Exploring Stage Lighting Education in the Metaverse
Introduction
The ongoing evolution of immersive technologies has led to a diverse range of studies investigating their impacts on various learning scenarios. However, much of the existing research has been confined to one-time lab sessions or experiments, lacking a comprehensive understanding of virtual reality (VR) in an actual classroom context. This article presents our late-breaking work exploring the use of VR in stage lighting education for the Technical Theater Arts course at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Research Objectives
Our study aims to answer two primary research questions:
- What are the attitudes and design requirements of educators and school managers?
- What lessons were learned while building the initial VR lighting education prototype?
Methodology
We adopted a practical redesign research approach, co-designing with four key stakeholders: course instructors, stage practitioners, and two school managers over a six-month period. We then performed a thematic analysis to derive insights and requirements from their feedback.
Insights and Requirements
The primary motivation for utilizing VR in stage lighting education centers around feasibility and safety. VR enables students to learn anytime and anywhere, allowing them to explore without the risk of damaging expensive professional equipment. Additionally, stakeholders emphasized the role of VR in quickly imparting knowledge and concepts before students proceed to actual practice.
Design Requirements
From our analysis, we derived four key design requirements for the VR system:
- The system should be used not only for teaching but also for completing assignments.
- The level of realism should serve the purpose of learning.
- The system should offer natural communication for lecturing and teaching.
- The user interface should be intuitive and user-friendly.
Prototype Implementation
Based on these requirements, we implemented a VR lighting education prototype for the theater course, allowing students and teachers to enter a collaborative state for teaching and lecturing. Moreover, we designed a 2D web-based user interface for users to interact with lights in various familiar ways, akin to desktop interactions.
Lessons Learned
Throughout the design process, we derived two critical lessons:
- Learning objectives would differ in a course, and realism could be dynamic to accommodate different students’ learning goals in real environments for personalized learning.
- We should explore the optimal distribution of VR and reality-based assignments, ensuring that students learn theoretical concepts in the virtual auditorium and can apply them in real-world scenarios.
Future Directions
In the future, we plan to explore more meaningful educational interactions in VR. This includes conducting long-term studies in the course to measure effectiveness and evaluating how well VR can facilitate students’ mastery of concepts related to stage lighting education. We are excited to understand the potential of implementing assignments and exams in VR environments.
Conclusion
Our research highlights the potential of integrating VR technology into stage lighting education. By embracing these immersive tools, we can enhance the learning experience, making it safer, more accessible, and tailored to individual students’ needs. As we continue to develop and refine our VR prototype, we hope to contribute valuable insights to the field of technical theater arts.