Goggles on, paddles in hand: NIU serves as pilot ‘metaversity’ to test VR teaching

Zach Wahl-Alexander
Zach Wahl-Alexander

Since joining the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education faculty in 2015, Zach Wahl-Alexander has taught in plenty of Anderson Hall spaces.

None is remotely like where his KNPE 343 class is meeting this fall.

Wahl-Alexander accepted the university’s invitation to teach in the metaverse, which came complete with the construction of virtual reality “twins” of an Anderson classroom and gym.

“I was approached because, in the past, I’ve done some research looking at using virtual reality (VR) to prepare the preservice teachers,” says Wahl-Alexander, who almost turned down the offer. “The more I thought about it, I realized this could be just a really cool opportunity.”

Powered by VictoryXR technology, Meta’s “metaversities” replicate college campuses with virtual grounds, building exteriors and interiors “fully ready for large groups of students ready to learn with their professor and other students.”

The metaverse version of NIU’s campus includes Altgeld Hall, Cole Hall, Founders Memorial Library, the Holmes Student Center, the Peters Campus Life Building and the MLK Commons.

Using headsets or PCs, students enter immersive classrooms where they can interact in a synchronous yet virtual environment. Students also can work and collaborate “hands-on” on projects, enter simulation labs or gather in remote meeting places.

Zach Wahl-Alexander
Zach Wahl-Alexander

Each set of goggles is equipped with a microphone and speakers; students also are provided “paddles” for their hands – much like the controllers for video game consoles, including buttons and triggers – that permit them to maneuver and interact.

All the students need to supply are Wi-Fi connections.

For Wahl-Alexander, the preparation included training throughout the summer so that he could understand, use and teach the technology.

During this fall’s pilot phase, he is “basically supplementing the class with some virtual reality experiences” and outfitting the actual Anderson Hall gym with a couple of 360-degree cameras to display the floor, the ceiling and everything in between.

“KNPE 343 is the elementary clinical, so I have them cut their lessons and, before they teach, they go into the VR space, they run through their lesson, they record it and then they rewatch it,” Wahl-Alexander says.

“I’m also going to have the footage from previous lessons that my students videoed this year, and then they’re going to be able to walk through,” he adds. “They’re able to analyze the performance. They’re able to critique certain things. They just get a different perspective that is literally impossible to get anywhere else.”

Brett Marth
Brett Marth

Brett Marth, a senior P.E. major from Genoa-Kingston, has enjoyed “learning how well it can help prepare me for things that are to happen in my actual teaching.”

“During the year, we used the VR set-up – how our gym space would look – and we would record our teachings in the metaverse. It became a helpful tool for me to understand how and what I was going to actually say to my students during my lessons,” Marth says. “It was also very neat to see that even though this was VR it was still resembling true features on how my teaching will in fact look.”

Marth expects that the hands-on experience in the metaverse and the resulting knowledge will benefit his career through “having the ability to think further ahead into what I want to do.”

“If I record my teachings and look back, I realize and hear things that others don’t. I notice specific words and phrases that I hear, and that don’t make sense, and I can change that,” he says. “Writing a lesson plan doesn’t specially show me that, but hearing it and listening to myself is a big factor. It helps me make changes and adjustments.”

NIU’S JOURNEY INTO the metaverse began last spring, says Jason Rhode, associate vice provost for Teaching, Learning, and Digital Education and associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment.

“We were approached institutionally with an opportunity to learn more about VictoryXR, a provider that helps institutions build out a presence in the metaverse,” Rhode says. “After attending a demo where we got a glimpse for teaching and learning in the metaverse, we then began to further explore the potential opportunities for becoming an early partner.”

Jason Rhode
Jason Rhode

Although the 10 pilot institutions already were chosen, he says, NIU’s leaders told VictoryXR that they would want to continue discussions if a spot opened.

That exact scenario transpired – and NIU joined the roster.

“VictoryXR worked with us to build a VR digital twin campus for NIU, providing initial licenses for 50 users and 50 Oculus 2 headsets. We’ve purchased a few more and are looking to provide interested faculty with the opportunity to learn more about the potential for using VR in teaching.,” Rhode says.

“We’re starting to hear interest bubbling up,” he adds, “with people saying, ‘Hey, what’s this VR thing? How can I get it and start using it?’ As there are other faculty who might be interested, we can start to connect those faculty together and let them share ideas among each other.”

Celeste Latham, associate vice president for Facilities and Resources in the Office of the Provost, says NIU administrators believe students also are eager to explore the technology.

“Looking at the future, in addition to the faculty who are looking at the opportunity, this provides our students with an alternative space to practice tasks and enhance learning,” Latham says.

“Professor Wahl-Alexander’s students, for example, can practice those simulations over and over in an environment that is similar to where they will teach – in this case a gymnasium. There are also future opportunities for health practicing students,” she adds. “Overlaps also are available, which would allow students to continue to enhance their skills as they move forward with mini tutoring sessions.”

That mirrors the real world, adds Rhode, whose brother is a pilot: “He spends as much time, or more time, in simulators than he does actually flying the physical plane because it gives him that same experience.”

For colleges and universities, Rhode says, VR is “a new horizon in education.”

Celeste Latham
Celeste Latham

“Actually teaching with VR is the really exciting part, when we start to think about what we can do differently,” he says. “I think the initial allure to institutions was during the height of the pandemic, when you weren’t physically able to have in-person classes, and many of our subjects that are very tactile require that in-person manipulation.”

