Share Paper: Designing towards empathy using VR/iVR: Applying best practices to enhance student experience.

  1. Rebecca M. Reese, Colorado School of Mines, United States
Wednesday, March 20 3:00 PM-4:00 PM Celebrity Ballroom 3

Abstract: The Colorado School of Mines offers a course on Disability, Technology and Society (DTS) through its Humanitarian Engineering Program. This class promotes under-standing of persons with disabilities especially in relation to the use of technology. The course seeks to build learner empathy through exercises that allow them to perceive feelings, senses and emotions of persons with different types of disabilities. This course explores the development and use of VR or iVR for heightening the sensation of experiences; examples include: 1) sensory issues, such as with autism spectrum disorders, 2) learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, 3) visual impairments, such as blindness.