Exploring Virtual & Augmented Reality

The Digital Scholarship team dove deep into the worlds of Virtual and Augmented Reality throughout the 2024-2025 academic year. In Fall 2024, Nicole Roche and Eric Williams-Bergen led a workshop on “Immersion” for Zane Cooper’s Intro to Media & Film course. Students visited different stations for viewing VR (fully immersive) experiences with the MetaQuest3 headset, viewing AR (partially immersive) experiences designed for smartphones, or for creating AR experiences using the software Adobe Aero.

In Spring 2025, the DS team led a workshop for Ronnie Olesker’s Game-of-Thrones–themed Political Science course, which incorporated elements of AI-based image generation, 3D avatar creation using Avaturn, and 360 world-building with SkyBox. Roche’s sophomore seminar on Digital Storytelling featured a unit where students were asked to create AR experiences with Aero that could be viewed with a smartphone. The results were impressive, showing both the students’ creativity and personal style as well as the capabilities of the software. The DS team also worked closely with Joe Mocerine, class of 2025, who built a VR experience around the MetaQuest3 that he demoed for attendees at the spring Brain Blast event on campus.