when two University of Saskatchewan The graduate students pitched the idea of the metaverse for their final project, never expecting to win the competition and present at the United Nations.
Kristin Moskalik and Nicole Lamoureux had to find a way to teach about one of these United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for their sustainability teaching and learning through design and technology curriculum. Both chose SDG 14: Life Below Water, which aims to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.
Although they had no prior experience designing virtual worlds, both former teachers wanted to find a way to develop empathy and support for SDG 14 among people in the landlocked provinces.
“It was just the idea that our students are from the plains, surrounded by land, a lot of our students have never been to the ocean, so they might not understand,” Moskalyk said during an interview Thursday. Find out what’s really going on there.” “I think it’s really important for teachers and people in educational development roles to try to be innovative with their approach and try to create engaging opportunities for students.”
Users walking through the virtual world will find learning materials including tasks, games, and videos.
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Moskalik said that the platform they used, Frame VR, was user-friendly, allowing them to focus on content within the metaverse.
“It was just a learning curve how to bring in those assets and set them up in a way that was easy for students to use.”
When Moskalik and Lamoureux completed their project, their professor encouraged them to apply for the Sustainable Development Goals global prize and the Metaverse for Virtual Reality competition.
“When I saw the competition I thought it would be an excellent application,” said Paula McDowell, assistant professor of curriculum studies. “It’s a very high-level – an enviable level – of student engagement… Quite honestly, STGs are terrible. I mean, those are all the issues and problems that are happening in our world.
Their team, which they named Techie Teachers, was one of the 15 winning teams selected out of 257 teams from 70 countries. He earned a level two finalist award of $10,000.
“It is really a huge success. Nicole Lamoureux said, we did not imagine that our project would go this far. “I think it’s a testament to how hard we’ve really worked and the passion we’ve put into it, so we’re pretty proud of how far it’s come.”
The Metaverse of Kristin Moskalik and Nicole Lamoureau.
Ethan Butterfield/Global News
The team presented its Metaverse at the United Nations Science Technology and Innovation Forum last year. They met the delegates inside their virtual world and gave them a tour.
“It was well received,” Moskalyk said. “People were excited for the opportunity that students would have to engage in this type of learning.”
They hope teachers will use it resources Wants to get access to more VR headsets to provide to more schools in their classrooms.
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