The summer school took place under the Erasmus + VRXanny project. The latter is coordinated by dr inż. Dorota Kamińska from the Institute of Mechatronics and Information Systems at TUL, and meets the expectations of educators and students. The scenarios developed during the summer school classes will soon help mentally strengthen young people in the education process. The first pilot installations of these solutions will be built in the middle of next year.
Ultimately, 12 such innovative VR relaxation zones will be created at partner universities, which will be serving up to several thousand students a year- informs the project coordinator from TUL, who works at the Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering.
During the summer school, international design teams were formed to compete in the development of VR application scenarios. The competing project groups were selected to be as diverse as possible in terms of educational profile, culture and gender.
The outcome was astonishing. The explosion of ideas arising from the Design Thinking techniques which were used fills us with hope that in the near future, students at our universities will be able to reduce the stress accompanying education in specially prepared relaxation spots. 'We are confident that the developed solution, thanks to the possibility of deep VR immersion, will not only effectively relieve current stress, but will also increase the overall level of stress resistance,' adds Dr Kamińska, who is pleased with the project.
The ideas implemented in the Erasmus+ VRXanny project are particularly valuable in view of the emerging global mental issues triggered by COVID-19, warfare in Ukraine and the economic crisis. The fight against stress, and the reduction of vulnerability to stress, are becoming key issues in 21st century education.