New Augmented Reality Applications - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 382

benefit both sides of the learning and teaching
process.
On the learning side, there is great acceptance
of the technology, because the system attracts
students' attention in such a way that everybody
wants to go where the system is located to try and
use it. Our experience with the system shows that
the students enjoy it and learn more Inorganic
Chemistry. After using it, they were asked their
opinion, and they provided highly positive re-
sponses. In fact, they asked whether they could
take the system home.
On the teaching side, a tool has been created
that helps professors explain 3D crystal structures,
molecules, unit cells and so on. We developed a set
of 3D models of Chemistry structures that helped
the professor teach spatial intuition to the students.
The students' experience can be summarized
as follows. They are aware that they are using an
innovative and original technology. They provided
an enthusiastic response and became more moti-
vated to participate in the experience. It was easy
to incorporate the system into several classes, so
that the students could use the new AR tools to
observe, analyze and study different 3D crystal
structures and molecules in an intuitive way.
We also observed that students substantially
improved their spatial intuition and learned to
better understand visual cues. Although this
ability differs depending on the student, it is a
skill that can be learned with time and practice.
In the survey they took after using our system,
some students admitted that it could provide a
new means to improve their perception abilities.
Students could manipulate different structures
by themselves, both individually and in groups,
while listening to the professor's explanations or
solving problems.
Due to the motivation to participate, students
improved various skills like initiative and coopera-
tion. Since the work was usually done in groups
of two, collaboration was also improved. As an
example, once, due to time constraints, only one
group was able to manipulate the AR system. The

rest of the class took the initiative and started giv-
ing instructions to solve the problem.
Another issue is bringing new technologies to
the students in order to improve their knowledge.
Students learn to communicate successfully with
experts from other areas in order to acquire the
ability to work in a multidisciplinary team. This
is achieved because students experiment multi-
disciplinary teams and the interaction between
them. This fact awoke the students' curiosity
so that they started asking about the origin of
our work, realizing that it is possible to mix
independent disciplines in order to devise new
ideas. Some students also asked for testing new
advances and developments of our system, even
after they were done with the classes and their
degree requirements.
As for the Inorganic Chemistry professors, they
were happy to have a user friendly and useful tool
for teaching. The system surprises the students,
capturing their attention and encouraging them to
increase participation. It also provides the profes-
sors with an application that helps them teach
students spatial perception, a very important factor
in Inorganic Chemistry. Furthermore, professors
improve their explanations previously done in 2D,
and see the students' understanding when viewing
their cameras. As a result, the professor can correct
the students' mistakes and misunderstandings,
emphasizing those most common among them.
Finally, from the Computer Science perspec-
tive, the main goals that have been accomplished
are the following. First, the increased use of Open
Source software, since all the software developed
for our system is under the terms of the GNU
General Public License. Secondly, a large set of
crystal structures and models have been created
and adapted to the professor's requirements. These
models allow him to teach 3D intuition and con-
cepts. Also, we have added text and transparency
to clarify certain parts of the displayed structures.
And we have made certain objects appear and dis-
appear depending on the orientation of the model.