Immersive pedagogy

Locksbrook campus

Virtual Reality -VR- refers to a set of technologies that create immersive digital environments, re-creating the perceptions of our everyday experiences in order to simulate places and things. Typically, this involves providing stereoscopic visual and aural information to the eyes and ears, which the system changes as a user moves their head, body, and hands.

The Erasmus+ funded ‘Strategic Partnership’ project, ‘ACCELERATE: Accessible Immersive Learning for Art and Design’; coordinated by Bath Spa University runs in collaboration with the five other European Institutions. It will run from 2021-2023

ACCELERATE has a simple aim: to improve the teaching of art and design at higher education in a post-pandemic Europe through the development of innovative methodologies, tools, platforms and resources for accessible immersive learning. This workshop is aimed at educators who are not experienced using technology in their teaching. The workshop is based on three dimensions, each of which will be explored in detail. The personal dimension is about the educator and what she/he/they brings to the teaching experience, the pedagogical about the teaching with technology, and the technological which is about the structured context within which the use of technology for teaching is embedded.

To integrating technology in a meaningful manner these three dimensions need to be acknowledged and addressed.

The design of the workshop

The design of this workshop is underpinned by the findings of my PhD study, where I explored what mechanisms shape students' agency in digital spaces, that is, what shapes their reflexive engagement with digital tools.

For any reflexive engagement to take place the individual needs to have a vested interest or a valued goal that includes the engagement with the tool. It is this interest that will be the driver, among other elements, for educators to enact their reflexivity and deliberate, discern and dedicate time to overcome the inherent constraints embedded in any new endeveaour with new tools. In addition the tool has to be centrally positioned in the context of use of the institution where the tool will be used so that the social practices around the tool are recognized and valued but also supported. In case the tool is new to the institution a robust scaffolding structure will be encouraged. The other key element for a successful appropriation of any tool is the emotions that the person experiences in that process of appropriation. Conflicting emotions are real constraints to any adoption of new tools and concomitant practices, thus a safe space of practice and tinkering for educators will be of immense value for them.

This workshop is designed to touch on all these aspects, supporting educators to become aware of the role that these three aspects will play in their success with an immersive pedagogy.

We will take some time to introduce ourselves (see activity below) and then we will go to the personal dimension to begin exploring this dimension and then we will continue with the pedagogical and the technical. We will have a break of 20 minutes in between them.

Below the map that elaborates in more detail on the three dimensions of reflexive engagement with digital tools

Participants in the workshop will:

Learn to think critically about the learning outcomes you can afford integrating -VR/IR- in your teaching
To transition away from platform and tool specific instruction and move towards concepts and methods
Feel empowered to integrate immersiveness and interactivity into your teaching practices

The organisation of the site

The site contains the home page (where you are at now). As a subpage of the home page is the schedule of the initial workshop and three more tabs:

The tab of the dimensions has a submenu with the three dimensions and the integration activity.
- Personal dimension
- Pedagogical dimension
  - Relational pedagogy
- Technological dimension
  - Accessibility (here you will find readings and resources to further your knowledge about accessibility and VR)
- Integration activity using the capability enlargement seesaw
Links and resources, here you will find examples and further resources about VR|AR|
Feedback: this page has embedded a form to collect feedback from the participants to improve the site and workshop.

INTRODUCTION OF THE PARTICIPANTS
Getting to know each other

For those present: Please take the lego pieces you have on the table and build a tower (5 min)
For those online: Go to the Padlet and each of you will have an inspiration card assigned, please write a short post, clicking on the + below the image, about how that card represents you