Call for Study Participation CUREB-B Clearance #116199
Study Topic: Assessing accessibility in Immersive Virtual Learning Spaces
We are looking for volunteer participants who are willing to try a VR experiment using Oculus Quest Headset for 20-30 minutes. The purpose of this study is to determine whether an enhanced immersive VR environment can be effective to address some of the accessibility issues of the common VR and physical experiences for wheelchair users and if it can be used as an effective learning tool in science labs particularly for students with limited mobility.
Background
There is “a very limited pool of research” addressing barriers for students with disabilities in science labs, or best practices for facilitating accessibility in the laboratory environment.
Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) allows the simulation of labs and can provide a flexible alternative to physical labs. However, from 2013 to 2019, only a limited number of studies have been conducted that relate to the educational applications of Virtual Reality (VR) for students with special needs. In particular, there is a need to investigate how wheelchair users can move in VR as they can’t stand up or lower their bodies to simulate physical world activities.
Despite advancement in VR technology, the design of VR systems has not included accessibility and inclusion as a primary factor and those subjects have either not been considered or have been after-thoughts. Some examples include physical controllers, content, and user interface design for persons with disabilities. These are especially important for science and engineering education, where engaging in experiential activities is essential. Therefore, this study is designed to address some of the identified gaps by focusing on wheelchair users.
We aim to investigate if using software controls can offer accessibility and learning advantages to wheelchair users in VR. If successful, such software controls can open up the possibility of using VR labs for these users who otherwise have accessibility issues in physical and virtual environments.
The main research question is:
How do software controls compare to the physical vertical movement (raising or lowering body) in terms of accessibility and learning?
Research Project
This project is in fact a part of a multi-phase study that we are conducting on the efficacy of Virtual Reality, in particular, immersive VR in education. To narrow it down, we are focusing on Science Technology, Engineering, and Math (or STEM education). There were several reasons for this direction:
- We wanted to target the undergraduate level (due to limited studies for this group of the audience),
- VR technology became more affordable in the past 2 years (i.e. mobile headsets that were affordable, so it encouraged us to take on this challenge,
- We see the possibility for future study related to the use of AI in making personalised educational experiences in VR.
