Firsthand has been key to the recent success of projects at the HIT Lab led by my colleague Dr. Hunter Hoffman who is pioneering the use of immersive VR for treatment of pain, phobias and battlefield post-traumatic stress syndrome. This work has received enormous international attention and the use of VR for pain analgesia and other psychology maladies has been dramatically influenced by Firsthand's creative contribution.

Dr. Tom Furness, HIT Lab Founder

Howard Rose

Zengo Sayu: An Immersive Educational Environment for Learning Japanese:

Final Report to The Washington Technology Center Rose,H. (1996). (FH-hr-96-01). Available as RTF Document

Zengo Sayu is a virtual environment where students learn Japanese through direct experience with the language. The environment is populated with objects that talk and help students learn vocabulary, sentence structures and grammar through meaningful, self-directed activities. Activities increase in complexity leading to a construction game where students follow and give commands to arrange building blocks. The game can be played either by a single student with the computer, or by groups of students interacting within the same virtual space.

Design and Construction of a Virtual Environment for Japanese Language Instruction.

Rose, H. (1996).(FH-hr-96-02) Available as HTML Document. (Masters Thesis)

Zengo Sayu: An Immersive Educational Environment for Learning Japanese.

(1995) Rose, Howard and Billinghurst, M. HITL Technical Report No. TR-95-4. [HTML Document] (FH-hr-95-01)

Assessing Learning in VR: Towards Developing a Paradigm Virtual Reality in Roving Vehicles (VRRV) Project.

HITL Tech Report:TR-95-1-rose. Rose, H. (1995). (FH-hr-95-02) [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.