Working With Avatars and High Schoolers to Teach Qualitative Methods to Undergraduates

Abstract

Learning to conduct qualitative research is a complex endeavor. In this article, I introduce mixed reality simulations as a scaffolded learning tool to support student mastery of learning and knowing how to conduct qualitative research. Like flight simulators used to train airline pilots prior to flying an actual airplane, mixed reality simulations provide active practice opportunities to interact with avatars in order to practice newly learned skills. I discuss this in the context of my experiences using mixed reality in an undergraduate youth participatory action research methods course as a scaffold before joining research teams with high-school-aged coresearchers.

Mixed Reality in Undergraduate Mental Health Education: A Systematic Review

“…Therefore 30 papers were selected for a full text reading; 24 out of these being discarded for various reasons (see Multimedia File S3). A total of six publications were finally included [60][61][62][63][64][65]. The Cohen kappa showed a substantial level of agreement, and it was categorized as "good" (κ = 0.73) (range 0.61-0.80) based on the categories developed by Altman [33].…”

“…Regarding points 1 (year of publication), 2 (country of the study) and 3 (study design), the following results were extracted (Table 1): the 6 selected studies were published between 2013 (n = 1; 16.7%) [60] and 2022 (n = 1; 16.7%) [64]. The majority of the studies were conducted in the United States (n = 4; 66.7%) [60,61,63,65]. The remaining papers were published in Australia (n = 1; 16.7%) [62], and Korea (n = 1; 16.7%) [64].…”

“…The remaining papers were published in Australia (n = 1; 16.7%) [62], and Korea (n = 1; 16.7%) [64]. The studies involved followed a quantitative (n = 3; 50%) [60,61,64], qualitative (n = 2; 33.3%) [62,63], or mixed method approach (n = 1; 16.7%) [62] (Table 1).…”

“…Sample sized ranged from 13 [62] to 63 students involved [61]. There were some studies (n = 4; 66.7%) which did not provide the mean participant's age [61][62][63]65], two of which did not specify students' college degrees either [61,63]. Students involved were under diverse healthcare disciplines such as medical and nursing [60,62], physician's [60], occupational therapy, dietetics [62] and communication sciences and disorders [65].…”

Mixed reality simulations for social-emotional learning

“…MRS can offer a safe space for children to practice complex interpersonal skills and receive on-the-spot coaching and feedback before having to use these skills with real classmates who might be affected by the child’s mistakes (Murphy, 2019). If the learner engaging in a simulation is unsure what to do or an adult observer realizes the learner needs intervention, they can pause the simulation.…”