R. O., Barbosa, P., and Werner, C. (2025). Unseen: Advancing digital accessibility with binaural audio technology in an immersive gaming prototype. Journal on Interactive Systems, 16(1):98–108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/jis.2025.4439.

Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., and Preece, J. (2013). Interaction Design. Bookman Editora.

Sansar Inc. (2024). Sansar: Social vr experiences platform. [link]. Accessed: 2026-06-27.

Taylor, P. and Maor, D. (2000). Assessing the efficacy of online teaching with the constructivist on-line learning environment survey. In Flexible futures in tertiary teaching. Proceedings of the 9th Annual Teaching Learning Forum, pages 2–4. Citeseer.

Tlili, A., Huang, R., Shehata, B., Liu, D., Zhao, J., Metwally, A. H. S., Wang, H., Denden, M., Bozkurt, A., Lee, L.-H., et al. (2022). Is metaverse in education a blessing or a curse: a combined content and bibliometric analysis. Smart Learning Environments, 9(1):1–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-022-00205-x.

Vianna, W. B. and Pinto, A. L. (2017). Disability, accessibility, and assistive technology in libraries: relevant bibliometric aspects. Perspectives in Information Science, 22:125–151. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-5344/2951.

Vieira, M. C., Corrêa, Y., Santarosa, L. M., and Biazus, M. (2014). Analysis of non-manual expressions in portuguese–libras translator avatars. In In XIX International Conference on Informatics in Education – TISE, volume 10.

Vircadia Project (2024). Vircadia: An open-source social virtual world platform. [link]. Accessed: 2026-06-27.

Xavier, A. N. (2017). Expression of intensity in libras. Intercâmbio, 36.