Virtual SceneBean: a Learning Object Model for Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment

Abstract

It is commonly agreed that a well-balanced mix ofcollaboration, training and simulation eventuallyproduce a superior learner. Today�s collaborativedesign and learning environments integrate variety ofinteractive objects as well as many technologicalaspects to achieve such balance. Unfortunately, theactual profit of the resulting learning systems islargely reduced by poorly represented interactiveobjects as well as poor interlinking between suchobjects. In particular, such objects appear isolated:they neither can be modified sufficiently (e.g. bychoosing parameters or enhancing functionality) nor beinterlinked properly with their context (e.g. bysynchronizing with a guided tour or metadata). We arepresenting in this article a model for representingvirtual and 3D scenes as learning objects. The modelutilizes notions and techniques based on Scene Graphs,X3D, Java3D, and SceneBeans. The prototype accompaniedwith a simple client-server protocol for exchanging andviewing the 3D SceneBeans. This research aims to extendthis protocol by utilizing Sun JXTA primitives to linkto the POOL of other learning objects repositories.