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The effect of design tasks on the cognitive load level of instructional designers in 3D MUVEs Murat Çınar1   · Dilek Doğan2   · Hakan Tüzün3  Accepted: 4 November 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020

Abstract This study aims to investigate the effects of different design tasks on the cognitive load level of instructional designers during the process of designing a learning activity in a 3D multi-user virtual environment (MUVE). The sample consisted of 16 undergraduate students who were experienced in the areas of instructional design, computer programming and graphic design. The designers were assigned to the design teams with 5 or 6 members and conducted a collaborative instructional design project to develop a solution to an ill-structured problem on the OpenSimulator platform for 8 weeks. Following the implementation, the designers were administered the Mental Effort Rating Scale regarding the 11 design tasks in the 3D MUVE. The results showed that the designers were cognitively overloaded while performing the design tasks in this environment. When the cognitive load scores were examined, it was found that the preparation of the learning scenario, uploading user-created 3D models, content creation, modelling of the draft view of the designed environment and 3D model design tasks were found as the most challenging tasks in terms of cognitive effort. On the other hand, it was found that the tasks of making animation, creating non-player characters and designing an interactive menu led to relatively less cognitive load. Keywords  Three-dimensional multi-user virtual environments · Cognitive load · Instructional design · OpenSimulator

* Murat Çınar [email protected]; [email protected] Dilek Doğan [email protected] Hakan Tüzün [email protected] 1

Borsa İstanbul Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education, Adana, Turkey

2

Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

3

Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey



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M. Çınar et al.

Introduction Three-dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) are virtual spaces that are usually simulations of physical environments in authentic life where users are represented through 3D characters (avatars) and interact with objects and other characters in the environment (Doğan et al. 2018). Second Life, OpenSimulator, Active Worlds, Instant Messaging Virtual Universe (IMVU), There and Online Universe (Onverse) are just a few of the popular 3D virtual platforms that allow users to come together for various purposes including education, business, design, creativity, entertainment and socialization. In such environments, users generally navigate a virtual environment modeled in a similar way to the physical world, manipulate the environment, interact with objects and communicate with other users in