A critical problem exists in training SSW students interested in community and group level training and implementation of racial diversity and inclusion education and work, but lacking knowledge or experience of effective DEI relevant communication strategies that could be useful. This project will help engage and train students interested in community based work by immersing them in short term focused projects generated from longer term work in communities (most recently focused on Detroit’s North End neighborhood). Through a series of XR training simulations, students will have the opportunity to engage, try, make mistakes, and correct themselves in environments with controllable contexts - that normalize frustrations and awkward feelings.
Development Platform
Uptale.io
Development Team/Production Team
Sommer Blair
Learning Goals
Students will understand the risk of learning challenging but highly responsive behavioral and cognitive communication skills effective across diverse US populations.
Utilize digital safe spaces to experiment with student thinking.
Explain how learning environments conveying learn-through-difficulty norms support difficulty-as-importance interpretations.
Describe how VR environments (can) provide the comfort to experience different viewpoints while simultaneously placing students in situations that evoke genuine emotions.
