Deepening Engagement and Learning Impact through Virtual Reality Activations
About
As a consultant for Games for Change (G4C), Michaela assembled a research team to work alongside the XR for Change impact team that she also led. She managed the documentation and evaluation of the potential of virtual reality to promote lifelong learning. It was important that the creative use of emerging technologies for social impact was documented and synthesized in a process that addresses the lack of research data on the growing field of VR for education
During 2022–2023, research was conducted across a series of screenings and activations for OTMYW as part of a wide-reaching impact campaign designed to reach three core audiences: youth, the general public, and policymakers. During these activations, G4C collected and evaluated data, and conducted an analysis of the impact of the project based on these presentations, to determine its potential to inform viewers and shift thinking about the present nuclear threat.
Deepening Engagement and Learning Impact through Virtual Reality Activations is a 50-page research paper that uses the G4C executive-produced virtual reality documentary on nuclear threat, On the Morning You Wake (to the End of the World) (OTMYW), as a case study to focus on one central question - Does the level of impact and engagement of content differ when it is experienced as VR using a head-mounted display (HMD) versus screened on a tablet device (standard 2D)?
Michaela has presented this research on the mainstages of XR and impact-focused events around the world.
