Virtual Learning Environments

Virtual Learning Environments Professor Charlie Hughes, Pegasus Professor, Department of Computer Science, UCF Dr. Charlie Hughes is a Pegasus Professor of Computer Science at the University of Central Florida (UCF). He is Co-Lead of the Learning Sciences Cluster, Co-Director of the Synthetic Reality Laboratory SREAL), and Co-Director of the Center for Research in Education Simulation Technology (CREST). He has secondary appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering, the School of Modeling, Simulation & Training, the College of Community Innovation & Education, and the Department of Games & Interactive Media at UCF. Charlie was recently inducted into the National Center for Simulation Hall of Fame. His virtual environment research spans three and a half decades, with the last 15 years focused on virtual learning environments (co-holder of 11 patents in this area) with an emphasis on preparing teachers for inclusive classrooms and helping students with autism reach their full potentials. He has authored or co-authored 7 books, 68 journal articles, 38 book chapters, and 122 refereed conference papers. He has advised 28 students to completion of their Ph.D.’s in computer science and modeling & simulation, with women being eight of the last 13. He is a Life Senior Member of both the IEEE and the ACM and is an ACM SIGGRAPH Pioneer. He has been PI or co-PI on about $30M in external grants since 2000, of which over $6M in funding is currently active. Abstract: Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) refer to the employment of extended reality (VR, AR, MR) in contexts that are intended to improve the performance of participants in some area of work, education, or job training, especially when these involve human to human interactions. This talk will discuss VLE research in support of the education of youth who have autism, and the efforts of people who interact with those on the spectrum (coaches, teachers, police officers). We will also discuss the use of real-time physiological data to influence the behavior of virtual character, especially virtual companions for children with autism.