Introduction:
Our team, Alastair, Anita, Christy, and Jeff, will be focusing on the use of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) in the development of soft skills. These educational technologies greatly impact each of our respective fields and each of us has performed our own research into how VR and AR affect the future. We are intrigued by how VR and AR evoke strong emotional responses through immersive experiences. The course that we will relate this to is MGMT1103 – Introduction to Project Teams and Technical Communications. The purpose of this course is to increase the ability of technology-based students to use soft skills and communicate both with other technological and non-technological peers. We will be exploring the value of implementing VR and AR to help facilitate immersive, empathetic, and effective learning.
To facilitate the initial discovery into these delivery methods each member has partaken in individual exploration with the intention to help further the knowledge of the group. This has allowed a wider range of knowledge based on each individual and that has helped to shape this initial post.
Christy:
I chose to read several journal articles and blog posts regarding the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in education and training. I am interested in the immersive power of VR and its ability to evoke strong emotional reactions in training situations. One article by Shin (2018) explored the way VR uses immersive storytelling and tested a VR experience framework for integrating “presence, flow, empathy, and embodiment” (p. 64). Shin (2018) supported that VR can allow complex stories to be conveyed through complex interactions. The immersion in the experience blurs a line between reality and imagination, allowing a stronger engagement with, and reaction to, the story. Shin (2018) supported that the reaction is very emotional and incites empathy, which “appears to be the most important factor in VR” (p. 66).
One blog post (Relias Learning, 2017) led me to a free 5-minute VR experience designed to allow an understanding of a day in the life of a patient with dementia. I found this to be a good example of a tool constructed out of a social need for a marginalized group of individuals. The video was effective and demonstrated how technology is actually being used in a real-world setting to empower a certain population. Selwyn (2010) would support this training as an examination of how digital technologies are being socially-shaped and used in real-world settings. Perhaps it is necessary to examine how the evolution of healthcare has resulted in a need for a technology to support compassion and empathy in that context.
Jeff:
As soft skills are becoming more important to industry it’s also becoming more important in education. There are issues with teaching these skills in allowing learners to connect and understand the different perspectives that come along with teaching soft skills. This has been an area where technology such as Virtual Reality (VR) is able to supplement.
New Gen Apps (2019) describes the VR learning experience in three ways. The first being 360 videos which provide an immersive experience to allow learners to see and be in the situation first hand. This allows for a deeper understanding of situations that may be difficult or impossible to recreate. The second being passive VR where there is little or no interaction between the learner and the experience. This works well for conferences or delivering a lecture. The final type is the interactive VR. This is where the learner can interact and manipulate the whole environment to feel fully immersed in the experience.
Bonasio (2017) describes the interactive VR as the best way for a learner to develop soft skills such as empathy and understanding. This allows the user to be placed in a wide range of situations that include a large number of different cultures, ethnicities, genders etc. While the passive VR allows for the development of soft skills it’s not as immersive which makes things less impactful.
Alastair:
When students achieve the flow state as described by Csikszentmihalyi (1975) they reach a point of optimal experience, where the students are so engrossed with the current activity that no distraction can interfere with the student’s learning (Kiili, 2005). Learning immersion is an effective method to achieve immersion which can increase the likelihood of the flow state (Fernandez, 2017). However, an institution cannot simply recreate a classroom setting in virtual or augmented reality and expect students to approach or achieve flow state. Researchers are working on models and frameworks to determine how to properly utilize AR and VR technology to enhance immersion and limit distractions from learning.
Georgiou and Kyza (2017), studied grade 11 students using augmented reality to facilitate an environmental science problem-solving activity at a lake. There were two cohorts of students and two iterations of the AR app used. The first cohort went through the activity and provided self-measurement on immersion/understanding, answered questions based on the learnings, and provided feedback on the AR application. Georgiou and Kyza then implemented changes to the AR application based on the feedback and provided the second iteration to the second cohort of students. As a result, students found a better understanding of the materials, unrelated side-conversations decreased, and the students all scored 100% on the questions, whereas the first cohort only 1 out of 9 teams answered all the questions correctly.
Georgiou and Kyza (2017) discovered 21 factors of immersion and themed them into four categories: interface, content, locality, and context (p. 6).
