Collaborative Experiment and Education Based on Networked Virtual Reality

A collaborative education system using networked virtual reality (VR) overcomes differences of time and space between its teachers and students. The system can give cyber experiences in a virtual environment to students. We propose a collaboration system for experiment and education in biology. The proposed system uses a social computing based VR system called SecondLife. Students can learn basic theories and experiments of biology by watching movies and manipulating molecular models in SecondLife. They can also learn experimental details and precise simulations through remote collaborative virtual reality workspaces. Teachers can discuss with their students in SecondLife and evaluate scores of their students through remote collaborative work spaces. The proposed system offers both teaching and learning experiences in cyberspace.