College of Social Sciences

The School of Education has set up an exciting new space: the Edify pod, a dedicated VR room that will enable staff and ECRs to explore VR-based technologies and to develop innovative lessons that draw on the benefits of virtual environments. To facilitate access and use of this new space, Dr. Hirsu and Dr. Rodolico organised a 3-day training programme with staff members from the School of Education who expressed an interest in using VR for their own teaching and learning contexts. The workshops were supported by Imants Latkovskis, VR Teaching Lab Manager who provided technical guidance, as well as shared expertise in the use of VR equipment.

The 3-day workshops gave participants the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the VR equipment, consider issues of health and safety when using these technologies, develop their own lessons and consider the pedagogical approaches that would best fit their teaching contexts. The participants had access to a wide range of virtual environments and lessons, ranging from the exploration of mountains and ocean beds to lessons in physics, maths, cultural heritage and picturebooks. The participants also had the opportunity to design their own classroom spaces and reflect on their own identity as teachers. 

In the workshops, we also welcomed a delegation from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, India. The visit was part of the British Council Going Global Exploratory project and the International Development Partnership Funding 2022 (Dr Rodolico is the PI on both projects) on developing opportunities for TNE/Joint courses in STEM Education, aimed to contribute to the development of a Virtual STEM Hub led by Prof. Moyra Boland (Dean for Global Engagement) and Dr Srabani Maitra (Regional Champion South Asia, SoE) and  a group of academics from the SoE, including Dr Rodolico, Dr Sally Zacharias and Dr Julie McAdam (Director of Internationalisation ). The delegates had the chance to attend the VR workshops within a programme of networking, knowledge and good practice exchange aimed at enhancing each country’s tutors’ understanding of international collaboration and decolonisation of the curriculum. 

The project also included an open day dedicated to PGR and PGT participants. Students and ECRs from across the university were able to drop in at Partick Burgh Hall where a dedicated space offers multiple VR stations to use. The interest from the attendees indicates a growing appetite for these technologies which we are still in the process of learning with. The Edify pod in the School of Education is meant to be open towards researchers interested in the pedagogical use of these technologies and this project marks the beginning of a series of new initiatives and projects that we will see developing over the next few months.

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Follow Lavinia on Twitter: @Lavinia_Hirsu

Follow Gabriella on Twitter: @DrRodolico

First published: 18 August 2022