2023.Jun.26

REPORTS

Report on Lecture by Drs. Richard Carter-White and Maartje Roelofsen “Embodiment, Deferral and (Dis)inhibition: Learning and Teaching Geography with VR”

On December 6, 2022, the B’AI Global Forum hosted a lecture titled “Embodiment, Deferral, and (Dis)inhibition: Learning and Teaching Geography with VR,” featuring Dr. Richard Carter-White, Senior Lecturer at the School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University, and Dr. Maartje Roelofsen, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain.

Virtual Reality (VR) has gained attention as a useful learning tool in various educational fields in recent years. As geographers, Carter-White and Roelofsen conducted a small-scale pilot project to examine the role of VR in geography education and explore how geographical theories offer an important framework for critically engaging with VR as a pedagogical tool. The project involved introducing a VR field trip into an actual classroom setting, with the chosen location being the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum located in Oświęcim, Poland. Several students experienced the highly immersive VR documentary “Inside Auschwitz,” produced by a German broadcaster, using HTC Vive headsets. The project also included participant observation and interviews with the students.

During the lecture, the results of the project were presented, focusing on three main themes. The first theme was “(dis)inhibition.” Carter-White and Roelofsen explained that interviews with the participants revealed that VR technology can provide users with a sense of freedom from physical time and space constraints while also imposing new constraints on bodily movement and perception. Interestingly, some participants mentioned that they felt free from concerns about social expectations and the presence of others, allowing them to concentrate solely on the VR content. While this aspect can be seen as advantageous, the lecturers expressed ethical concerns about the convenient use of VR for visiting sites with difficult heritage like Auschwitz without the necessary moral considerations.

The second theme, “deferral,” highlighted the effects of VR in extending interest beyond the virtual experience. It is often assumed that experiencing a place through VR would satisfy the desire to visit it in person, rendering physical visits unnecessary. However, the project observed the opposite effect. Participants’ interest in the VR experience extended their curiosity to delve deeper into the details of the actual site, motivating them to pursue real visits. This finding challenges the notion that VR is solely a substitute for actual experiences and instead suggests its potential to complement them.

The final theme was “embodiment.” VR is often associated with a sense of disembodiment, but the project revealed the importance of bodily engagement in VR experiences. It became evident that the content of VR experiences is closely intertwined with the physical conditions and abilities of individual users. This highlights the need for further examination of the embodied inequalities that inherent in VR technology.

In conclusion, the study concluded that while VR has the potential to offer social and moral freedom to users, it cannot completely replace traditional field trips. However, the flaws and limitations of VR can lead to new insights and stimulate active learning. The lecturers proposed positioning VR as a spatial “prompt” that provokes new questions for students who are already on the path to developing geographical understandings and imaginations of specific sites, rather than considering it a self-contained virtual realm. Going forward, it will be crucial to integrate VR effectively with traditional educational methods, recognizing its limitations and capitalizing on its potential.