EVIVA and IVY

Research into the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to create Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) in different educational settings shows positive results but also raises questions about the affordances of different technologies and the impact of system design on the learning process. In the context of interpreter – mediated communication, questions that need to be investigated are how and what interpreting students and users of interpreting services learn in VLEs; how different VLEs can support different types of learning activities; how VLEs are able to simulate real-life conditions to bridge the worlds of work and education; and how VLEs simulating interpreter-mediated communication can work for learners from diverse backgrounds.

Against this backdrop and capitalising on the outcomes of previous research and development projects, EVIVA evaluated the educational opportunities of three types of VLE which were deemed to be particularly useful in the context of interpreter-mediated communication, i.e. video-based environments, videoconference-based environments and 3D virtual environments. Click here to see an overview of the VLEs evaluated in EVIVA.