Construction of a Tangible VR-Based Interactive System for Intergenerational Learning

Abstract

The recent years have witnessed striking global demographic shifts. Retired elderly people often stay home, seldom communicate with their grandchildren, and fail to acquire new knowledge or pass on their experiences. In this study, digital technologies based on virtual reality (VR) with tangible user interfaces (TUIs) were introduced into the design of a novel interactive system for intergenerational learning, aimed at promoting the elderly people’s interactions with younger generations. Initially, the literature was reviewed and experts were interviewed to derive the relevant design principles. The system was constructed accordingly using gesture detection, sound sensing, and VR techniques, and was used to play animation games that simulated traditional puppetry. The system was evaluated statistically by SPSS and AMOS according to the scales of global perceptions of intergenerational communication and the elderly’s attitude via questionnaire surveys, as well as interviews with participants who had experienced the system. Based on the evaluation results and some discussions on the participants’ comments, the following conclusions about the system effectiveness were drawn: (1) intergenerational learning activities based on digital technology can attract younger generations; (2) selecting game topics familiar to the elderly in the learning process encourages them to experience technology; and (3) both generations are more likely to understand each other as a result of joint learning.

Bridging the Generational Gap: Exploring How Virtual Reality Supports Remote Communication Between Grandparents and Grandchildren

“…Another key finding of our study was the desire for re-experiencing familiar daily activities between grandparents and grandchildren in VR, which could help them better enjoy the company of each other and get used to new VR operations more easily. This finding is in line with prior work that showed that activities familiar to older adults could encourage them to accept VR technology easily [115]. Moreover, our work uncovered three common daily activities that participants would like to engage in: family dining, watching TV, and playing sports.…”

“…Recently, researchers also investigated how VR might be used for older adults and the younger generation. By engaging in specific VR activities (e.g., tandem biking, co-learning), older adults and their younger generations could gain positive emotions and understand each other better afterward [45,115].…”

“…Second, users can "physically" interact with each other via avatar as in person, which enables them to express themselves more freely [1,100]. Lastly, users could participate in varied shared activities in VR, such as doing sports [45], sharing photos [65], and learning together [115]. While prior work showed that older adults and their younger generations feel enjoyable and understand each other better by doing shared VR activities (e.g., tandem biking, co-learning) in co-located scenarios [45,115], only one recent work, to our knowledge, explored VR as a communication medium for older adults and their family members who live at a distance [3].…”

“…Lastly, users could participate in varied shared activities in VR, such as doing sports [45], sharing photos [65], and learning together [115]. While prior work showed that older adults and their younger generations feel enjoyable and understand each other better by doing shared VR activities (e.g., tandem biking, co-learning) in co-located scenarios [45,115], only one recent work, to our knowledge, explored VR as a communication medium for older adults and their family members who live at a distance [3]. While this paper suggested that VR-based remote communication can improve the overall life quality of older adults with cognitive impairments and reduce the burden of remote family members [3], it remains unknown how grandparents and grandchildren would want VR to be designed to facilitate their remote inter-generational communication.…”

Mitigating Ageism through Virtual Reality: Intergenerational Collaborative Escape Room Design

“…Previous research has consistently demonstrated the potential of VR to improve mutual understanding between individuals of different ages. For instance, in activities such as intergenerational learning [45] and buddy biking [18], both older and younger participants have reported enjoying the social aspects and gaining a better understanding of one another. Baker et al [3] also show how VR can be used to adapt body movements, effectively concealing physical disabilities such as Parkinson's disease, thus allowing older users to present themselves as they wish in VR communication contexts.…”