This Empathy Project is a co-produced creative collaboration between the ADA Innovation Hub and the office of the Pro Vice Chancellor Education and Student Experience (PVCESE, now PVCE). Building upon the design research project of an ADA Design Honours student in 2020, the project produced an immersive 360 VR experience that explores the social challenges faced by first-year International Students at UNSW.
Through immersion, interaction, and a branching narrative controlled by the user, the experience seeks to build empathy between international and domestic students regarding the different social challenges that students navigate in their first year at university that can lead to a sense of social isolation. In addition to building empathy and encouraging greater relationality in first year, the immersive experience will also point students to support and services UNSW offers to assist with the transition into tertiary education.
Project Details
The Innovation Hub here at UNSW Arts Design and Architecture collaboration included staff, students, education designers and developers to create a VR experience leveraging 360 video footage and a suite of interactive elements.
The project has been used at events like UNSW 0WEEK and is used during the session on culture in the My English Week program at the start of every term to great effect.
TECHNOLOGY & DEVELOPMENT
While the project is in a stable state, the minor enhancements continue as the technology improves. The staff and work integrated learning student developers are using the Unity game engine to bring together all the elements and deliver the VR experience using our Meta Quest 3 headsets.
NEWS & BLOG
Check out the article on the project here: My First Day: An Empathy Project
Get Involved
There are internal Teams Channels, Miro Boards and working groups covering the development collaboration with the ADA (Arts Design and Architecture) Innovation Team. To find out more, join the team, get a demo or have your class or promotion use-case included just get in touch.
- Email: [email protected]