Archaeology Lab Read More VRchaeology teaches archaeological field methods using immersive virtual reality (VR), allowing all students to learn archaeology without leaving the classroom. This is a test case for field sciences more broadly. Discover more about our initiatives to enhance accessibility for field research. Interested in being a part of VR/chæology Lab ? I am currently inviting applications from graduate students interested in new ways of using VR for teaching and learning about archaeology and human evolution! Consider applying to UIUC through the Department of Anthropology or the Department of Informatics. Email

Archaeology Lab Read More VRchaeology teaches archaeological field methods using immersive virtual reality (VR) so that all students can learn archaeology without leaving the classroom. This is a test case for field sciences more broadly. Find out more about our projects to promote accessibility for field research. Interested in being a part of VRchaeology? I am currently inviting applications from graduate students interested in new ways of using VR for teaching and learning about archaeology and human evolution! Consider applying to UIUC through the Department of Anthropology or the Department of Informatics. If interested, please contact me at llshacke@illinois.edu . spacer spacer spacer spacer s spacer spacer spacer spacer s

THE TEAM Laura Shackelford I am a Professor of Anthropology and an affiliate in the Department of Informatics and Game Studies & Design at UIUC and a Professor of Biomedical and Translational Sciences and the Anatomy Director for the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. My research focuses on the evolution of our species, Homo sapiens, as a background to understanding recent human diversity. I have a geographic focus in Southeast Asia, and since 2008 I have co-directed ongoing field research in northern Laos. More recently, my research explores virtual reality and technology in education in an effort to make human prehistory and archaeological field work accessible to more students. You can find out more about my research https://anthro.illinois.edu/directory/profile/llshacke and https://experts.illinois.edu/en/persons/laura-lynn-shackelford . . Wen-Hao David Huang I study how individuals and organizations make informed decisions across learning and development contexts. By understanding how decision-making processes are made, it becomes feasible for me to design motivational and engagement systems to facilitate favorable decision-making behaviors by individuals and organizations. I work with a variety of learning environments, ranging from technology-enriched and enabled learning environments (TEELE) to community-based learning environments. Regardless of the characteristics and purposes of the learning environments, my work informs the underlying theoretical and empirical foundations in motivations, engagements, and design thinking. For the Game-Based Virtual Reality Archaeology project, I am responsible for designing and implementing research and evaluative activities to delineate the relationships among motivational support, cognitive processes, and learning outcome perceived by study participants. I believe the output of this project can meaningfully inform the design and implementation of VR-based learning environments in terms of their instructional efficacy, accessibility, and scalability for learning and development applications across contexts. Illinois News Bureau article: https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/717299 My full faculty bio is linked here: https://education.illinois.edu/faculty/wenhao-david-huang My LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wdhuang/ Alan B. Craig I serve as an involved advisor for this project. I have written several related books including: Understanding Virtual Reality (first and second edition), Developing Virtual Reality Applications, and Understanding Augmented Reality. I currently hold three patents. Dan Matis I am a graduate student in Anthropology with an interest in photogrammetry and 3D modeling applications in archaeology. I was invited to join this project in the spring of 2019 as a part-time student employee and am very excited to be able to take part in making this project a (Virtual) reality. David Hopping David is a recent graduate of UIUC with a degree in Anthropology+Computer Science. He will pursue a graduate degree in Informatics at UIUC in Fall 2022. Robbie Sieczkowski Robbie is a recent graduate of UIUC with a degree in Media and Cinema Studies where he was also the president of the VR Club and the Illini Esports VR Community Coordinator. He will pursue a graduate degree in Informatics at UIUC in Fall 2022. Nan Kang Nan is an undergrad at UIUC studying Computer Engineering and Statistics. Zade Lobo Zade is an undergrad at UIUC studying Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Game Studies and Design. He is currently (Summer 2022) working as an XR Research Intern for Play Station's VR/XR group. ALUMNI Alexandra (Allie) Zachwieja Jamie Arjona Janny Chen Monika Janas Alice (Xuehui) Chao Aaron Stocks Isaac Smith Cameron Merrill Rajee Shah Jin Jang Emma Verstraete

