[Fordham University is using VR and the presence it evokes to teach business students with “learn by doing” experiences, and others are exploring different ways to apply presence to teaching and learning. See the original story in The Washington Post for a different picture and a 0:59 minute video. For more detailed information about the hybrid classroom of Project Chimera see a story in eLearningInside from May 2019. –Matthew]

Fordham University business students have a new tool to prepare them for boardrooms: Virtual reality

By Peter Holley
November 12, 2019

Business schools are packed with courses devoted to high-tech entrepreneurship, financial accounting and academic theories on leadership.

Far less common are courses that teach students the “people skills” necessary to put their newly acquired knowledge to use.

In the business world, where relationship-building is essential, these “soft” skills — personal confidence, negotiation, active listening, calm and flexibility — can play an outsize role.… read more. “Fordham U. business students use VR and presence to prepare for boardrooms”

[This story from DrexelNow describes an interesting application of VR and presence in the context of health; see the link to the study near the end and see the original story for two more pictures. –Matthew]

Is Virtual Reality the Next Big Thing in Art Therapy?

November 12, 2019

The ever-expanding field of virtual reality (VR) has been used in health care settings like physical rehabilitation. It’s also made its way into therapy settings to reduce phobias and delusions. Could creative arts therapies be the next frontier for VR? Researchers from Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions in the Creative Arts Therapies Department conducted a study to see if VR can be used as an expressive tool in art therapy.

“Art therapy is founded on the idea that creative expression with an art therapist facilitates communication and problem solving, reduces inhibition, alleviates depressive symptoms and promotes personal development,” said lead author of the study Girija Kaimal, EdD, an associate professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions.… read more. “Study examines VR as an expressive tool in art therapy”

[The astronauts aboard the International Space Station are using a new smaller high-quality 360 camera to record their experiences so that we can share them. Though the term isn’t used in this story from NASA, it’s all about presence. One interesting quote:

“I think it is inevitable that VR is going to be the default way to document space exploration moving forwards. It is a perfect match between medium and story,” [Felix and Paul Studios co-founder and creative director Félix Lajeunesse] says. “Space exploration is something that you want to live. You want to be there. You want to experience it. Everything we’re doing on station right now is a demonstration for the spaceflight industry and the entertainment industry of how we can use this medium moving forward in the space world.”

See the original story for six more (larger) pictures.… read more. “A VR camera captures life and science aboard the Space Station”

[A new small study by researchers at Imperial College London explores the effectiveness of, and mechanisms involved in, using mediated experience to reduce (experimentally-induced) chronic pain. While many questions and much more research remain, watching a ‘non-interactive’ 360 video reduced pain sensitivity while a static image on a computer monitor did not. The original story contains the 7:07 minute National Geographic video “Polar Obsession 360” used in the study (also available via YouTube). The link to the article in Pain Reports is at the end of the story below. –Matthew]

Immersion in virtual reality scenes of the Arctic helps to ease people’s pain

Watching immersive 360 videos of icy Arctic scenes helps to relieve burning pain and could hold hope for treating chronic pain, a study has found.

By Ryan O’Hare
November 8, 2019

Scientists from Imperial College London have found that using virtual reality headsets could combat increased sensitivity to pain, by immersing people in scenes of icebergs, frigid oceans and sprawling icescapes.… read more. “Watching immersive 360 video of icy Arctic scenes helps relieve chronic pain”

[The installation described in this story from The Sydney Morning Herald uses virtual reality and presence to cultivate the awareness of future possibilities as a way to understand and prevent suicide. For more information about Edge Of The Present see The Big Anxiety website and listen to a 28:52 minute episode of the ABC radio program All in The Mind about empathy for mental health through the arts. For more on the research component of the project see the Workshop Participant Call Out page of The Big Anxiety site. –Matthew]

[Image: Future thinking: Michaela and Alex Davies in their installation Edge Of The Present. Credit: Dom Lorrimer]

Making the future a possibility

By Nick Galvin
October 8, 2019

Step through the door and you’re in a small, bare, unprepossessing room. The walls are white and the floor is concrete. There are two windows and a door.… read more. “Edge Of The Present installation uses presence to explore and treat suicidal ideation”