Rachel
Rachel is a friend of ours. She loves helping students with their research because she knows how difficult it can be to find participants. She is a PhD student focused on Educational Development Research.
Who is Rachel?
Friendly
Adventurous
Kind
Patient
Rachel
Studies Educational Development Research
27 years old
From USA
“Everything is an opportunity to learn”
Brainstorming
In order to gather valuable stories and insights to shape our VR solution, we had to collect a little more information on the students’ curriculum. What do they do exactly, what drives them, and what do they think is lacking? Finding out their wants and needs. We guided participants with and without VR experience in exploring different applications and had them share their thoughts through guided questions and a short brainstorm. Here is a short passage:
"Now that you’ve tried some VR, what kind of environment works best in VR?"
"An ideal VR environment would be one where users can practice various scenarios."
"What should the users see, hear, and possibly feel?"
"They should feel a sensation as close to the real world as possible. Even if the scenario is simulated, it should evoke the same emotions."
Let's get drawing
We believe that drawing helps unleash creativity that might not come up otherwise. We asked them to think of their wildest VR-dreams. Even though we kept getting the same reaction, “I can’t draw!”, they thought up fascinating and innovative ideas. Afterwards, we analyzed the drawings and sketches, and based on them, we created new illustrations that tell the story they wanted to express. The sketches weren’t the final result, but a tool to spark creativity. If you would like to see the drawing Rachel made, click here.
Inside Rachel's imagination
Course Rachel believes needs change: Presentation Training
Rachel mentors students in soft skills like presenting, where performance anxiety often gets in the way of learning.
For many students, the thought of giving a presentation is enough to send their heart racing. Standing in front of the class, all eyes on them, they suddenly forget half of what they were going to say. Even with notes in hand, the nerves often take over.
Solution: But what if you could train those skills in a VR world one where you control the chaos? Maybe you start with a serious crowd, but then suddenly everyone’s wearing funny hats, spiders crawl across the floor, or the audience erupts in applause every time you finish a sentence.
Practicing in that kind of environment might just make the real thing feel like a breeze.
Long story short
What if students could train their presentation skills in a space that feels safe, playful, and completely their own? In VR, they enter a world of focused immersion, where outside distractions disappear and all their attention is on practicing and improving. This immersive setting helps reduce anxiety and keeps their mind clear. They can rehearse presentations with full control—adding fun distractions like spiders or applause, or choosing a quiet room. This virtual rehearsal lets them experiment and build confidence at their own pace.
While researching, we found an app that really resonated with Rachel's idea.
The app Ovation helps users gain confidence using realistic AI avatars in Virtual Reality. The user gets real-time AI-generated feedback about your performance. By adding AI to the mix can make the experience even more personalized and effective.