This information follows closely what was concluded by Sanabria and Arámburo-Lizárraga, (2017). Using Gradual Immersion Methodology (GIM) Sanabria and Arámburo-Lizárraga found the three module framework of familiarization, digital creation and exhibition betters supports student learning using AR technology.
Anita:
Virtual Reality (VR) and its use in education sparked explorations of inquiry into the effects of VR on the development and education of young children. This lead to the discovery of the article by Bailey and Bailenson (2017) who describe the use of VR as a physical rehabilitation tool for children who may experience increased motivation to use their bodies, modeling their virtual avatar’s ease of movement (p. 108). The authors make a distinction between VR and a virtual doppelganger, explaining that a doppelganger is an immersive experience, able to produce a digital representation of movement and behaviour in real time, influencing “real world behaviour [such as] exercise and eating habits” (p. 108 – 109) in children. This immersive experience of VR allows children to practice social skills in a safe environment, making it the perfect tool for children on the autism spectrum, and also supports the practice of behaviour in complex social situations, such as bullying (p. 108). This article initiated the investigation into the use of VR with children with support needs and the article by Padgett, Strickland and Coles (2006) introduces a case study on “Using a Virtual Reality Computer Game to Teach Fire Safety Skills to Children Diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome”. In the article Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, now known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disease (FASD), is described as causing preschool age children difficulties in self-regulation, cognitive functions, response to dangerous situations and “difficulty in generalization from one learning setting to another” (p. 65). The study focused on a group of five children with FASD, aged four to seven years of age, who participated in fire safety training using VR (p. 66). The results were astounding, as all children passed the training with 100% accuracy, and after one week four of the five children successfully implemented all safety rules in the real world (p. 68). It was intriguing to read that the VR game had been used earlier with a group of children on the autism spectrum and the game was adjusted to suit the needs of the children with FASD with the inclusion of specific cues that would support optimal learning for this group of children (p. 67). It will be exciting to continue research into the use of VR with children and its effect on their learning and development.
After engaging in our individual research, we have the following questions.
- How is the development of interpersonal skills such as empathy supported through the use of VR as a delivery medium for education?
- How has the culture in healthcare evolved to require increased training in empathy and compassion?
- What other skills used heavily in healthcare could be supported through VR training environments?
- What kind of VR experiences would be most beneficial in teaching soft skills?
- Is there value in teaching soft skills and is it a good idea or simply a trend?
- Are there roadblocks in implementing something like VR within an institute or organization?
- What level of immersion is required for optimal learning in a healthcare environment?
- How can we use more kinesthetic learning tools to assist in learning?
- Does limiting text in AR and VR education positively or negatively affect learning for adults?
- Why and how is VR used with young children with support needs?
- What are the possible negative effects of VR on child development?
- What benefits does VR provide in a learning environment with young children?
References:
Anonymous. (March 22, 2019). Use of AR and VR to learn soft skills [blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.newgenapps.com/blog/use-of-ar-and-vr-to-learn-soft-skills
Bailey, J. O., & Bailenson, J. N. (2017). Considering virtual reality in children’ s lives. Journal of Children and Media, 2798, 1–7. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2016.1268779
Bonasio, A. (2017, December 18). How VR Will Change Soft Skills Training [blog post]. Retrieved from https://medium.com/edtech-trends/how-vr-will-change-soft-skills-training-67e9ac07518f
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Csikszentmihalyi, I. (1975). Beyond boredom and anxiety (Vol. 721). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Fernandez, M. (2017). Augmented-Virtual Reality: How to improve education systems. Higher Learning Research Communications, 7(1), 1. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.18870/hlrc.v7i1.373
Georgiou, Y., & Kyza, E. A. (2017). A design-based approach to augmented reality location-based activities: Investigating immersion in relation to student learning. Proceedings of the 16th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning – MLearn 2017, (November), 1–8. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1145/3136907.3136926
Kiili, K. (2005). Digital game-based learning: Towards an experiential gaming model. Internet and Higher Education, 8(1), 13–24. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2004.12.001
Padgett, L. S., Strickland, D., & Coles, C. D. (2006). Case Study : Using a Virtual Reality Computer Game to Teach Fire Safety Skills to Children Diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 31(1), 65–70. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7906719_Case_study_Using_a_virtual_reality_computer_game_to_teach_fire_safety_skills_to_children_diagnosed_with_fetal_alcohol_syndrome
Relias Learning (2017). A Day in the Life of Henry: A dementia experience. [website] Retrieved from https://preview.relias.com/Library/Demo/2017/VR/story_html5.html?lms=1&_ga=2.42031651.765090657.1555168715-694509919.1555168715
Sanabria, J. C., & Arámburo-Lizárraga, J. (2017). Enhancing 21st-century skills with AR: Using the gradual immersion method to develop collaborative creativity. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(2), 487–501. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00627a
Selwyn, N. (2010). Looking beyond learning: Notes towards the critical study of educational technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(1), 65–73. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2009.00338.x
Shin, D. (2018). Empathy and embodied experience in virtual environment: To what extent can virtual reality stimulate empathy and embodied experience? Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.09.012
April 15, 2019 at 11:23 am
Your name makes me think of Google Docs visitors. Did I get it right :-)?
