Audience : Juniors and seniors registered in ASTU 401G: Collaborative Methods for Global Community Development; Funders and Donors at the University of British Columbia
Collaborators: Tamara Baldwin, Tom Scholte, Moura Quayle, Vladimir Chindea, Staff at SELCO Foundation
Role : Design Researcher; Instructional Designer; Teaching Assistant
How might we bring the community into the classroom USING VIRTUAL REALITY without compromising the ethics of international engagement and service-learning?
In the summer of 2018, I was hired by The Office of Regional and International Community Engagement (ORICE) at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver to explore the use of emerging media technologies such as AR and VR to engage a greater number of students at university with global community development challenges. The office was also interested in increasing the impact of its programs and integrating VR storytelling experiences to support case studies in the classroom. My work was primarily supporting an upper-level interdisciplinary course titled ASTU 401G: Wicked Problems in Community Development in partnership with SELCO Foundation, an NGO based in Bangalore, India.
The Learnings
My role in the course design team was focused on researching the various constraints in integrating 360-degree video into the case studies that were developed in collaboration with the community partner in India.
I began my research process by familiarizing myself with two important terms — wicked problems and systems thinking — which would serve as the backbone to understanding why and how VR can be useful in unpacking complexity in a classroom.
A VR storytelling experience from a community in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Process
The Design Process for integrating VR into case studies included three important steps-
Capture. Contextualize. Relay.
I spent an upwards of 150 hours editing the digital assets for two iterations of the course, all while attempting to preserve the authenticity of the captured accounts.
I experienced first-hand what the five stages of the design thinking process look like in practice when there are human lives — not just dollars — at stake. It is gratifying to know that my contribution impacted my peers to expand, and possibly to alter, their view of the world.
A VR interview with a Jeans workshop worker in Bangalore, India