A solid understanding of VR optics is highly valuable for designing usable and innovative immersive experiences, yet the underlying principles remain challenging for students due to their abstract, interdisciplinary nature. Conventional lecture materials often struggle to convey how parameters such as focal length and lens placement influence image perception. We built an accessible web-based HMD Simulator that lets users manipulate parameters and observe real-time effects on stereo image formation and frustum geometry. Using the simulator as a design probe, we conducted an exploratory study (n = 16) with staff and students to compare experiences against conventional learning materials. Thematic analysis revealed that participants perceived interactivity as stimulating curiosity to tinker, while real-time feedback was reported to reduce perceived cognitive effort, facilitating deeper inquiry. Participants further emphasized how the simulator complemented rather than replaced conventional instruction, highlighting guided integration features as priority. These findings inform initial design considerations for interactive tools in VR optics and other domains with complex hardware-software interactions.

Educator Perceptions of XRAuthor: An Accessible Tool for Authoring Learning Content with Different Immersion Levels

Despite the growing prominence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots used in education, there remains a significant gap in our understanding of how interface design elements, particularly avatar representations, influence learning experiences. This paper explores the impact of different AI chatbot avatar representations on students’ learning experiences through a mixed-methods within-subjects study, where participants interacted with three distinct types of AI chatbot interfaces with a common large language model (LLM) over a 14-week university course. Our findings reveal that preferences vary according to factors such as learning habits and learning activities. Avatar design also exhibits affordances for specific prompting behaviors, while the perceived human touch influenced learning experiences in nuanced ways. Additionally, real-world relationships with the individuals behind deepfakes influence these experiences. These insights suggest that the thoughtful integration of diverse avatar representations in AI chatbot systems for different learners and settings can greatly enhance learning experiences.

Recent advances of the affordable virtual reality headsets make virtual reality training an economical choice when compared to traditional training. However, these virtual reality devices present a range of different levels of virtual reality fidelity and interactions. Few works have evaluated their validity against the traditional training formats. This paper presents a study that compares the learning efficiency of a bimanual gearbox assembly task among traditional training, virtual reality training with direct 3D inputs (HTC VIVE), and virtual reality training without 3D inputs (Google Cardboard). A pilot study was conducted and the result shows that HTC VIVE brings the best learning outcomes.

Think-aloud protocols are commonly used to evaluate player experiences of video games but suffer from a lack of objectivity and timeliness. On the other hand, quantitative captures of physiological data are effective; providing detailed, unbiased and continuous responses of players, but lack contexts for interpretation. This paper documents how both approaches could be used together in practice by comparing video-cued retrospective think-aloud data and physiological data collected during a video gameplay experiment. We observed that many interesting physiological responses did not feature in participants' think-aloud data, and conversely, reports of interesting experiences were sometimes not observed in the collected physiological data. Through learnings from our experiment, we present some of the challenges when combining these approaches and offer some guidelines as to how qualitative and quantitative data can be used together to gain deeper insights into player experiences.