ILLUS-3342

VIRTUAL REALITY FOR PALLIATIVE CARE

Faculty: 

Course Level: Junior, Senior, 5th Year

3 CREDITS

COMPUTER LITERACY REQUIREMENT: This course fulfills the computer literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

Virtual Reality Design for Palliative Care is a pilot course designed to allow students to experiment purposefully in the creation of virtual reality environments. We will measure the success of our work against a goal of providing comforting and liberating experiences for hospital patients with limited mobility, psychological or pain-management problems. The course proceeds from the assumption that the life experiences of the students, reinforced or modified by directed readings, can provide empathetic insight into visual, spatial and narrative elements that will prove positively reinforcing, uplifting and exciting to others, including those who might be facing significant medical challenges. Through learning about the medium of immersive virtual reality (3D computer graphics viewed through a head mounted display) the course will address the limitations of this medium as well as its exciting possibilities. We will seek to understand the nature of virtual space, points of similarity and difference with everyday experience. Various themes and templates will be the basis of our projects, exploring design metaphors and seeking insight and connection with the imagined experience of our prospective users.

Capacity: 12

Registration Restriction: Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. 

Semester Offered: