Immersive Spring Morning in the Han Palace

We present the design of a virtual reality learning environment that reconstructs a traditional Chinese painting, Spring Morning in the Han Palace, using a head-mounted platform. The issues of art styles, enhanced interpretation and interaction design strategies that may impact learning experience are considered. We then examined the user experience, learning effectiveness, learning behaviors, and learning motivation of 54 young adults in pairs using an immersive virtual reality (IVR) environment and a multi-touch tabletop (MTT) to gain a cultural-historical understanding of the traditional Chinese paintings, Spring Morning in the Han Palace and The Night Revels of Han Xizai respectively. We used mixed methods of knowledge assessments, questionnaires, observation, and interviews to collect and analyze data. The results reveal the IVR environment significantly increased the learning effectiveness and motivation compared to the MTT system, particularly in tasks related to recall of details or spatiality. 

The IVR design incorporates five learning scenes, and as part of this aspect, the qualitative results indicate users in the IVR condition (1) developed a variety of exploratory and embodied learning strategies; (2) quickly switched their attention to the central learning content, and (3) had equitable interactions in collaborative learning. This research contributes to the potential of IVR learning effectiveness and associated design considerations to learn traditional cultural heritage.