Written by Victoria Bourne
It’s a beautiful morning in Mexico City. The streets are full of people celebrating Dia de los Muertos – Day of the Dead. A student archaeologist steps into a crowded square.
“There’s so much to see,” she says in Spanish to her historian companion and fellow student, “Where should I start?”
“Look for older families; “They may have stories that span generations,” he says.
Thus, the archaeologist and her team embark on a choose-your-own-adventure journey to learn more about the customs and history of this cherished Mexican holiday. And all without ever leaving the classroom.
A new project under development at Old Dominion University’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) for the York County School District will enable students in grades 7-12 to virtually travel to countries such as Mexico and France with the help of virtual reality headsets and especially software designed to enable peer-to-peer interactions. On tablets or iPads. In this virtual world, students will encounter real-life scenarios that will help them practice their language skills while working collaboratively with their classmates.
“What we are building is language learning/second language acquisition, incorporating integrative techniques grounded in the learning sciences,” said Jessica Johnson, director of STEM and Educational Partnerships at VMASC. She added that it will be designed to fit the needs of York County. “It is unique to their students, their community and their teachers.”
The effort is the first of its kind, according to school division representatives, and is funded through a $2 million Department of Defense Education Partnership (DoDEA) Global Language Development and Readiness Program grant that York County received in 2022. VMASC is using a portion of that funding to develop content An immersive virtual reality technology for schools. Pilot testing for Level 1 Spanish and French is scheduled to begin in April 2024.
“This project has enabled us to assemble a dream team of multidisciplinary experts,” Johnson said. Members include John Scholl and Ann Koum. Scholl is VMASC’s associate director of technology for collaborative spaces and a lead scientist on the project. His specialty is mixed reality development, which he has been doing for nearly a decade.
Kumm, a lecturer in ODU’s English Language Center, has been working with multilingual undergraduate and graduate students, curriculum development and community outreach with K-12 family engagement specialists for more than 10 years. Her research has focused specifically on teacher development.
“So, we’re really working to make sure that we’re building support communities for teacher training and even for those who want to volunteer and work with teachers or with multilingual populations,” Koum said.
Students from ODU’s Game Studies and Design program also had a role in developing the virtual content, Johnson said. “We are building teams that utilize ODU’s degree programs and the partnerships created between VMASC and the main campus in this project.”
The VMASC team is building eight modules for York County’s Spanish and French world language courses – four modules for each language – that will take students from the basics of Level 1 to the more challenging aspects of Level 4.
“They came to us with this blank slate, ‘We want to use VR,’” Johnson said of the schools division. “Naturally it’s fun: kids use it, teachers have used 360-degree environments. They wanted us to help find ways to embed virtual reality, whether that’s through gamifying the curriculum (or) integrating it into the curriculum.
“That’s the value of this relationship and collaboration with York County — they have some amazing, passionate world language teachers who really know their content areas.”
Virtual reality is part of the learning process, but it’s only one aspect of it. “We’re not going to put 32 people in a headset,” Scholl said. The plan involves small collaborative groups where each student takes a specific role. The session will be hosted by the student wearing the headset, who will be fully immersed in the virtual environment and other students – playing the role of curator, historian or journalist – on tablets as part of a peer-to-peer network.
The benefit of role-playing is that it enables students to get outside of themselves and take risks with the language, reducing anxiety and stress that can inhibit language acquisition, Koum said. As a group, they have to work together to complete a task using the language they are learning.
Whether it’s the lively streets of Mexico City or the mysterious pyramids of Teotihuacan, students can encounter bustling markets or quiet plazas with opportunities to learn about traditional celebrations and events. “To meet the needs of the unit, we can theoretically put you anywhere,” Scholl said. “We can come up with any kind of scenario we need that will hit the standards.”
The virtual world will be very stylized, Scholl said, with colors a little brighter than in reality, for example. For a more realistic feel, the team hopes to incorporate background audio captured by partners living in the area or by travelers visiting to study abroad.
“Of course, if we could get the smells, that would be great, too,” Koum said.
The goal is to provide an immersive learning experience that is engaging, engaging and motivating, and York County teachers have been an integral part of that process, they said.
“Naturally, we need to know what will work, not what will or won’t work — we need to iterate on the project to make it successful,” Johnson said. “But they also need to be part of developing the content that will go into the systems we’re developing.”
“It was a really great opportunity to find a way to make sure we were using this technology in a way that would really help and benefit the classroom,” Koum said.
According to Lori Donatelli, a language specialist with the York County Schools Department, there was a team of six teachers working closely on the project, meeting with ODU-VAMSC and providing input and feedback. “They’re very excited. This is another way to bring their curriculum to life,” she said.
The school division, which serves more than 13,000 students, has the highest military-connected population on the East Coast, according to Donatelli. It was one of 45 local military-related educational agencies from across the country to take advantage of $15 million provided by Congress in 2022 to boost foreign language study programs targeting elementary and secondary students.
“Exposing elementary and secondary students to world languages is critical to developing and sustaining the pool of individuals with the skills needed to meet national security needs and economic competitiveness,” the Department of State said in a press release announcing the recipients of the World Language Advancement and Readiness Program grants.
Part of York County’s goal is to increase enrollment in the school division’s world language classes, Donatelli said, but also the number of military-connected students who graduate with the State Board of Education’s Seal of Multiliteracy, which certifies achieving a high level of proficiency in one language. Or more languages in addition to English.
“We live in a world where it is important for our students to have more than one language, and we know that the best way to learn a language is full immersion,” said Karen Cagle, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. “We can’t send them to another country, but we can bring that experience to them in our classrooms.”
“When the opportunity arose to partner with ODU-VMASC and have a virtual reality experience, why not use this technology?” she added.
The ODU-VMASC project offers an exciting opportunity for York County world language students to explore the world without ever leaving the classroom. Through virtual reality technology, students can immerse themselves in the culture and language of different countries, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for global perspectives. This innovative project not only enhances language learning but also provides a unique and interactive way for students to experience the world beyond their local community.