Design and Evaluation of a Virtual Simulation System for Huangmei Opera

Abstract

We design a Huangmei Opera Virtual Simulation System (HOVSS) for undergraduate students to learn and experience Huangmei Opera culture. This study aims to introduce the system and evaluate its effectiveness and user experience of the system. We used various digital media technologies to demonstrate knowledge and performances related to Huangmei opera. The system mainly includes functional modules such as system management, digital resource library, VR museum, panoramic performance, animation performance, theme games, and knowledge test. We recruited 100 undergraduate students for a controlled trial (HOVSS experimental group, n=50; lecture-style sessions control group, n=50). A knowledge questionnaire is used to compare pre-testing and post-testing learning gains in order to analyze learning effects. The presence questionnaire was used for user experience analysis and system evaluation. The results showed that learning gains in conceptual and procedural knowledge were significantly higher after activities using HOVSS compared to learning through lecture-style sessions. The presence questionnaire analysis shows that the user experience has a high level of presence, indicating that the system is highly effective and exciting to experience. Through user experience experiments and analysis of the results, we found that this teaching method can well propagate Huangmei opera culture and better impact the teaching of Huangmei opera-related content.