Remote mixed reality collaborative laboratory activities

Technology is changing our way to experience education from one-dimensional (physical) to multi-dimensional (physical and virtual) education using a diversity of resources such as web-based platforms (eLearning), videoconferences, eBooks and innovative technologies (e.g. mixed reality, virtual worlds, immersive technology, etc.). This represents bigger opportunities for universities and educational institutions to collaborate with partners from around the world and to be part of today's knowledge economy. This also enables greater opportunities to experience distance learning, modifying our experience of both space and time, changing specific spatial locations to ubiquitous locations and time as asynchronous/synchronous according to our necessities. The use of virtual and remote laboratory activities is an example of the application of some of these concepts. In this work-in-progress paper we propose a different approach to the integration of the physical and virtual world by creating remote mixed reality collaborative laboratory activities within an InterReality Portal learning environment, thereby extending our previous progress towards these goals. The learning goal of our mixed reality lab activity is to produce Internet-of-Things-based computer projects using combinations of Cross-Reality (xReality) and Virtual objects based on co-creative and collaborative interaction between geographically dispersed students.

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