Digital Pedagogy Resources for Immersive Environments
Notes on using game engines and 3D immersive environments in the classroom
This poster originally presented at HASTAC 2017 gives an overview of working with students on a 3D immersive environment using Unity: [POSTER].
To download Unity (free!) for your classroom, go here: [UNITY] to fill out the form for access. There are resources and tutorials directly from Unity, or you can use some of these. Students can teach themselves the basics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9BdFZ2MCXc
For most classes, your goal is not teaching game design but rather using games and immersion for teaching your course content. Immersion can be used to have students experience other times or other identities. Bibliography on this:
- #183: Mel Slater on VR Presence, Virtual Body Ownership, & the Time Travel Illusion | Voices of VR Podcast. http://voicesofvr.com/183-mel-slater-on-vr-presence-virtual-body-ownership-the-time-travel-illusion/. Accessed 7 Jan. 2019.
- Baylor, Amy L. “Three Research Directions for Affective Learning Technologies | Request PDF.” ICLS 2018 Proceedings, 2018, pp. 1843–46.
- Blascovich, Jim, et al. “TARGET ARTICLE: Immersive Virtual Environment Technology as a Methodological Tool for Social Psychology.” Psychological Inquiry, vol. 13, no. 2, 2002, pp. 103–24. Taylor and Francis+NEJM, doi:10.1207/S15327965PLI1302_01.
- Bonini, Elena. “Building Virtual Cultural Heritage Environments.” International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, vol. 1, no. 2, 2008, pp. 113–25.
- Herrera, Fernanda, et al. “Building Long-Term Empathy: A Large-Scale Comparison of Traditional and Virtual Reality Perspective-Taking.” PLOS ONE, vol. 13, no. 10, 2018, p. e0204494. PLoS Journals, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0204494.
- Mel Slater. Positive Illusions of Self in Immersive Virtual Reality. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ONr8fiB-vA&feature=youtu.be. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.
- Miller, Carolyn Handler. Digital Storytelling: A Creator’s Guide to Interactive Entertainment. 3 edition, Routledge, 2014.
- “This VR Game Allows You to Experience Racial Prejudice.” World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/virtual-reality-game-simulates-experiences-with-race/. Accessed 1 June 2019.
- Todd, Andrew R., and Adam D. Galinsky. “Perspective-Taking as a Strategy for Improving Intergroup Relations: Evidence, Mechanisms, and Qualifications.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass, vol. 8, no. 7, 2014, pp. 374–87. Wiley Online Library, doi:10.1111/spc3.12116.
- Vesisenaho, Mikko, et al. “Virtual Reality in Education: Focus on the Role of Emotions and Physiological Reactivity.” Journal For Virtual Worlds Research, vol. 12, no. 1, Feb. 2019. jvwr-ojs-utexas.tdl.org, doi:10.4101/jvwr.v12i1.7329.
- Yee, Nick, and Jeremy Bailenson. “Walk A Mile in Digital Shoes: The Impact of Embodied Perspective-Taking on The Reduction of Negative Stereotyping in Immersive Virtual Environments.” Proceedings of PRESENCE, vol. 24, no. 26, 2006, p. 9.
To have students work on a class project in groups or as an entire class, you may want to use a version control system. GitHub and Unity’s built-in system are both options for this.