PROJECTS Archaeology Lab Field School Prep Virtual Reality for Wheelchair Users

Lab Section Media

VIRTUAL REALITY FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS NSF Award:: Increasing Accessibility to Field-based Sciences for College Students Using Wheelchairs Click to view Project Proposal and NSF Grant Seeking wheelchair users for PAID research study In the past, we’ve offered the VRchaeology experience through a course at UIUC and are currently hoping to improve its accessibility for all students on campus–– particularly those who use wheelchairs or identify as having a mobile/physical disability. To do this, we are recruiting students with mobile/physical disabilities to participate in a ~1 hour virtual interview to learn more about their experiences with VR (or their perceptions about it if without personal VR experience). If you think you might be a good fit, please fill out this recruitment form and we’ll reach out if we would like to speak with you further. If chosen, you will receive a $50 Amazon gift card upon completion of the interview. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a message here or email llshacke@illinois.edu or wdhuang@illinois.edu ! Thanks for your time!

THANK YOU! Thanks to all of the institutions and groups who have provided funding and support. NSF Epic MegaGrants VR @ Illinois Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning Applied Technologies for Learning in the Arts & Sciences (ATLAS) Learn more about NSF Learn more about CITL Learn more about ATLAS Learn more about VR@Illinois Learn more about Epic MegaGrants We appreciate your support!

Current VR Environment Details

PUBLICATIONS NSF: Increasing accessibility to field-based sciences for college students using wheelchairs NSF #2021460 (2020-2022) This project aims to serve the national interest by using virtual reality to increase accessibility of wheelchair users to archaeology and other field sciences ... View Proposal Relationships between motivational support and game features in a game-based virtual reality learning environment... Educational Media International (2019) Virtual reality and game-based learning strategies have rarely been investigated together with a keen focus on motivational processing. This lack of understanding on motivational support of VR game-based learning has hindered the design of such environments to effectively and efficiently support intended learning processes. ... Read More A formative evaluation on a virtual reality game-based learning system for teaching introductory archaeology E-Learn 2018 VR holds great potential for instructional and educational purposes as it is capable of immersing learners cognitively, physiologically, and emotionally by transcending physical limitations and boundaries, so learners can acquire experiences otherwise unattainable. ... Read More Virtual archaeology: teaching archaeology using virtual reality and game-based learning Shackelford L, Verstraete E, Huang WD, Merrill C, Craig A. (2020). Virtual Archaeology: Teaching archaeology using virtual reality and game-based learning. Society for Historical Archaeology. Link Coming Soon... Digitally-empowered learning: teaching archaeology through VR and game-based learning Shackelford L, Huang W-H, Craig A, LaValle S, Merrill C, Zeng Y (2018). Digitally-empowered Learning: Teaching Archaeology through Virtual Reality and Game-Based Learning. Paleoanthropology Society 2018 Meeting. Paleoanthropology 2018:A1-A41. Link Coming Soon... NSF: EXP: Social science education through virtual reality simulation of an archaeological research site NSF #1736235 (2017-2020) This project will develop an immersive, interactive, room-scale virtual reality (VR) archaeological site that will achieve two overarching classroom objectives: (1) teach the physical methods of archaeological excavation by providing the setting and tools for ... View Proposal Relationships between cognitive loads and motivational support in a VR game-based learning system for teaching introductory archaeology E-Learn 2019 While virtual reality might be effective in engaging learning with authentic and immersive learning experiences, current literature is lacking in understanding the relationship between learners' perceived cognitive loads and motivational support.... Read More Motivational processing in a game-based VR learning system for teaching introductory archaeology 2019 Association for Educational Communications and Technology International Conference Read More Virtual archaeology: the efficacy of virtual reality for social science education Shackelford L, Huang WD, Merrill C, Craig A. (2019). Virtual Archaeology: the efficacy of virtual reality for social science education. The Campus Alliance for Advanced Visualization, Indiana University. Link Coming Soon...

ARCHAEOLOGY LAB 2019 Lab Sites Fall 2019 Lab Experience

PRESS dig deep: vr redefines learning about archaeology VIEW MORE Excavating a cave without leaving campus VIEW MORE Dig this: vr lab lets ui archaeology students explore mammoth cave on campus VIEW MORE TEAM CREATES GAME-BASED VIRTUAL ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL VIEW MORE Virtual reality: The new classroom! archaeology using vr VIEW MORE