2018

SCU’s College of Arts and Sciences launched an academic journey into the world of virtual reality this year, thanks in part to an important partnership with Oculus. The journey begins in the Imaginarium, housed inside the Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building, which serves as a laboratory for experimenting with both virtual and augmented reality. There, students, faculty, and staff can build and experience a variety of VR systems and explore new ways of learning and new venues for artistic expression.

“The pace of technological innovations associated with virtual reality technology has increased exponentially in recent years,” says Debbie Tahmassebi, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “We believe our partnership with Oculus will enable us to leverage the full potential of virtual reality across academic disciplines, including traditionally non-technical disciplines such as philosophy, English, and studio art.”

Oculus selected Santa Clara University as one of several institutions, including Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cornell, and other prestigious universities, to examine how virtual reality (VR) can impact learning outcomes. Seeking data-driven research proposals, Oculus provided SCU with a substantial grant, as well as hardware and assistance, to pursue three distinct projects that will explore the potential role of VR in liberal arts education. These projects will examine:

• VR’s ability to stimulate long-term change and collective action, specifically, the impact of a VR experience depicting an international issue (e.g., life in a refugee camp) on an individual’s understanding, attitudes, and commitment.
• VR’s impact on philosophical thought experiments, including whether virtual experiences engage one’s capacity for moral decision-making differently than traditional thought experiments.
• Whether VR stimulates interest in cross-disciplinary learning.

The 2017-18 school year launches a variety of VR activities in the College of Arts and Sciences, including a “Virtual Reality 101” bootcamp, which helps students learn to create their own VR experience from the ground up, including introductions to coding, story building, equipment management, and content creation.

The biggest event is SCU’s inaugural Imagine That! Competition, which will feature teams of students from different academic disciplines. Throughout the year, the students will pitch and create their own virtual reality experience to answer a question, solve a problem, or address a topic. Virtual reality industry professionals will help mentor the projects during the winter and spring quarters. The contest will conclude with the submission and judging phase, which focuses on artistic design and creativity. Students will receive feedback on their projects from VR experts and studio art faculty. The winning team will receive a cash prize; all students participating in the contest will learn about internship and career opportunities with major VR companies.

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About the College of Arts and Sciences at Santa Clara University

The College of Arts and Sciences is the heart of Santa Clara University. Our faculty integrate transformative teaching and innovative scholarship to engage students in the processes of learning, discovery and reflection as members of a community of scholars.

The College of Arts and Sciences Corporate Partners Program aims to redefine corporate engagement with undergraduate universities. As the Jesuit university in the Silicon Valley, the College of Arts and Sciences is distinctly positioned to provide companies a unique platform to serve their community.

For more information, please email Daniel Iritani or call him at 408-551-3446.