Today our group met with Dr. Moyher from Mason LIFE. She is extremely enthusiastic about the use of VR as a learning tool for people with IDD. She is a certified behavioral analyst and was able to provide us with invaluable direction for the implementation of our scenarios. We discussed the scenario we picked, which was grocery shopping.

Some of the scenarios we will implement in our game include:

  • Students trying to buy a product, but the display falls over.
  • People trying to lure students (into car, or bathroom)
  • Item you want to buy is not on the shelf
  • Going to the checkout but not having enough money or forgetting credit card
  • Someone bumping their cart into a student
  • No shopping cart available

She will help us determine appropriate choices to give students, especially considering her expertise in students’ behavior and knowing student struggles.

Some features our game should include:

  • Utilizing a rubric to grade student’s responses. Some scenarios will include a good choice, a decent choice and a bad choice. Each response will be weighted accordingly (3pts, 2pts, 1pt) when evaluating a student.
  • We also discussed the importance of corrective feedback. When a student picks the wrong decision, they should be allowed to replay part of the scenario and be told why there is a better choice available. This may be implemented through a video explaining to students why a choice was good or bad. The purpose should always be to teach students and give them an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. This corrective feedback could be implemented through use of embedded videos.
  • In order to promote generalization of skills, the success of a decision will be randomized. (For example, if you ask an employee if an item is in stock, the employee will not always say “yes”)

 

She also suggested that we go to the local Giant near campus to take our 360 video, since that is the supermarket that all students use for shopping on Sundays. This would be a great way to create an environment that is relatable to students.

We have also decided as a group, along with the feedback from Dr. Moyher, that we should develop for Google Daydream instead of the HTC Vive. The Google Daydream is durable, wireless and much cheaper than the HTC Vive. We also purchased a Chromecast Ultra so we can cast the Daydream view to any monitor with an HDMI input. Our primary concern with Daydream was that we could not view the game on an external monitor, but now that we have found a way to display it on a monitor, that concern is alleviated. The convenience and price of Daydream best fits Mason LIFE’s needs, so we will use that for our project.