Activity: Immersive learning activity on Interpersonal and socio-emotional skills

Learning outcomes

By the end of the activity, students should be able to:

• Able to show empathy and use non-verbal communication and active listening.
• Able to express ideas clearly and fluently.
• Able to self-reflect, evaluate one’s own actions and emotions, and take responsibility for own actions. Has improved professional and social-emotional responsibilities.
• Able to persevere in the face of difficulties.
• Able to develop positive and emotionally safe interaction and to develop and co-create teamwork. 
• Able to reflect and manage emotional and self-regulation, and to show empathy in professional relationships. 
• Able to work cooperatively with others: listens to others, incorporates what others say, encourages peers’ participation, engages in group decision making, helps peers selfishly, and accomplish shared goals.
• Able to act and cooperate with others autonomously under structured conditions, and to take account of various social roles and emotions in various contexts.
• Able to develop an empathetic leadership by understanding the needs of others and being aware of their feelings and thoughts; and facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving.
• Able to facilitate conflict resolution, remains calm under pressure and control emotions in conflict situations.

 

Brief description of the activity

This activity is based on the use of a Virtual Reality experience where learners wear a Virtual Reality Headset and play the main role in a series of situations. In the different situations learners need to make decisions which determine the course of the experience. Learners receive feedback on every decision made and are able to roll back decisions  to compare consequences of different decisions and reflect on them.

The experience should be preceded by a briefing on the use of Virtual Reality and on the use of the experience itself. Once the experience has been completed, a debriefing phase is also very recommended so learners can share and collectively explore their feelings, attitudes and lessons learned from the experience.  

 

Activity plan: step by step

 

Before the activity

Materials

For a correct development of this activity are needed:

• Virtual Reality headsets (Cardboard)
• Smartphone
• Headphones
• Internet connection

 

Students and activity organization

Students will work individually, with a VR headset, headphones and their own mobile. This activity is scheduled to last approximately 7 sessions, although this timing can be adapted according to the needs of the institution, course or group.

Things to take into account prior to the activity:   Context. Is the activity appropriate for the number of students I have? Is the activity appropriate for the learning objectives of the subject in which it will be implemented? Materials necessary for its implementation. Do I have a proper room with internet connection? Do I have all the consumable and non-consumable materials that will be used during the activity? Human resources necessary for its implementation. Is one teacher enough? What knowledge should the teacher/s have? If more than one teacher is needed, are all of them coordinated/aligned?

 

During the activity

The key elements of the development of the activity are described below in 3 sessions:

Session 1. XR definitions and examples (30 min)

In this session, we will explain students what is XR with examples. Immersive technologies, also known as extended reality (XR) technologies, refer to a set of technologies that aim to create a sense of immersion and presence for users by merging the physical and digital worlds. These technologies allow users to interact with computer-generated environments and objects in a way that feels natural and realistic. The three main categories of immersive technologies are:

 

• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Marked-based
• Location-based
• Markerless
• Mixed Reality (MR)
• Digital Content integration
• Richer interaction
• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Computer generated imagery
• Interactive 360º video

 

In this VR Guide you can find information about immersive technologies. 

 

Session 2. Scenario introduction and VR familiarization (20 min)

Brief description of the scenario that they are going to see in VR headsets. Learners will play the role of a health professional attending a suicide attempt. They will need to communicate with  colleagues, the patient and the patient family who don’t know about the suicide attempt. Learners need to make decisions which determine the course of the experience, receiving feedback on every decision. They are able to roll back decisions to compare consequences of different decisions.

Students begin their first contacts with Virtual Reality headsets. Explain to students how to use a cardboard device. You have the information and the link to the VR app in this tutorial. 

 

Session 3. Interpersonal and socio-emotional skills VR scenario (1.30 h)

Students see the immersive experience with a headset and their mobile.

First run: The first run should be without rolling back any decisions. They have to put special attention to lessons learned and feelings they experimented in the experience. Then in groups of five people discuss the VR experience they just saw, with the following questions:

1. Can you think of two situations where the nurse’s actions or attitudes made you reflect on the situation? Which were and why did they make you reflect?
2. Can you think of two situations where the doctor’s actions or attitudes made you reflect on the situation? Which were and why did they make you reflect?
3. Which were the moments of the experience that made you empathize the most with some of the characters and why?
4. Did the experience make any feelings arouse in you and when did this happen?
5. Did you find plausible the decisions offered to you by the experience? If not, which decisions would have been totally different? Why?
6. Which are the lessons you learned from this experience?
7. What would you have done differently in the experience?

Second run: In the second run students can roll back decisions, and try different options. Students should fill in the evaluation questionnaire when they finish the experience. Evaluation questionnaire is in Annex 1.

After the activity

Make a short debriefing: ask them about their emotions, whether they felt overwhelmed during the activity and whether their peers aided them in overcoming this situation. Try to identify where and why teams did not work smoothly and altogether try to find an answer to what happened and what could have been done differently. This part should take at least 30 minutes. 

