An Introduction to FYE Community
What is “community”? This is the central question of this VR experience proposed by FIU CARTA. In fact, it’s many things, including an opportunity for student growth, faculty research, and an exploration of the future of higher education and looking at ways in which our species approaches the environment and interpersonal connections, and develops and assessed human agency and behaviors by reflecting on the 4C’s: Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Communication.
FYE, First Year Experience Community VR is another application developed by the I-CAVE team, Haczar Criollo and Edward Gonzalez with the help of an architectural student, Maria Costantini. Using Unreal Engine, the team was able to create a virtual environment representing the everglades. In this environment students have 15 minutes to create a structure using a limited number snapping blocks before the timer runs out. The goal is to practice the 4C’s and to analyze how it helped the process in creating their custom structure. More information on the VR experience can be found in this video:
FYE Community Research
One thing that is very important when creating VR Experiences is lots of user testing. I-CAVE team’s goal of providing a VR solution that reaches students needed to be confirmed by the students themselves. The developers agreed that the 4C’s had helped them through the entire development process but it is up to the students to find out if the VR experience was an insightful one. Through scheduled appointments and surveys, the team was able to reach many students and gather data. It was indeed a challenge to acquire and setup a VR experience catered to students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the team was able to provide a sterile process that follows FIU’s safety protocol using QR Codes and disposable sanitary products. So far, the VR experience has received great feedback from professors and students alike. Research is currently ongoing, for more updates stay tuned in the Projects Section.
