Purposive game production in educational setup: Investigating team collaboration in virtual reality

With increasing amount of research and applications in Virtual Reality (VR), there is a growing need to educate future professionals in this field. Thus, it is crucial to motivate young persons to choose this career, especially as many developed countries report not enough interest for STEM educations in general. In this poster, we will present an experiment conducted with undergraduate students on their final year of studying. The whole education is organized within Problem Based Learning paradigm (Aalborg model), and students work in groups to solve a problem chosen by themselves and only broadly defined by the semester theme. For this experiment, we have organized a special Production Group, of a size of three ordinary semester groups (21 persons), and required that within the semester theme “Audio-Visual Experiments” a meaningful problem using VR should be investigated, by developing and testing a VR application. The students were assigned specific roles, as if they were working on a real project in a real company – thus a bigger size of the group. Several Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 sets were available. After reviewing literature, the group formulated a research question: “Does virtual reality have an effect on group communication effort in a collaborative environment?” To answer this question, the group developed a 3D VR puzzle game with several levels. In order to solve puzzles, participants needed to collaborate and communicate in VR, which is a field that still requires research. The students tested several scenarios, using triangulation method of observations, screen recording and questionnaire, and developed ideas why something might work or not. Three teachers were supervising the students, and the fourth was observing the whole process. During supervision hours, and interviews with the students after the production was finished, we were able to learn about their learning process and get information on their motivations and challenges in using this novel technology. This poster will present both students work setup, testing process and conclusions, and teachers’ observations on the process.