Two graduate students at the University of Saskatchewan created a virtual world to teach people in the Prairies about the oceans.
Kristin Moskalyk said the course they created the project in was centred around teaching people about sustainability through different technology.
“It was just the thought about our students being from the Prairies, being landlocked, lots of our students not ever being to the ocean, so they maybe don’t understand what’s really going on out there,” Moskalyk said.
Last year, Moskalyk and her research partner Nicole Lamoureux presented their virtual reality metaverse at the United Nations Science, Technology and Innovation Forum, going by the name “techy teachers.”
“I do think that having students within a platform does give them a different opportunity for learning,” Lamoureaux said.
Lamoureaux and Moskalyk met the UN delegates from the forum inside their virtual world and gave them a tour of what they created.
The pair finished the competition as finalists, placing in the top 15 out of 257 groups.
Paula MacDowell, assistant professor of curriculum studies, said students who are landlocked might not think about the impact that they have on the ocean and marine life as a result of the distance between them.
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“What is special about their project is using technology in a very meaningful way,” MacDowell said. “It’s very high-level; an enviable level of student engagement to learn about a topic. Their metaverse that they designed — students get to experience being a global citizen.”
She said through the metaverse, students can experience issues with plastic pollution, marine life and sustainability.
“I hope more teachers and students take the opportunities with the different media, technology, and AI content creation tools that we have and use them for good,” MacDowell added. “We have technologies that connect us and we should use them to learn about each other.”
Moskalyk hopes teachers use the resource through Frame VR online in their classrooms and that more virtual reality headsets can be provided in schools.
“It’s very important for teachers out there and people in educational roles to be innovative with their approaches and to build engaging opportunities for students,” she said.
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