VR school — a prestudy

Objective

This project aims to clarify the prerequisites for Sweden to implement a nationwide VR school through visualization and interviews.

Content

In this study researchers at RISE will investigate the key requirements and potential for Sweden to create a nationwide VR education program. We ask ourselves, and the people we interview, what is most important in designing a VR school. With visual material that spurs discussion and inspiration we ask what it should, and perhaps more important, what it should not, look like. Our aim is to provide clarity on the topic as well as investigate the potential from both a technical, practical, and ethical standpoint.

Methodology

For an immersive learning environment for Swedish school to be successful we will look both need to learn from previous experience and look into the future:

• A state-of-the-art analysis will be conducted to learn what immersive educational material exists today and what has been learned by it’s use in education so far.
• A visual concept will be developed as a discussion point for what a VR school could contain and look like in the future.
• The concept will be refined by interviews and input from developers, businesses, schools, teachers, principals, municipalities, and leaders.

The gathered data and visualization will then serve as a starting point for further research and prototypes to explore the potential and practical viability of VR as an educational tool in the Swedish school system.

Impact

The many connections we make across the country in this study opens additional research opportunities and direct collaboration with schools and VR developers. As we start to see more clearly what a VR school should, and should not look like, we start to build the kind of sensemaking and momentum that inspires practical steps towards implementation based on importantly identified needs in the educational system and all the people in it. This in turn allows the first iteration of a VR school of Sweden to take form.

Contribute?

Want to know more and perhaps participate in the project? Or do you know someone in the games industry, or in the school system that we should interview? Don’t hesitate to contact us! Find contact information further down on this page.