News Release – VR Research Project

Wednesday, 24 November 2021

WORLD-FIRST VIRTUAL REALITY CLASSROOM STUDY

Three schools in South Australia will spearhead world-leading research into virtual reality (VR) technology and its place in the next generation classroom.

This ground-breaking VR research project puts in the hands of students a new way to demonstrate their learning and enables them to create educational content for other students.

The Students Create Virtual Worlds for Learning research project is led by the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia (AISSA) in partnership with nationally and internationally recognised expert Associate Professor Erica Southgate, University of Newcastle and VRTY, an innovative VR company specializing in educational software designed for student creativity. Teachers from Trinity College, Pembroke School and SEDA College SA are co-researchers in the project.

“Students Create Virtual Worlds for Learning is the first international longitudinal study of VR in real classrooms, where teachers collect evidence about student learning over a year,” said Mrs Grantskalns.

“We are particularly interested in emerging pedagogies and how students might learn. Schools are investing in VR technology but there is limited evidence of how teachers can use this technology to accelerate student learning.”

The study will involve a Year 9 class at Pembroke School, a Year 11/12 class at SEDA College SA and a Year 7 class at Trinity College. These students’ VR products will be used in other classes at the respective school with continual feedback to the students who created the VR content.
Associate Professor Erica Southgate of the Education Faculty at the University of Newcastle, an internationally acclaimed expert in VR, is the lead researcher.

Results and findings of Students Create Virtual Worlds for Learning are expected to be published nationally and internationally in 2022 and 2023.

CAROLYN GRANTSKALNS
Chief Executive
Association of Independent Schools of South Australia

Video link for AISSA VR research project launch HD (6.09 min): https://vimeo.com/646694289