Mixed-reality simulations present advantage for UMass Boston Honors College and masters students
Eighth grader Nate wants to talk about planets. But his teacher, a freshman in UMass Boston’s Honors College, is trying to get through a class activity about social awareness. She tells him that maybe they can talk about planets once this activity is over. A short time later, another Honors College freshman teaching the class notices that Nate isn’t participating.
“Hey, Nate, do you have any thoughts about this?” the second freshman asks.
“I do not get this. I don’t get this. I don’t know what’s happening,” Nate says.
Nate has autism spectrum disorder. Nate also isn’t real. He’s an avatar that Assistant Professor of Special Education Kristin Murphy helped develop. Murphy, a professor in the College of Education and Human Development, has collaborated with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and mixed reality provider Mursion to develop and pilot scenarios for the last four years. This year Nate and Harrison, an avatar with a specific learning disability, were added to the mix. There are other simulations with “parents.”
“It’s one thing for a student to be able to write a graduate-level academic paper about special education law. It’s an entirely different skill set to be able to draw upon your knowledge of the law and apply it in a meeting with a concerned parent in an accessible and empathetic manner,” Murphy said.
Another advantage to the mixed-reality simulations (MRS) is that Murphy’s students can choose to “pause” the interactions, so that they can get feedback from Murphy and the class.
This is what the Honors College students did following their next interactions with Nate. One asked Nate if he had any questions … and then another asked him the same thing.
Stammered Nate, “Everybody is talking at me right now. I don’t know what’s happening.”
The Honors College students had some ideas about how to help Nate and everyone in the classroom. One suggested doing a group breathing exercise.
“Maybe make the example about what social awareness is into something about the planets,” offered another.
Erica Perry is a biology major in the Honors College who is interested in teaching percussion lessons. During her group’s simulation the month before, avatar Savannah started to fall asleep.
“From this experience, I learned that it is nearly impossible to predict exactly what the students are going to say or how they will behave. They make very realistic facial expressions and hand gestures that clearly indicate how they are feeling, whether it be excited, tired, confused, or bored, so whenever I saw a peculiar face, I knew it was time to change things up and try a different method to regain their attention,” Perry said.
Meredith Crowe, who graduates in December from UMass Boston’s Special Education Program, agrees with Perry’s assessment—that you never know what to expect.
“The first time I worked with an avatar, she was very difficult and had a challenging attitude. The next time I was scheduled to work with one, I prepared with this in mind and was ready to have a tough interaction. I was completely unprepared for having a more constructive conversation. It was so pleasant I had to ask to ‘pause’ to ask my peers what direction to go in with the conversation!” Crowe said.
Murphy stresses that the mixed-reality simulations are not intended to replace field-based experiences, but rather prepare for field-based experiences. Chuck Graham, a teacher in Somerville, just finished his second year in UMass Boston’s Special Education Program.
“I remember one instance specifically where I was working with a parent avatar who was rather frustrating. I continued to rephrase and repeat myself to get my point across, but the parent avatar just didn’t want to hear it. The simulation forced me to be blunt, direct, and stick to the points I was making based on the assessments I had done,” Graham said. “I do not typically see a lot of confrontation in the meetings I attend so it’s nice to be able to practice those skills without the fear of creating a negative experience for a family.”
Murphy says MRS is not just for preparing teachers.
“The possibilities are truly endless. You’re really only limited by your imagination,” Murphy said.
Murphy has collaborated with Assistant Professor of School Counseling Amy Cook on studying the utility of MRS as a learning tool with young children, and is exploring applications in nursing coursework with Janice Foust, Judy Walsh, and Rosemary Samia of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
To pay for the simulations, Murphy has secured funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation, and others.