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Plenary Lecture
An Agent and Virtual Reality Based Online Course
Delivery System
Professor M. Nasseh Tabrizi
Director of Graduate Studies
Director of Technology Innovation Lab
Department of Computer Science
East Carolina University
http://virtual.ecu.edu
Tel: 252-3289691 (Office)
252-3289626 (Lab)
Abstract:
The Virtual Reality (VR) technology used in this project comprise an emerging
medium demonstrated in many areas already familiar to today’s students, such as
computer games, entertainment systems, and visualization. We believe that existing
online course delivery systems are not capable of giving high-quality interactive lecture
content, and that existing systems are quite labor-intensive for the faculty member,
a true barrier to DE development. Tabrizi's Agent and Virtual Reality (AVR) system is
designed to provide the instructor an environment to teach in the virtual setting similar
to the face-to-face classroom. The instructor teaches using the uniquely designed whiteboard
and PowerPoint slide presentation both integrated in the VR environment. The virtual
classroom's message board allows student/instructor interaction and communication to
take place. The students observe the online lecture in VR class resembling a face-to-face
classroom. The students can (individually) look around, can observe the lecture,
and adjust the environment to suit their personality. Moreover, the students
can use the message board (integrated within the classroom) to interact with
others participants in our virtual classroom. The VR system’s strengths are:
• The students’ interface will enable re-generation of the 3D environment
resembling real face-to-face classroom.
• The bandwidth requirement is reduced significantly, ensuring the functionality
of the system in areas with slow network infrastructure.
• Students can interrupt the teacher and ask questions in a manner that mimics the
traditional classroom.
• The lectures and discussion can be archived for students to reference in the future.
The technology goals for this project include implementation and evaluation of non-traditional systems that
redefine the role of technology in learning.
Delivering lectures using the AVR system will result in the creation of a virtual world to enhance and
enrich the learning experience of distance education students by creating real-time lecture and
class discussion. This will further be deliverable in low-bandwidth rural areas of the country.
Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Tabrizi received his B.Sc. in Computer Science from Manchester University, UK. He then
completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Automatic Control and Systems Engineering Department,
Sheffield University, UK. Tabrizi worked in Manchester University for two years prior to his
appointment at East Carolina University in 1984. He is now working as a professor of Computer
Science at East Carolina University. His research interests are in the areas of Virtual Reality,
Modeling and Simulation, Computer Vision, Signal and Image Processing, Software Engineering
Education, Internet and Multimedia, Software Process Modeling, Object Oriented Analysis and
Design, Assistive Technologies, and Computer Science Education.
Starting in 2008, a new degree program will be launched here at
East Carolina University (ECU), a Master of Science in Software Engineering degree.
This will be the first ever program of its kind in the state of North Carolina as it
combines the disciplines of computer science and engineering developed by Dr. Nasseh Tabrizi
who is the graduate director for Computer Science and the Software Engineering programs the
goal that has been a long time in the making.
Tabrizi and his research team have prototyped different major project in his Technology
Innovation lab involving Archival Data Extraction and Assessment (ADEAP) system. Also, has
developed an electronic medical records management system where methodologies for the entry
of research-quality data in the clinical setting and replacement of free text entry of clinical
data with a fixed lexicon are performed. A prototype was developed for representing virtual
filing cabinet and data extraction from historical handwritten documents. Six major educational
models: (1) Virtual University. (2) E-class, a multimedia-based online course delivery system (
3) an interactive real-time learning system that uses pocket PCs within the classroom
environment (4) AVR, an agent and virtual reality-based online course delivery system. (
5) RFID based learning assessment system. (6) Virtual Reality based Home Visit system has
also been developed.
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