UHCL to extend reach with new XR Lab

The University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) is getting an XR Lab, a mixed media lab that includes Virtual and Augmented Reality technology. The XR Lab is scheduled to open in the fall of 2020 and will be located in the Neumann Library inside the Bayou Building. The XR Lab will be accessible to students and faculty.

“We at UHCL are trying to bring immersive technology to campus, which will fully support teaching and learning as well as serve the local communities and entrepreneurship,” said Jingshan Xiao, associate director of Library Digital Services.

The lab will provide students the opportunity to learn and faculty to teach in an immersive platform. VR technologies provide a new medium for a wide variety of content, which includes history, art and architecture. An example of how the technology can be implemented into the curriculum is with a WWII simulation that places the student in the action by way of the virtual reality headset.

“There are a number of things that virtual reality is particularly good for; one of the areas that the industry has used virtual reality most extensively so far is in simulation and training,” said James Riggall, senior industry fellow in the college of business and economics at the University of Tasmania.

Riggall was a panelist on the virtual and augmented futures panel discussion that was held in the Neumann Library on Feb. 18. Other panelists included Angelica Garcia, simulation and software engineer at CACI International who works with NASA; Danel Zharmenova, associate designer with the Gin Design Group; David Squires, assistant professor in instructional design and educational technology at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; Jonathan Schlueter, computer engineer and applied scientist with the NASA Johnson Space Center Virtual Reality  Laboratory; Nicholas Kelling, associate professor of psychology and director of the human factors psychology program at UHCL; and Michael Brims, associate professor of communication and digital media at UHCL.

Regarding types of simulations and trainings that might be offered with VR technologies, Riggall said typically things that are hard to practice because mistakes pose large problems or threats like disaster response, performing surgeries, flying aircrafts and flying shuttles would be ideal candidates for VR teaching opportunities for faculty members to implement.

Riggall drew upon his experience with opening the XR Lab at Bellevue College in Washington State to describe what UHCL may have in store. Riggall said individuals in the industry will most likely come by and do demonstrations for faculty and staff about the current state of technology.

Riggall said another thing that UHCL may have to look forward to is the possibility of a future VR club on campus, which may include building VR equipment and software.

When explaining where the decision to bring the XR Lab to UHCL came from, Vivienne McClendon, executive director of Neumann Library, credited it to the potential for universal storytelling among the mediums of augmented and virtual reality.

“VR and AR are new mediums for storytelling as well as other things and the library is a place that provides all kinds of different mediums, whether that’s a book, an article, movie, music recording, or online database which all convey information to an audience,” said McClendon, when explaining the decision to bring an XR Lab to UHCL.

McLendon also discussed early research done on VR that showed students who previously made good grades in geometry, and took the same test a year later, scored lower than before, compared to other students who made lower grades originally and participated in VR lessons in geometry that led them to higher grades when they took the same test a year later. McClendon credits these results to “VR being a constructed lived experience and a real memory.”

Riggall said the library is neutral territory space for the XR lab to fit.

“Having a lab like this situated in the library is really important as well because libraries are pretty much the only neutral territory on a campus,” Riggall said. “What that means is any member of staff, any faculty member and student feels like they can access the XR Lab, and it’s not just for the computer science students.”

While there are many simulations available within the VR technology, McClendon, Xiao and the XR lab staff would like to encourage the faculty here at UHCL to help collaborate on possible simulations that could be most helpful to UHCL and be included when the lab officially opens in the fall.

For additional information on the XR Lab coming to UHCL fall of 2020 contact Vivienne McClendon or Jingshan Xiao in the Neumann Library.