 

Role of teacher(s)

The teacher will explain sessions and in some of them s/he will act only as an observer of the activity. S/he will only intervene if someone asks for help. 

 

 

Evaluation tool

Transversal skills are difficult to evaluate, particularly among big groups of students. Therefore, in this section we propose a tool for students to self-assess the development of these skills. The tool is divided into three dimensions: suitability of the learning activity, level of achievement of learning outcomes, and transferability to professional settings. You can adapt the dimensions and/or indicators that you use according to your teaching-learning context and needs. 

 

Evaluation tool to self-assess the development of skills during the activity

For each of the following statements, select the best answer on a scale from 1 to 4, where 1 means “Not at all” and 4 indicates “Yes, totally”. N/A means “not applicable”.

	1	2	3	4	N/A
DIMENSION 1. Suitability of the learning activity
I found this learning activity adequate in terms of time
I found this learning activity adequate in terms of resources (material resources, physical space, etc.)
I found this learning activity adequate in terms of content
I found this learning activity engaging
I found this learning activity challenging
I found this learning activity disruptive in comparison with other learning methodologies
I found this learning activity useful to learn [add the subject]
I found this learning activity useful to retain knowledge
This learning activity motivated me to deepen my knowledge of [add subject or hard skill]
This learning activity allowed me to feel emotions that would be rather difficult to experience with other learning methodologies
I would recommend this learning activity to others
DIMENSION 2. Level of achievement of learning outcomes
This learning activity helped me to improve…
…my ability to [add a row for each learning outcome of the activity that you performed, both related to hard and transversal skills]
DIMENSION 3. Transferability to professional settings
After this learning activity…
…I will be better able to apply what I learned to my reality (everyday life, classroom, professional life)
…I feel more capable to perform in a professional setting
…I feel I can make better choices regarding professional situations
…I feel more prepared and self-confident to address professional situations
OPEN QUESTION – Use this space to explain whatever you think is remarkable from the learning activity, including strengths, weaknesses, improvements, potential uses, feelings or dilemmas you encountered during the activity.

 

Download evaluation tool in pdf here.

 

 

ANNEX 1

Evaluate the VR experience

For each of the following questions, select the best answer on a scale from 1 to 4, where 1 means “Not at all” and 4 indicates “Yes, totally”.

 

	1	2	3	4
DIMENSION 1 (level 1: tool suitability)
Did you find this VR experience visually realistic?
Did you find this VR experience conceptually realistic?
Did you find this VR experience engaging?
The situations that were performed on the VR scenario were contextualised with situations relevant to you?
Was this VR experience able to generate empathy in you?
Was the conductive thread (narrative) of this VR experience easy to follow and coherent within the storytelling?
Were the decision making choices realistic and adequate to the scene?
Was it easy for you to focus on this VR experience without any distractions?
Do you think this VR experience helped you to experience emotions?
Do you find it useful to be able to make different decisions for a single situation and be able to compare the different consequences of each one?
DIMENSION 2 (Learning outcomes)
This VR experience (storytelling) helped me to learn new skills and competences to manage professional situations
The whole learning experience (VR experience + discussion) helped me to learn new skills and competences to manage professional situations
During the VR experience, choosing the best decision was challenging
The interactive options were realistic and included options according to my way of thinking and acting
Having been able to try different options and choices, allowed me to change my initial beliefs and open to different points of view
After the VR experience (storytelling), I feel capable to perform the choices that I made within this VR experience, in a real and professional setting
After the whole learning experience (VR experience + discussion), I feel capable to perform the choices that I made within this VR experience, in a real and professional setting
After the VR experience (storytelling), I feel I can make better choices regarding professional situations
After the whole learning experience (VR experience + discussion), I feel I can make better choices regarding professional situations
DIMENSION 3 (Transfer to professional settings)
To what extent do you think you will be able to apply what you have learned to your reality (everyday life, classroom, professional life)?
Did the VR experience address skills you may need in your professional development and on your learning needs?
Do you think you would be prepared to facilitate an activity that aims to create an immersive experience with other people?
DIMENSION 4 (VR as a learning methodology)
Do you think that VR allows you to feel emotions which would be rather difficult to experience with other learning methodologies?
How disruptive do you find this VR experience in comparison with other learning methodologies?
Did the VR experience motivate you to pursue more activities about these topics?
Would you recommend this kind of learning methodology to others?
Do you think this VR experience can help boost knowledge retention?
Additional question: Did the VR experience allow you to be exposed to a situation and a role you haven’t found yourself in before?
In a scale from 1 to 4, where 1 means “nothing at all” and 4 means “a lot”, how much do you feel you learned about the following competences:
Interpersonal and socio emotional skills
Critical and Creative Thinking
Learn to learn
OPEN QUESTION – Use this space to explain whatever you think is remarkable from the experience. Strengths, weaknesses, improvements, potential uses, feelings, dilemas, other situations you might find interesting to train with this learning methodology.