Sales and Business Development Virtual World Design and Development Project Management and Janitor

Howard builds interactive virtual environments where people take an active role in the learning process. Knowledge and instruction are embedded inside virtual objects, and expressed in those objects' observable behaviors.

One example is Zengo Sayu, a student-centered, interactive environment for learning foreign language. Zengo Sayu is an exploratory construction game for learning and practicing spoken Japanese. The system is fully immerisve, using a head-mounted display (HMD); body tracking; digitized, sampled speech; and voice and gesture recognition.

Publications

*All rights to the documents listed below are held and maintained by the author or Imprint Interactive Technology unless otherwise noted.

(1996) Zengo Sayu: An Immersive Educational Environment for Learning Japanese: Final Report to The Washington Technology Center Available as RTF Document

(1996) Design and Construction of a Virtual Environment for Japanese Language Instruction. Available as HTML Document. (Masters Thesis)

(1995) Assessing Learning in VR: Towards Developing a Paradigm. Virtual Reality Roving Vehicles (VRRV) Project. HITL Techical Report No. TR-95-1. [RTF Document]

The question of how to assess VR is particularly significant because it exemplifies the broader, theoretical conflict between traditional and constructivist learning approaches. This report presents an example of how the VRRV Project is using VR in schools, and identifies significant factors for assessment. The issue of test reliability versus validity is addressed both in terms of general education, and specifically in using VR. The underlying psychological theories of information processing and constructivism and discussed in terms of developing a comprehensive paradigm to guide the application and research of VR. This discussion is followed by an overview of specific approaches for measuring learning in VR, along with hints and cautions about conducting educational assessment.

(1995) Zengo Sayu: An Immersive Educational Environment for Learning Japanese. Rose, Howard and Billinghurst, M., HITL Technical Report No. TR-95-4. [HTML Document]

(1995) Technology Respecting Culture: The impact of distance learning systems on diverse societies. Rose, H..(FH-hr-95-03) [RTF Document]

"...how do we live with a computer and love it without a heart?"(Jegede & Okabukola)

Futurists claim that societies' needs in the global village will be dramatically different from today, and education must keep step with these changes in order to remain relevant. Technology has the potential to make education a truly lifelong endeavor which people return to a number of times in their lives as interests or circumstances arise. At the same time, there comes a danger of creating a system where diversity and individuality are sacrificed to the tide of standardization and efficiency. What happens when this essentially Western creation is transposed onto non-Western cultures? This report presents an overview of technology's impact on education in developing nations, and concludes with suggestions for better balancing between cultural pasts and uncertain futures.

(1995) Johoka Shakai: Education is the Key to Japan's New Information Society [RTF document]

(1994) Interactivity in Computer-based Foreign Language Instruction: A Review of the Literature. Rose, H..(FH-hr-94-01) [RTF Document]

This report reviews the literature regarding computer-based instruction in second language learning, and the various modes of interactivity currently available. It is not a review of existing computer-based instruction (CBI) products. Rather, it is an overview of the criticisms CBI faces in its current applications to foreign language learning, and a compilation of design suggestions based on sound pedagogy.

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