We’re Only Human: Enhancing a Cultural Sensitivity Training Virtual Reality Prototype in Early-Stage Development

Objective: Draw on Researcher Expertise to Assist the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) in their Development of a Virtual Reality (VR) Cultural Sensitivity Training System

Background: Through informal testing with eight CCIS employees, a design concept introduced in the “Preconceptions” application that is a VR cultural sensitivity training program. It creates a digitally immersive environment that tracks people’s eye movements to reveal implicit biases (e.g. show how one looks longer at a visible minority in a retail store). Patterns are presented to reveal implicit attentional bias.

Current Inniative: CCIS needs support systematically gathering and interpreting high-quality information for the purpose of continued innovation, development, and deployment. As such, CCIS is partnering with a social scientist that has a strong research background in community-based research. Since the social scientist is an expert in qualitative and quantitative data, he will be able to support an intern in developing high-quality information gathering strategies that includes sampling a diverse group from various demographics. The partnership will provide maximally effective information for improving an innovative cultural sensitivity training product.
An intern will learn to facilitate the use of the application: preparing the VR setup to ensure all technical aspects are functioning correctly, guiding participants through the eye-tracking activities, and analyzing data to identify patterns ensure participants understand how to interpret their data and reflect on their biases. The supervised internal will design questionnaires and focus groups for collecting feedback focusing on the effectiveness of the application in achieving learning objectives.

Outputs: (1) High-quality experience in a community-university partnership that provides transferable skills for a student-intern. (2) High-quality information-gathering tools such as effective surveys and focus group guides that enable further development and refinement of the VR system. (3) Improved efficacy of an innovative application from participant feedback and technical observations distilled into recommendations.

Faculty Supervisor:

James Cresswell

Student:

Partner:

Calgary Catholic Immigration Society

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

Ambrose University

Program: