X-Teach VR
X-Teach VR: Cross-disciplinary teacher training in the VR classroom
Status: running, last edit april 2022
Duration: Sep 2022 - August 2023
Idea and Goal
In foreign language classes, students should acquire text and media competencies. They should be able to understand and interpret continuous and discontinuous texts in their references and presuppositions, recognize conventionalized, culture-specific characteristics, and reflect on their processes of reception and production. To support prospective teachers in the competence development of their future students, this project integrates a relevant section of the media and foreign language competence model of the KMK into the existing software "VR Classroom". For this purpose, the VR application "Cuisine Francaise" is used as a supplement. The potential here lies in the confrontation with learner-language utterances, in practising work assignments in the foreign language, and in alternating between German, French, and English (code-switching/mixing). The teaching of media and language skills is relevant across subjects; this justifies the use of a cf. elaborate VR application. Further advantages over established approaches are the flexibility and controllability of the training environment, the protected space for practising and the repeatability of the scenarios. Thus, the interdisciplinary teaching of media competence and the integrated computer science and foreign language teaching are addressed.
Course of the project
An agile project in two phases is planned. First, learning scenarios of English and French didactics will be identified and designed cooperatively with computer science didactics. Subsequently, conversation trees will be developed from these requirements, program code will be adapted, 3D models and audio elements (subject-typical objects) will be designed, and given physical spaces will be measured for a virtual implementation. The virtual rooms are enriched with the new 3D elements as realistic, virtual, media-supported subject rooms. The project partners are in constant exchange. The existing spatial, hardware and software resources and the proven cooperation form the basis for the joint further development of the VR application. This is followed by the piloting of the VR teaching scenario at both project partners. In the second phase, iterative further development will follow based on the findings from the first trial, followed by a second trial and evaluation.
Project Team RWTH:
Birte Heinemann
Christina Schramm
Frauke Intemann
Ulrik Schroeder
Collaborative partners:
Axel Wiepke
Stephen Tobin
Ulrike Lucke
Kathleen Plötner
Florian Hahnkow
Further information
This joint project is funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education through the call for proposals "Freiraum 2022"
Link to the page of our colleagues in Potsdam: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/multimedia/projekte/anwendungen/x-teach-vr