A few comments:
Christy – I found the VR experience to be extremely information-rich, compared to how it might seem as written up in text or even video. Empathy is enhanced by the shift of the locus of perception from the viewer to the patient and this is further strengthened by the capacity to observe the room with a certain amount of control, as in real life. “Evolution of healthcare” – important question. Health-related simulations in general have grown with the lack of availability of patients and risks inherent to training on live patients. VR could be a next step beyond knowledge and skills, to include (as you say) empathy and thus promote patient empowerment. Change factors are then both pragmatic in terms of cost & risk, and more effective and consistent training and education approaches. Maybe others as well?
Jeff – Effective breakdown of different types of VR. The ability to gain “a deeper understanding of situations that may be difficult or impossible to recreate” is a key benefit of VR. A good next step could be dig more deeply into the pedagogical underpinnings of these types of VR beyond vendor literature, perhaps in such areas as experiential or transformative learning.
Alastair – “Flow” is a good theme to explore in relation to virtual immersive experiences. Georgiou and Kyza (2017) cite the challenge that “immersion is a transient state, since participants in location-based AR activities move constantly between immersive and non-immersive states, highlighting the need for further investigating the factors that may affect or sustain immersion” (p. 1). This of course is in comparison to full immersion (hopefully) characteristic of VR. The other side of flow is analysis, where the experience is critiqued, thematized and generalized – AKA post-simulation debriefing, an area worth checking out. Such processes can be further expanded via collaboration technologies to share experiences and learning. You make an excellent point on the potential pitfalls of using virtual or augmented reality by recreating classroom settings in a virtual world. A classic example of this was during the Second Life era in education, where educators dived into a virtual world only to replicate the (very limited) one they just left behind. How do we avoid this syndrome?
For example: see https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Screenshot-of-virtual-classroom-in-Second-Life_fig1_261592381
Anita – Very interesting point about the distinction between VR and a virtual doppelgänger – the main aspect being (as I understand it) locus of viewpoint and (sometimes) control. I.e. what person are we taking on? Viewer, self (visual), self (and body)? This is a deep question especially when looking into such critical uses of VR/games for children with various types of deficits; for example as in the case of children with FAS as in the Padgett, Strickland and Coles (2005) research study. The use of VR/game-based training for many special applications is early, tentative and highly complex.
Team – you have plenty of questions to work on. A few points to think about:
– What do we mean by “soft skills”? It’s a fairly broad term that could use a sharper definition or clarification.
– I see references in some of the literature to popular generational cliches re technology competency. These are debunked just as often as they are repeated.
– Critical point on the question regarding possible negative effects of AR/VR. As this course is focused on critical inquiry, you will want to both narrow down your team topic and take on multiple angles as you move forward.
April 23, 2019 at 7:57 pm
You are absolutely right on the name.
– With the “soft skills” I think we’re going to look deeper into that but I think the main goal is to look at empathy specifically.
– Good to know. I think this first writing we kept quite open to allow us all to explore a little more generically before getting deep and concise on our topic. It was good because it allowed us a bit more conversation and we all looking in very different directions.
Mine definitely went with the most “This is VR” and less explorative. I’m looking forward to looking deeper into those topics.