New virtual reality tool created by students brings the ocean to the Prairies
Global News
Two University of Saskatchewan students won a competition after creating a metaverse to teach people in prairie provinces about our oceans.
When two University of Saskatchewan graduate students pitched the idea of a metaverse for their final project, they never expected to win a competition and present to the United Nations.
Kristin Moskalyk and Nicole Lamoureux had to find a way to teach about one of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for their Sustainability Teaching and Learning Through Design & Technology course. The duo chose SDG 14: Life Below Water, a goal to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.
Although they had no prior experience designing virtual worlds, the two former teachers wanted to find a way to develop empathy and support for SDG 14, from people in landlocked provinces.
“It was just the thought of 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 during an interview Thursday. “I think that it’s just really important for teachers and people in educational development roles to try to be innovative with their approaches and try to build engaging opportunities for students.”
Users walking around the virtual world will come across learning material, including tasks, games and videos.
Moskalyk said the platform they used, Frame VR, was user-friendly, allowing them to focus on the content within the metaverse.
“It was just a learning curve on how to bring those assets in and set them up in a way for it to be easy for students to use.”
When Moskalyk and Lamoureux finished their project, their professor encouraged them to apply for the Metaverse for Sustainable Development Goals Global Prize and Virtual Reality Competition.