Using VR and AR in Higher Education, Online Event, 21st June 2021
In this first national meeting of those using or testing the use of Virtual and Augmented Reality in Higher Education coordinated by the Education Lab at Durham University, we’re seeking to develop a national network of those working with these emerging technologies to share best practice and develop potential collaborations around the use of these technologies in learning and teaching. In light of the Covid 19 pandemic we’ll explore how we can use VR and AR to bring students together at a distance.
The meeting will incorporate a number of invited talks and contributed posters, along with a chance to explore platforms for communication, team work and teaching in VR including AltSpaceVR and Engage.
This meeting was initially planned for summer 2020 face to face in at Durham University, however we’re delighted to announce it has been rescheduled as an online event for Summer 2021. Registration is now open via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/using-vr-ar-in-higher-education-tickets-146324659997
The event will be comprised of invited talks, contributed talks, an invited workshop and a chance to explore different VR platforms using whatever device you have at home (either headset, PC or via Youtube Stream), details below:
Contributed Posters
If you’re interested in sharing your experiences teaching with VR via a poster (delivered via single single Powerpoint slide presented in one of our coffee sessions) please email Sam Nolan on [email protected] by 5pm on 21st May with an title and abstract (max 200 words). Unfortunately demand for contributed posters slots will high, but following peer review, we will confirm those who’ve successfully secured a poster slot by 1st June.
Invited Talks/Workshops
Learning through Immersive projects – From VR to Immersive Installation
Stephan Caspar, Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
In this talk and workshop we’ll explore the work of the Askwith Kenner Global Languages & Cultures Room at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. A room packed with technology, from smart screens to VR, classroom, event space and lab. A room designed to connect student to cultures outside their own and better understand the real world through virtual worlds. Pittsburgh is a centre for VR research and development, and draw directly from connections with Oculus Labs and CMU’s Human-Computing Interaction Department.
Through a series of short activities we’ll explore what a pedagogy for VR looks and feels like and ask how can we truly harness new technology to provide engaging learning experiences? How can we move beyond the wow-factor and facilitate learning in immersive environments? We will use examples from our room, including student projects, commissioned projects and findings from our research. Our aim for the session is to provide concrete examples and strategies for content creation, project-based learning and research.
We’ll draw on multi-disciplinary research; exploring connections in human- computer interaction, language learning, architecture, games design and digital humanities, to design and plan our own experiences and address some of the challenges for students and educators engaging with this exciting and demanding technology.
Humble Beginnings – VR at Lakes College
Rachel Bass, VR Developer and Technologist, Lakes College, UK.
This talk will examine the introduction of innovative technology at Lakes College, a small independent Further Education College in rural Cumbria. Over the past 18 months, the college have been integrating a range of Virtual and Augmented Reality practices into their curriculum, to help enhance student experiences. Using a range of both off-the-shelf applications as well as bespoke VR equipment, the college has helped students become more acquaint with these new and immersive technologies.
Alongside this, the college has been working on using such technologies to enhance its presence within the local community. The creation of a virtual tour has helped the college with student applications as part of its Virtual Open day, as well as showcasing the college’s facilities to local investors and visitors.
As part of the talk, the college will discuss current endeavours and potential prospects using the technologies within their college practices and operations as well as an open discussion on how these technologies could be applied to your own practices.
Considering accessibility and digital poverty in VR synchronous teaching
Dr Marco Gilardi, Lecturer, School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of the West of Scotland
Although large strides have been made to reduce the gap between those that can access digital technologies and those that cannot, accessibility and digital poverty are still issues that distance learning providers need to consider when designing and implementing their courses. Digital poverty prevents students to attend and participate in online lectures and activities, excluding them from online education.
As virtual reality (VR) matures as a medium, interest rises regarding its potential and adoption as a platform for remote teaching and learning. However, even digitally rich students that have regular and consistent access to digital resources may still be unable to access VR equipment as the vision of having a VR headset in every home is yet to be fulfilled.
To complicate the landscape, despite the reduction in VR sickness incidence brought forth by the latest generation of hardware and better understanding on how to mitigate VR sickness via software, some sensitive students are unable to use VR headsets without feeling ill.
Although accessibility and digital poverty are barriers that need to be considered when designing and implementing distance learning or blended teaching, they are not necessarily unsurmountable. In this talk, a tiered approach to mitigate problems related to accessibility and digital poverty will be discussed regarding the adoption of VR as a medium for delivering remote synchronous teaching.
The best of all possible worlds
Dr Mark Childs, Senior Digital Learning Designer, Durham University
During the first six months of the lockdown, Mark held a series of workshops in each of three different platforms that were accessible at the time ie webconferencing, desktop VR, and headset VR, A fourth platform, the physical world, was also considered in the mix, though participants had to draw on their memories of what that was like. This session will present some of the experiences reported in those sessions, and draw on participants’ experiences to further the discussion. This will also be an opportunity to consider how we could develop our practice and our technologies to merge the best elements of all four platforms.
Format of the Event
The event will start at 10am (BST) and conclude at 4pm. A link to the Zoom meeting for the event will be circulated a few days prior to the event along with a final schedule for participants. Although the majority of the event will be on Zoom, we will also use some VR platforms during the day for workshops etc and will aim to have these accessible for those using headsets, those using computers or those watching on a streaming service.