The use of virtual reality (VR) technology to support the treatment of patients with phobia, such as the fear of flying, is getting considerable research attention. Research mainly focuses on the patient experience and the effect of the treatment. In this paper, however, the focus is on the interaction therapists have with the system. Two studies are presented in which the therapist user interface is redesigned and evaluated. The first study was conducted in 2001 with the introduction of the system into the clinic. The original user interface design was compared with a redesign that was based on interviews with therapists. The results of a user study with five therapists and 11 students showed significant usability improvement. In 2008 a follow-up study was conducted on how therapists were now using the redesigned system. Using a direct observation approach six therapists were observed during a total of 14 sessions with patients. The analysis showed that: 93% of the exposures had similar patterns, therapists triggered 20 inappropriate sound recordings (e.g. the pilot giving height information while taking off), and more complex airplane simulation functions (e.g. roll control to make turns with the airplane) were only used by a therapist who was also a pilot. This resulted in a second redesign of the user interface, which allowed therapists to select flight scenarios (e.g. a flight with extra long taxiing, a flight with multiple taking off and landing sessions) instead of controlling the simulation manually. This new design was again evaluated with seven therapists. Again, results showed significant usability improvements. These findings led to five design guidelines with the main tenet in favour of a treatment-focused user interface (i.e. specific flying scenario) instead of a simulation-focused user interface (i.e. specific airplane controls).

Until recently it was difficult to incorporate team projects in distance education. Nowadays, however, new technology is available which allows for distance teamwork. In this paper we will describe a project-oriented course on human-computer interaction. The course is meant for computer science students in distance education. A serious restriction is caused by the fact that the students study at home, where they usually only have a slow connection to Internet at their disposal. We will focus on the way we structured the course to make distance teamwork possible. Furthermore the tools we offered the students will be discussed. Finally, in the paper we will present the first experiences gained in a pilot project with 12 computer science students.

Te authors present the Virtual Data Visualizer, a highly interactive, immersive environment for visualizing and analyzing data. VDV is a set of tools for exploratory data visualization that does not focus on just one type of application. It employs a data organization with data arranged hierarchically in classes that can be modified by the user within the virtual environment. The class structure is the basis for bindings or mappings between data variables and glyph elements, which the user can make, change, or remove. The binding operation also has a set of defaults so that the user can quickly display the data. The VDV requires a user interface that is fairly complicated for a virtual environment. They have taken the approach that a combination of more-or-less traditional menus and more direct means of icon manipulation will do the job. This work shows that a useful interface and set of tools can be built. Controls in VDV include a panel for controlling animation of the data and zooming in and out. Tools include a workbench for changing the glyphs and setting glyph/variable ranges and a boundary tool for defining new classes spatially.