The development of the Virtual City: A user centred approach (original) (raw)

Virtual Environments for Learners with Special Needs

WSCG'2006, 2006

This paper proposes methods to create educational Virtual Environments for users with no computer and readingskills. The objective is to outline issues that are critical for the success of an educational Virtual Environment:user interface, navigation, interaction and environment design. We propose solutions to improve the usabilityand visual quality of environments. Two example environments are presented in detail to illustrate our ideas: The education of battered women and a city guide of a historical boulevard in Istanbul.

Design of a Virtual Learning Environment for Students with Special Needs

Human Technology: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Humans in ICT Environments, 2006

The European Social Fund-supported Portland Partnership project developed a computer-based virtual learning environment (VLE) to benefit students with cognitive and physical disabilities. This system provided students with access to a suite of software programs to teach them basic/essential skills needed for everyday life and to use information and communications technology (ICT). The VLE can be customized to meet individual students' needs by selecting an input device, adjusting its setting, or choosing a symbol set to ...

Virtual environments special needs and evaluative methods

Studies in health technology and informatics, 1998

This paper presents an overview of the development of the Learning in Virtual Environments programme (LIVE), carried out in special education over the last four years. It is more precisely a project chronology, so that the reader can sense the historical development of the programme rather than giving emphasis to any one particular feature or breakthrough, which are covered in other papers and available through the authors. The project conception in a special school in Nottingham is followed by a description of the development of experiential and communicational virtual learning environments. These are followed, in turn, by the results of our testing programmes which show that experience gained in a virtual environment can transfer to the real world and that their use can encourage self-directed activity in students with severe learning difficulties. Also included is a discussion of the role of virtual learning environments (VLEs) in special education and of its attributes in the co...

A Virtual World for Learning Skills of Independent Living: a Formative Evaluation

Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 2018

A web-based virtual world was developed to address negative symptoms in people being assisted by community mental health services. The formative evaluation of this virtual world describes the rationale, stakeholder consultation, behavioral objectives, and design principles. Results are presented for a two-phase evaluation of the acceptability and usability of the prototype with mental health support workers and their adult clients. Phase 1 was the development of an initial prototype virtual world and conduct of a survey of 46 support workers’ responses to a questionnaire on their views about that world. Results indicated moderate levels of acceptability and credibility of the concept and identified several perceived barriers to usability by potential clients. Phase 2 was the development of a second prototype and its evaluation by 20 support workers and 10 clients from a mental health support service following an instruction session using the second prototype. Results showed that mos...