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At the University of Sheffield all staff and students have access to Wonda VR. Wonda now also has an AI feature and here we explore how that AI feature can be used by staff and students.
Sophie Ward
Digital Learning Advisor, Digital Learning Team
AI avatars can now be used to enhance the teaching and learning experience by providing an interactive, personalised and engaging experience. Here are five innovative ways to utilise AI avatars in educational settings.
Personalised Tutoring: AI avatars can act as personalised tutors, adapting their teaching style and content to the individual needs and learning pace of each student.
Students can access the avatars at any time and characters can provide real-time feedback and answer questions. A personalised AI tutor could offer revision support, ask mock exam questions, summarise learning materials and help plan revision timetables.
2. Immersive Learning Experiences: AI avatars can be designed to look and act like real people, creating a more authentic and engaging experience.
The avatars can be placed in locations that aren’t always accessible. For instance, they can re-enact historical events, such as battles or debates. Students can explore different historical scenarios where they can engage in dialogues and actively learn through engaging with historical figures.
AI avatars can also enhance virtual field trips where the Avatar can act as a virtual tour guide and answer questions throughout the experience.
3. Language Learning Companions: AI avatars can provide conversation practice with learning a new language and or developing confidence with spoken or written language.
Students can use the microphone or chat function to interact with the AI character and the AI can offer tailored feedback and their language choice and cultural insights.
Wonda VR avatars are multilingual and can now support 22 different languages. The system prompt can be edited to support language learning by ensuring that the AI Character does not start speaking in any other language.
You can also direct the system prompt so that when users speak to the avatar, the transcription of their voice is not mistaken with any other language.
4. Interview practice: Interviews can be daunting for everyone and AI avatars can help students prepare.
The avatars respond in real time making the process more realistic and they can offer feedback throughout the interview depending on the student's answer.
In some subject areas, students may need to engage in sensitive topics such as health care settings and using AI avatars for training can better prepare students and allow them to practise within a controlled environment.
5. Supporting collaboration: You could add another dimension into a group discussion by streaming in an avatar. The avatar can offer a different perspective and can be a great way to encourage open dialogue. The University of Westminster Law students have used AI avatars to discuss safety practices on construction sites. The Avatar acted as someone who was seeking legal advice following an accident and the students worked together to ask questions and learn from the virtual discussion.
If you would like support on using Wonda VR in your Teaching and Learning please contact digital.learning@sheffield.ac.uk or if you require one-to-one support and advice with your project or idea for a project please book an Elevate 1:1.
All images are used courtesy of Wonda. For more information about Wonda, please visit their website.
This article originally appeared on the Elevate Blog.
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