On Friday, September 4, 2020, first-year students in the Grande Ecole Program at the Angers campus had a meeting in the lecture hall... but not just any lecture hall—a virtual one!
Interacting remotely as if you were in a "real lecture hall" is possible!
Jean Quessada, director of the Angers campus, and Jean-Michel Lefranc, representative of the Société des Ingénieurs Arts et Métiers the Campus (DSC), welcomed first-year students of the Grande Ecole Program to a digital space accessible remotely: Laval Virtual World.
But what is the difference between this and a remote meeting on a collaborative platform? Social presence! The goal was to be able to interact directly with the more than 130 students who were connected and present through their avatars. Surprisingly, being embodied in an avatar engages and involves people in a much more significant way than in a remote meeting. As in a face-to-face lecture hall, students had the opportunity to raise their hands or speak into their microphones to ask questions.
This tool is really interesting from every point of view: it meets a need for proximity and interactivity in a context where human relationships are affected. I was delighted to be able to host this conference in this virtual world where students find themselves in a listening position, just like in a "real" lecture hall," explains Jean Quessada.
This welcome event, which was the first of its kind on the Angers campus, enabled students to discover and explore new forms of learning and collaboration. Proximity, fluidity in exchanges, and spontaneity among all stakeholders were the watchwords.
Virtual reality, a subject that has long been at the heart of research at Arts et Métiers
At the Arts et Métiers Institute Arts et Métiers Laval, virtual reality is not an unfamiliar subject, as a team Arts et Métiers LAMPA laboratory is conducting research to develop design approaches focused on user experience and immersive applications. The team was involved by Laval Virtual in choosing the Virbela platform for Laval Virtual World. In this virtual world, Arts et Métiers researchers and developers Arts et Métiers Laval have set up and customized all the rooms for scientific conferences. The Institute also trains students with a Master's degree in "Management of Interactive 3D Technologies - MTI3D" dedicated to digital tools and more specifically virtual and augmented reality.
