Guidelines to Promote the Sense of Presence in Distance Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5753/rbie.2022.2590Keywords:
Sense of Presence, Distance Education, Virtual WorldsAbstract
Although on the rise, it is observed that Distance Education (DE) still has a popular perception of lower quality in comparison with on-site or face-to-face teaching. It is estimated that lacks such as interpersonal relationships, the use of more interactive and dynamic technologies, and the realization of professional practices contribute to this perception. Seeking to act on these weaknesses, this research proposes a media support composed of Virtual Worlds (VWs) and Non-Player Characters (NPCs), with one of these NPCs integrated to the technology of Conversational Agents, acting in the role of Virtual Companion. As main aspect, the sense of presence is investigated, a construct from the affective dimension defined as the feeling of “being there”. A total of 132 students performed an extracurricular activity in one of three groups: Control, which used the traditional web Virtual Learning Environment; Experimental, which used the VW; and Real Experimental, which used the VW with the Virtual Companion. Based on the results and discussion and seeking to answer the research question “How to promote the sense of presence in order to contribute to the learning process in DE?” a structure was organized with seven guidelines that direct the use of the mentioned technologies in order to benefit from their potential.
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Copyright (c) 2022 Aliane Loureiro Krassmann, Liane Margarida Rockenbach Tarouco, Magda Bercht
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