ADAPTING TO COVID -19
social world
Carson Center course explores virtual and social worlds Assistant Professor of Practice in Emerging Media Arts Anna
this area to try to unpack from their own actual experience
Henson taught a special topics course in the spring titled
what virtual reality might be in the future and how they might
“Creating Augmented Worlds” to explore virtual and mixed reality to explore how people can be together, even if they’re far apart.
26
Avatar Dance by Olivia Benson from the Creating Augmented Worlds class in the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts.
want to design or participate in that.” The course offered a “big picture” introduction to the possibilities offered by virtual reality and immersive 3D experiences and discussed the broader universe of augmented
“Virtual reality has been asking that question for a while, and there are many tools,”
and mixed reality. Students began with individual prototyp-
Henson said. “Telepresence [such as a Zoom meeting] is one method for being togeth-
ing assignments and worldbuilding in Unity, a game engine.
er. But Zoom class can sometimes lack the embodied connection, the feeling of being
Students also explored group activities in social VR, such as
in the same space together. This presented a really great opportunity to see how being
VRChat, Rec Room and Mozilla Hubs. The class culminated
together in a virtual space actually contributed to our learning experiences. And for the
with final group projects, splitting into three groups of three
students themselves who may end up being designers or creators or technologists in
students each, to create a world and an avatar for VRChat.
HIXSON-LIED COLLEGE of FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS | FALL 2021
