Immersive experiences with VR platforms: improving learning experiences  

Going abroad can be both exciting and challenging, as students navigate new cultures, environments, and unexpected situations. To help exchange students prepare for these experiences the Ready, immerse and Go Ulysseus satellite project aims to develop a VR platform offering virtual scenarios and activities designed to ease students into the diverse challenges of a mobility period. 

The content is co-created with insights from past and current exchange students, interns, and trainees. Therefore, the scenarios from this VR platform reflect real-life experiences and practical solutions empowering students and promoting positive feelings for their international journeys.  

Strategies and insights in recruiting international participants 

Our aim for the recruitment phase was to hear from 20 students who have already had international experiences, as well as from international students coming to Haaga-Helia. Gathering the required 20 participants per university initially seemed straightforward. However, the process turned out to be more complex than anticipated. 

We reached out to various student groups, starting with students returning from exchange programs. Despite emailing over 350 students, responses were scarce. Personal invitations also did not work well. Next, we targeted incoming exchange students, sharing flyers and presentations during their January 2024 orientation. We also engaged international degree students and Helga (Haaga-Helias student Union) student tutors, offering informal workshops with snacks, networking, and a lottery for movie tickets. Additionally, participants could earn 1 ECTS for extra project work. 

Interestingly, our partner universities used different strategies, such as remuneration or mandatory participation, to reach their participant targets. This highlights the importance of adapting approaches to local contexts in international projects. While we offered study points, some partners faced legal or regulatory constraints and devised alternative incentives. Such flexibility ensures optimal participation and richer results across diverse settings. 

Applying Design Thinking for deeper understanding and collaborative solutions  

To explore the exchange experiences in depth and to empathise with the target group, we applied the Design Thinking method. We designed two workshops aiming to uncover challenging situations that may arise during an international mobility period, and to ideate ways to mitigate these challenges. A secondary objective was to define the characteristics of the target group. The same workshop method was followed by all the project partners. 

Workshop 1

• Aimed to identify challenges during international mobility and define target group characteristics. 
• Included three activities: an icebreaker discussion, two-round participant interviews to uncover and deepen understanding of challenges, and persona creation based on interview data. 

Workshop 2

• Built on Workshop 1 outcomes, identifying ten themes that shaped individual sessions. 
• Participants joined sessions relevant to their interests, fostering diverse, cross-university collaboration. 
• Activities included creating personas, exploring challenges, and brainstorming solutions using online tools like whiteboards and Zoom. 

The workshops encouraged collaboration and focused on addressing mobility-related challenges through innovative solutions.  Both workshops followed a three-phase structure.

1. Identifying Challenges: Participants explored specific challenges personas might face, drawing on collective insights to deepen understanding. 
2. Ideating Solutions: Participants brainstormed strategies to address or prevent the identified challenges. 
3. Creating User Scenarios: Subgroups developed user scenarios integrating the challenges and solutions, with facilitators providing guidance as needed. 

This approach encouraged collaboration and creativity, empowering participants to shape meaningful, scenario-based outcomes. 

Creating a supportive space for meaningful exchange experiences 

The workshops emphasized the importance of creating an open and comfortable environment, with the initial icebreaker discussion proving effective in encouraging participants to share experiences and build a sense of community. The interview phase provided deeper insights into individual challenges, using a structured two-round format to uncover nuanced perspectives. 

Persona creation, while valuable, emerged as the most challenging aspect due to varying quality. To address this, facilitators refined the process by selecting personas for subsequent workshops to ensure consistency. These adaptations underscored the value of iterative improvement and participant-driven exploration in achieving meaningful outcomes. 

After the first workshop, facilitators identified 10 key themes based on participant discussions:

• Leisure/socializing
• Culture shock
• Loneliness/friendship/mental health
• Job hunting
• Accommodation challenges
• Dealing with administration,
• Transportation/wayfinding
• Security/safety
• Course issues
• Language problems

These themes formed the foundation for the second round of online workshops, which focused on exploring challenges and brainstorming solutions. However, the online format lacked the sense of togetherness from the first workshop. Participants also used the identified challenges, solutions, and personas from the first workshop to create scenarios. 

Key takeaways: adapting strategies, creating meaningful opportunities and fostering participative culture 

From the overall experience, we learned the importance of adapting the recruitment strategies to the cultural contexts and the local preferences. For students it is crucial that we emphasize clear benefits and tangible rewards, such as earning ECTS credits, networking opportunities, vouchers, etc. Additionally, to enhance the outreach it is important to use different social platforms and include academic staff, student unions, international offices in communicating the project and its benefits.  

An important suggestion to consider is offering credits or formal recognition for participation in a project. Also, developing workplace-relevant skills like ideation and design tools, can boost motivation and attract more students seeking hands-on experience. 

Additionally, an important aspect of co-creation is to raise the awareness among students to proactively build a participative culture in workshops and projects that are beneficial for students.  

All in all, involving students in projects fosters skill development, practical experience, and engagement. Projects can create meaningful opportunities for students while achieving impactful outcomes.  

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