Immersive Journeys: Transforming Virtual Field Trips through
UX-Driven VR Experiences
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Showing a Student Pioneer Village VR Tour on Oculus Headset
Project Overview
In response to the limitations posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, I embarked on a groundbreaking project with colleagues Crystal Pugina (Chief of Strategy and Project Manager) and Ryan Phippen (Chief of Technical Services) to revolutionize virtual field trips for Utah Valley University’s Digital Media Department. Our objective was to create an immersive desktop VR experience, providing students and the community with captivating educational tours. Through strategic UX design and cutting-edge VR technology, we aimed to bridge the gap between in-person learning and remote exploration.
Role: VR Tour Creator and Experience Designer
Problem
The primary objective of the project revolved around enhancing educational experiences for children through the utilization of immersive VR technology. The initial phases of the project aimed to equip students with VR headsets and provide comprehensive training to teachers regarding the software implementation. As a pivotal member of the third phase, I joined the team with the specific purpose of addressing the challenges that had arisen during the previous project leg.
In the project's early stages, we encountered legal obstacles that restricted the use of VR headsets within K-12 school environments. Consequently, we had to shift our original plan of directly engaging with an elementary school. Complicating matters further, our sponsor had already procured headsets intended for student use. Despite our efforts to seek technical support from the VR headset vendor, we were met with unresponsiveness, leaving us at an impasse for several weeks.
In light of these circumstances, I proposed an innovative solution: instead of relying on VR headsets, we could develop a comprehensive desktop library accessible to both students and the wider community. This strategic pivot proved transformative, as it allowed us to shift our focus toward capturing immersive images and curating an extensive collection of virtual tours. By embracing this alternative approach, we successfully circumvented the limitations imposed by headset usage, thereby ensuring that our project could thrive within the given constraints.
Goals
With the change of our goal from getting VR headsets to work in classrooms, we embraced a new set of goals. This benefited our team in the following ways:
1. Establish an inclusive and engaging virtual field trip library accessible to students, educators, and the wider community.
2. Elevate the quality and quantity of tour footage through meticulous UX design and streamlined capture and processing techniques.
3. Lastly, our sponsor was so pleased with the work that we were undertaking that they invested an extra $5000 for equipment capture. Since we already had the necessary equipment to create the experiences, we were able to purchase a 360 video camera that we were able to utilize to capture video. (The group that took over the next leg of the progress is working on getting this footage processed.)
VR Camera Equipment
Design Process
As the VR Tour Creator and Experience Designer, I worked to ensure that we had enough places to go an take pictures of. For starters we focused on places like the Provo Pioneer Village, and the Orem Heritage Museum. Each place required meticulous planning, reaching out to stakeholder’s who were over the various locations. With each tour that was created a DSLR camera with a Fisheye lens and a versatile mounting arm, our team employed user-centric design principles to capture awe-inspiring VR images. By implementing advanced techniques in white balance and F/Stops, we ensured optimal visual fidelity. Overcoming the challenge of capturing individuals in images required consent forms or skillful composition of larger groups to comply with privacy regulations.
To create seamless and immersive storytelling experiences, we strategically captured footage at regular intervals, enabling smooth transitions between different locations. Meticulous image merging, expert editing using software tools like Photoshop and Affinity Photo, and precise mapping techniques facilitated fluid exploration of our virtual environments.
Presenting Our Finding at UVU’s SCULPT Conference
Take Aways
While celebrating the project's resounding success, it is important to acknowledge the challenges we encountered along the way. Scope creep became a formidable obstacle due to enticing collaboration opportunities with esteemed organizations like the National Park Service and Thanksgiving Point. Balancing these opportunities with our core project objectives proved pivotal, as it influenced the prioritization of user testing. Consequently, we identified limitations in scalability, particularly on mobile devices, prompting valuable insights for future enhancements.
Effective knowledge transfer became paramount when passing on extensive footage to subsequent teams, leading us to implement robust documentation practices and streamlined communication channels to ensure seamless handovers to the next leg of the project.
One critical takeaway from this project was my realization of the significance of underexposing images during capture. This approach empowered us to retain crucial details while offering greater flexibility in post-processing adjustments, ultimately enhancing the visual impact of our tours.
Overall, our unwavering commitment, innovative problem-solving, and fruitful partnerships have successfully addressed accessibility challenges, revolutionizing virtual field trips for the benefit of UVU's Digital Media Department, Utah Valley University, and the wider community.
Results
With a remarkable investment of over 300 hours, our team successfully crafted 15+ captivating virtual tours, showcasing renowned Utah destinations such as Bryce Canyon National Park and Provo Utah's Pioneer Village. Presently, 9 of these exceptional tours are live on our website, delivering immersive experiences to our target audience.
The project garnered significant recognition at prestigious conferences and events, including the DGM Showcase and Utah Valley University’s SCULPT conference, where our innovative research and projects captivated industry professionals. Notably, our project advisor bestowed medallions upon our team as a testament to our outstanding contributions. Additionally our Project Manager, Crystal Pugina achieved distinction by receiving a Senior Thesis Capstone nomination prize from the Honor’s Department, further underscoring our project's excellence.