Northwestern Oklahoma State University Department of Social Work recently hosted an open house for its new Virtual Reality Lab and Resource Center at the Enid campus.
This facility features a state-of-the-art VR lab in which social work students wear a headset and operate hand controllers that transport them into various virtual environments to learn professional practice skills. The VR lab offers an opportunity for students to interact with a virtual environment while the images displayed on the goggles are broadcasted to large wall-mounted monitors for faculty instruction with observing students.
The open house event was attended by more than 40 individuals who were able to engage in both entertainment and educational VR experiences. Attendees were entertained by going on African safaris, riding roller coasters, diving with sharks, visiting the limits of space, walking with dinosaurs, and interacting with a puppy-like alien in which participants got to pet, feed and play fetch with.
Attendees learned of the room’s educational capabilities through walking with a homeless man living in the streets of San Francisco, stepping into the shoes of a 16-year-old with autism as she attends a birthday party to hear her inner thoughts and experience the event from her perspective, and attending a home health visit in which suspected child abuse has occurred.
The Department of Social Work is integrating this technology into their curriculum on all three campus locations through 11 VR headsets. The VR curriculum centers on student development of core competencies, empathy building and cultural awareness.
Dr. Janet Cunningham, university president, attended the event and was the first to try out the technology at the open house.
“This technology will set our social work department apart from others,” Cunningham said. “It gives our students an advantage in developing skills in real-life situations. New technologies are going to help our students learn a new environment and I am proud of Dr. Rehder for embracing this technology with her faculty and students.”
This facility was made possible through a $40,000 grant by the Child Welfare Professional Enhancement Program (CWPEP) Student Payback Funds Grant awarded nearly a year ago. Dr. Kylene Rehder, social work department chair, authored the grant and is thrilled to bring innovative educational methods to students of Northwestern.
“A project of this caliber requires the support of innovation, and the Department of Social Work is grateful to an administration committed to academic excellence and embracing the role of technology in the educational process,” Rehder said. “Simulation training is a well-established feature in professional practice programs, and the department is proud to utilize cutting edge VR technology to advance skills and produce more qualified and competent social workers in the field.”
Jennifer Pribble, assistant professor of social work and director of field experience, serves as the VR lab coordinator and directs all experiential and simulations experiences for social work students.
“I am proud to have had the opportunity to help develop the virtual reality lab at Northwestern and look forward to implementing the new technology into curriculum with social work students. The ability to immerse students into practice-like experiences allows them an additional way to develop social work skills before practicum placements,” Pribble said.
The Social Work Virtual Reality Lab and Resource Center was funded by the University of Oklahoma’s Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work on behalf of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) to assist in retaining quality social workers in the public child welfare system.
“We would like to express our appreciation to the Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work at the University of Oklahoma and OKDHS for their tremendous support of this project and thank everyone who attended our open house,” Rehder said.
For more information about the department, please contact Rehder at 580-327-8135 or kdrehder@nwosu.edu.
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