Entering the metaverse is worth the trip for NIU, both say.

Morehouse University, which Latham says is a pioneer in this sphere, already has logged “a huge increase in student scores and student engagement.”

“When you have the headset on, you’re not distracted by what’s outside the window or who’s walking outside the classroom,” she says. “That’s one of the really positive learning outcomes. You’re immersed in that environment. You’re surrounded by everything that you’re trying to learn.”

The world within the headsets is simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar, Rhode adds.

“As part of this partnership, we have access to over 60 VR learning spaces – environments that faculty could teach in,” he says.

“For example, there’s a fully functional chemistry lab with burners and beakers and the various equipment, including an eye-wash station: the pieces where you could teach chemistry in VR space,” he adds. “If we have faculty who want to do that, we have access to that kind of environment. We could provide that.”

Meanwhile, he says, “there are lots of historical places. You could go on virtual field trips. You could go to the Louvre. It wouldn’t necessarily just be teaching your full class in VR. It could be taking your students to experience an environment they couldn’t otherwise. VR provides that.”

Zach Wahl-Alexander
Zach Wahl-Alexander

VIRUTAL REALITY HAS long fascinated Wahl-Alexander, who Rhode says “checks all the boxes” when it comes to piloting NIU’s metaversity.

His future teachers complete clinical experiences in every level of K-12 school, teaching between 15 to 20 consecutive lessons in each place they where are sharpening their abilities.

“Four or five years ago, I partnered with a student in the virtual reality department here, and he basically built out the gym space of Jefferson Elementary School – one of the local elementary schools I use for clinicals,” Wahl-Alexander says.

“What I had my student-teachers do is to prepare their lessons in the VR space. They script their lesson plans, set it all up and run through it. Then, they would literally drive to the school and teach the lesson,” he adds. “The concept is sound, and it was definitely effective for the students. I could see a difference in their preparation.”

Although he continues meets with students face-to-face three times a week this fall, they can tackle homework and lab projects in the metaverse.

Huskies enrolled in KNPE 343 in the spring, however, will spend more of their time inside the headsets.

“Basically, I’ll teach them in person – and then half of the class will come to the next two class periods and the other half won’t, so it’s just me and 15 students versus 30,” he says. “The half of the class that’s not meeting is actually going to do their own labs in the VR to get that real-time practice and then, when it switches, they’re going to come back and do it person. It’s essentially going to be more preparation.”

Hula hoops and bean bags!
Hula hoops and bean bags!

Wahl-Alexander also will keep assigning 360-degree video reviews within the goggles.

“Some class periods, I will go into the videos with them and provide my feedback while they’re also in there, and others will be doing them on their own,” he says.

“One of the things I always preach is that I don’t see how much they practice or prepare for any of the practical assignments; I give them tools in order to help them practice on their own, and all I see is the product,” he adds. “This is a way I can tangibly show them exactly what to do. They can record it, and I can go back and check up on them, making sure that the practice is going as well as it should.”

No matter the result of this fall’s trial run or next spring’s full launch, Wahl-Alexander says the potential of the metaverse for the preparation of teachers, and for higher education itself, is staggering.

“For my students, when you’re trying to teach anything – whether it’s playing sports or flying a plane – the more practice you have, the better you’re going to get,” he says. “But it’s not practice that makes perfect. It’s perfect practice that makes perfect, so this is as realistic of a setting as we can make it for our students to practice and prepare, and the better their practice is going to lead to a better product and a better outcome.”

Outside the scope of Wahl-Alexander’s program, meanwhile, lies the potential for a systemic game changer.

“For youth of low socioeconomic status, or from communities of color, the statistics are pretty alarming in terms of never stepping foot on a college campus,” he says, “and for those students who might not necessarily have the ability to travel to see a college or a university, but they might be interested in attending those schools, this makes that a lot more tangible and realistic.”

RHODE AND LATHAM ARE similarly energized about what’s next.

NIU’s Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, which Rhode oversees, is already holding workshops and facilitating discussion groups for faculty interested in the metaverse in particular and in VR in general.

Eager participation “shows we’re willing to try new things,” Rhode says.

“Other VR apps are out there that faculty are experimenting with,” he says, adding that he expects prices for the equipment to become more affordable as availability grows. “Ultimately, we’d love to eventually be able to provide more devices and places where faculty could bring their classes for virtual field trips.”

Those faculty place NIU in rare company.

“This is still cutting-edge, and we’re still in the very forefront of what is happening in this space. I’m hearing from colleagues at other institutions who have heard that we’re dabbling in this space, and they’re wanting to hear what we are doing well, how we are evaluating and what we are looking at,” he says.

“We don’t know all the answers yet because we haven’t seen broad adoption and use of this technology yet, but it’s exciting to know that we had someone like Professor Wahl-Alexander who’d already published on his use of VR in teaching. Other faculty on campus are looking to do research on teaching with VR,” he adds. “We’re again helping to blaze the trail for other institutions and for higher education more broadly.”

Latham calls the implications of VR on higher education “endless.”

“I just came back from EDUCAUSE, where there were large discussions about the future of virtual reality and artificial intelligence in the classroom and how it can transform learning,” Latham says. “The possibilities are endless, and we’re excited to move forward.”

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