Development Tools for Content Creation in Virtual Environments
Abstract
lmmersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) for education are designed and
implemented to enable students to learn complicated concepts in an exploratory
and inquiry based manner. The environments are constructed so that multiple
users can interact with the educational simulation and learn to think like a scientist.
Developing these IVEs requires a multi-disciplinary development team that
consists of more than just software engineers. It requires content experts to
provide the information needed to create the best and most interactive lessons
possible. While some content experts have a strong interest in technology and are
capable of working with the development environment directly, many are more
interested in their fields of expertise and would prefer to leave the programming
and technical details to others. This presents a logistical problem as the experts
have to somehow transfer their knowledge to the programmers who encode it into
the IVE.
In order to increase productivity it is suggested that web based, content
editors would alleviate this development bottleneck. These tools would need to be
cross platform, accessible anywhere Internet is available and not require the
installation of any special software. This paper describes the design and
implementation of a principled set of tools; Bot Conversation Editors used to create
agent conversations, Task Editors to create and manage player tasks, and Help
Editors to manage educational content in in-game reference materials.