Stratford-upon-Avon College and Solihull College & University Centre have showcased how they are utilising Virtual Reality (VR) technology in the classroom at DigiFest 2024.
Learning Technologist, Emily Cossey, was invited to speak at the event and present a session entitled VR and FE: How Virtual Reality can help to prepare students for their future careers.
DigiFest 2024 was a two-day long event which featured keynote speakers, panels, workshops and breakout sessions that look at the future landscape of the education sector in regard to digital innovation and technology.
Emily showcased how the College’s Learning Technologies team and teachers have been utilising VR with students to develop skills that will help prepare them for their future careers. Examples included designing in 3D with Tilt Brush for Graphic Design and Fashion students, recreating high stake scenarios with Uniformed Protective Services students, in Maths creating an Escape Room and using problem solving to escape, and in Health & Social Care which allowed students to develop empathy by seeing the world from another person’s perspective.
Emily was excited to present at the prestigious event and was even interviewed on DigiFest TV. She comments: “I’m hoping people can take away ideas from this session to use with their own students and that this will help develop good practice amongst other educational institutions. Using VR has had such a positive influence and has been able to help students meet criteria for mandatory units. We are doing well as a college, and are using VR across a range of subjects, with a goal to have used in every subject area.”
Head of Learning Technologies, Isla Flood, was proud of Emilys presentation: “Emily did a fantastic and energetic presentation on all the ways her and the learning technologies team have been supporting curriculum areas to embrace VR to enhance student learning opportunities. The presentation room was packed, and Emily had lots of questions from other institutions on how they could follow in her footsteps. We’re delighted to be able to share our findings with the sector and make a difference to the way students learn enabling them to experience situations they might not encounter in their day-to-day studies as well as develop skills that help them to progress and achieve key criteria on their courses.”
