Abstract
There are a variety of magnificent public artworks on most university campuses but the public usually aren’t able to appreciate these artworks because more often than not there isn’t sufficient information on the related artworks. Moreover, there hasn’t been much application of image-based virtual reality to art appreciation teaching. Hence, this study develop public art appreciation system（VArt）that integrates image-based virtual reality technology which is based on a mobile learning system（OhMyArt!）of Learning Technology Lab to assist learners in appreciating public artworks. The image-based virtual reality of VArt also integrates the functions of direction control, radar maps and viewpoint switching. There were 38 students from a university in northern Taiwan as research subjects, 21 of whom were in the experimental group and 17 were in the control group. The learners were divided into an experimental group and a control group to view public artworks by image-based virtual reality and traditional photography respectively. The data analysis methods adopted in this study are qualitative data and quantitative data analysis, including descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-tests, independent-samples t-tests, and experiment observation record analysis. The result shows that VArt allows learners to be more devoted to art appreciation learning activities. Moreover, learners can experience the ambiance and scenario of the public artworks and the whole environment. Image-based virtual reality can also help learners more profoundly observe and experience public artworks. Though the group using the traditional pictures demonstrates the feature of easy and quick browsing, yet they aren’t able to more closely observe the details of an artwork or experience the whole environment ambiance of an artwork. Of the operating functions, the allocation of viewpoints can assist learners in looking for a better viewpoint suitable for the display method of a specific artwork and the multi-viewpoint switching function provides different aspects of artwork observation. The control function of the system lenses can effectively help learners observe the details of artworks and select viewpoints. Finally, the researcher indicated some suggestions for the design of future VArt.