Petri-Net-Driven Educational Scenarios in Web-Based Extended Reality

Abstract

Recently, an increasing utilization of extended re-ality for educational purposes can be observed, with various virtual environments supporting learning in multiple areas. For such educational environments, it is important to precisely define scenarios of activities the users are allowed to perform within them. An appropriate way to define the scenarios is by means of a language that is both unambiguous and easy to understand. Here, Petri nets seem to be an appropriate choice thanks to their simple graphical notation and the underlying formalism. In this paper we introduce an approach to integrate scenarios, defined using a class of Petri nets called Place/Transition nets, with educational virtual 3D environments, available online via a web browser. The approach focuses on utilization of freely available software and possibility to create and test the scenarios outside of the environments. A prototype implementation of the approach, which has a form of a historical exposition capturing the Enlightenment era in the Habsburg monarchy, is presented, too.