Submitted photo
Thrasher and Larissa at the WLDH Studio Podcasting Booth
Tricia Thrasher, director of VR research at Immerse, visited the University of Arkansas campus on September 24th and 25th to kick off a collaboration between the educational technology company Immerse and the Office of World Languages, Literature, and Culture.
On September 24th at CORD, Thrasher gave a presentation on the future of VR education at the “VR at UARK” event hosted by Trevor Francis and Curtis Maughan. The event featured seven speakers from various departments across campus, as well as keynote speaker Dr. Thrasher. More than 45 students, faculty, staff, and A University community members attended.
Later that day, Thrasher attended Professor Curtis Morgan’s course titled “Serious Games and the Past,” which discussed the process of developing interactive, game-like experiences for second language acquisition. With a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition Teacher Education, Thrasher showed his class how he used his humanities education to secure a high-level position in the educational technology industry. .
Tricia Thrasher, research director at Immerse VR, will present research on the rise in popularity of virtual reality post-pandemic and its projected increase in popularity in higher education institutions by the end of 2024.
WLDH Studio Director Curtis Maughan shares the ongoing curriculum and research in VR and the WLLC partnership with Immerse.
Thrasher spoke with studio researcher Larissa Rocha as part of WLDH Studio’s upcoming podcast, “Language Bytes.” They discussed making their way from language to industry and the challenges along the way. Mr. Thrasher detailed how his research interests and French language skills led to his current position at Immerse.
Finally, Mr. Thrasher will give a guest lecture entitled “The Immersive Classroom: Exploring the Role of VR in Education,” exploring the potential of virtual reality in second language acquisition and the road to integrating immersion into immersive university language courses. We discussed maps. A. Thrasher also presented case studies of other universities using Immerse and outlined the game-like features Immerse is currently building into its platform.
On the morning of September 25th, Thrasher helped assistant professor of French Maria Comsa and Spanish instructor Songhe Yang onboard their introductory French and Spanish courses on Immerse. Comsa and Yang plan to investigate how using Immerse to supplement introductory language learning impacts students’ speaking ability. A follow-up event will be held on November 19th, where Comsa and Yang will present their findings.
Reflecting on the whirlwind of activity during his visit, Thrasher said: “It was really exciting to visit the University of Arkansas to start a new research collaboration! Integrating Immerse into language courses. We’re looking forward to seeing how this strengthens their academic progress in how French and Spanish learners at Arkansas State University practice their speaking outside of class. We plan to measure the impact it has and look forward to receiving preliminary findings in November. ”
About Dr. Tricia Thrasher
Thrasher holds a Ph.D. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition Teacher Education and is currently the Director of Research at Immerse, a virtual reality language learning company. Today, Immerse helps develop the company’s research agenda by overseeing all internal academic and user research as well as more than 30 external research partners around the world who conduct research using the Immerse platform. I am leading. With funding from Meta, she is spearheading a large-scale research initiative to optimize the use of VR and AI in language instruction in large schools. Her current research interests include immersive learning technologies (virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality), emotional responses to learning (anxiety), and the use of AI in learning. Thrasher has received several awards, including the ACTFL Award for Dissertation Research in World Language Education and the CALICO Journal Article of the Year Award. She has also received grants for research into virtual reality for language learning from organizations such as Meta, Duolingo, Language Learning, and NFMLTA. Learn more about Immerse VR
For more information about integrating VR into world language courses and broader VR education, please contact Curtis Maughan (WLDH Studio) at cmaughan@uark.edu.
