The NICE project

The NICE Project (Narrative-based, Immersive, Constructionist / Collaborative Environments) was an interactive virtual reality learning environment for young children. I led the design, production, and evaluation of this collaborative project, which started in January 1995 and continued to be enhanced for several years thereafter. As a learning environment, NICE combined educational theories of constructivism, narative development, and collaborative work.

NICE has been featured extensively in national and international press, including the Chicago Sun Times (12/14/97) and Graduating Engineer (Nov/Dec '97). A chapter of the book Understanding Virtual Reality by W. Sherman and A. Craig (Morgan Kaufmann Publishers 2003) has been dedicated to the NICE project.

My Master of Science thesis work was entitled Issues in the Design and Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Learning Environment." The NICE project provided the virtual reality learning environment for my studies. I completed preliminary evaluation studies with 52 children between the ages of 6 and 10. M.Sc. committee: Prof. Thomas A. DeFanti, Prof. Thomas G. Moher, Dr. Mark Gillingham.

project video (1997): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihGXa21qLms
project website (1996): http://www.evl.uic.edu/tile/NICE/