Utilizing the unique capabilities of VR, the immersive VR realm was designed as a bridge to connect students to the instructors of Coursera online learning. An ecosystem was created to provide an interactive, immersive and engaging experience.
The Problem
How do we deliver university courses in a fully immersive environment that includes real-time interaction with the instructor and other students?
Solution Goals
• Phone app designed for use with the Google DayDream headset.
• The VR experience is designed for lectures. Reading materials are separate.
• Students can design an avatar, similar to the “Mii” characters in the Nintendo Wii.
• The instructor delivers lectures in front of a camera so that students can see the instructor in the
immersive environment.
• Audio/visual materials for lectures will occupy a 3-dimensional space.
• Lectures are delivered live, so that students can raise a virtual hand to ask questions in real time.
Coursera and VR
a case study
a case study
Coursera provides universal access to some of the world’s best education including courses from Yale, Stanford, UC San Diego, University of Michigan, and others. Now Coursera wants to take education technology to the next level by offering VR courses via a phone app and the Google DayDream, so that students can be immersed in their learning experience with their instructors and other students.
It started with a question...
How could Coursera utilize Google Daydream virtual reality headsets to give a virtual immersive interactive learning experience?
This lead to the directions of our research. There were two aspects that needed to be addressed.
The Coursera side and the Google VR side.
This lead to the directions of our research. There were two aspects that needed to be addressed.
The Coursera side and the Google VR side.
Coursera is the largest massive open online course (MOOC) provider with over 22 million students and over 1,600 courses. (This was taken directly from the Coursera website)
1. Coursera currently provide its courses? (without VR)
2. Who is taking Coursera courses?
3. Is there a market need for VR courses?
4. How will these courses be made available, technically?
1. Coursera currently provide its courses? (without VR)
2. Who is taking Coursera courses?
3. Is there a market need for VR courses?
4. How will these courses be made available, technically?
Google Daydream
Although Google is one of the largest technology companies in the world, They’re a late comer to the VR field. Yes, they make the #1 selling VR device in the world in the Cardboard but this is not a device for long term use nor is it conducive to a virtual learning environment. The Daydream is not the Cardboard. They both use mobile phones to power the device but the Daydream requires a much higher technical spec in order to work with the Daydream. This is what Google calls “Daydream Ready”.
So, the questions became:
1. Who can use Google Daydream?
2. Is this the best option for Coursera?
2. Is this the best option for Coursera?
The answer is “Not a lot of people” and “Not Really”.
Google Daydream is not the way to go ...
Then the question became:
What is the best way to align Coursera with the current VR options?
What is the best way to align Coursera with the current VR options?
Angela Lee – head research, design, data analysis
Zulfikar Poluan – creative director, research and information architecture
Gene Kim – project manager, design, data analysis
TOOLS
Whiteboard, Pen & Paper, imagination, empathy, communication
Looking into the sales of VR headsets, we realized there is no universal standard. Also, the Google Daydream underperformed compared to other headsets. There were high sales of both dedicated (PC and console) and Mobile VR devices. And with more headsets becoming available on the market every day, what was best to stay ahead of the hardware limitations?
A couple of things started to become very clear. A dedicated Google Daydream classroom was not the way to go. At 15% of the VR market using the device for education over the next two years, creating an exclusive Google environment would alienate all other (the majority) of VR users.
AH-HA! — PLATFORM AGNOSTIC!
But is this possible? We asked the experts.
Surprisingly, the unanimous answer is Yes, it is possible.
There are some technical hurdles you will need to overcome but it is possible.
There are some technical hurdles you will need to overcome but it is possible.
From our surveys and interviews, personas were created of both the student and instructor.
PERSONAS
IDEATION
Iterations of ideas ... (there are no bad ideas)
Contextual research
USER TESTING
DESIGN
DELIVERABLES
Instructor's Dashboard Design Studio
Instructor's Dashboard
Sketches of mobile UI design and layout
Mobile App Prototype video
On-boarding and login user flow
Sketch of Virtual View
In Head-set Virtual View
Welcome to the world of Coursera VR
The immersive VR realm was designed as a bridge to connect the students to the instructors. In order to visualize this world, the on-boarding process of the students (through mobile application) and Instructor Desktop was designed to present interactivity.
NEXT STEPS
✓ Partner with VR Headset producers, like Google and Oculus, to provide headsets to
students that sign up for VR courses.
✓ Implement full-body gestures and accurate tracking for mobile users.
✓ Adding more features of interaction to allow for more hands-on learning (surgery, passing around objects, zooming in, etc)
Thank you
