1. Faculty Duo Brings Virtual and Augmented Reality to Southwest and Study Abroad
- Submitted by Denise Malloy and LaDonna R. Young
Twenty-four-hour travel time. Eighteen hours, 30 minutes flight time. Fourteen Google Cardboard
Virtual Reality (VR) viewers, inscribed with the Southwest logo. 12 iPads and one 360 Fly HD video
camera. Ten anxious Southwest Tennessee Community College (Southwest) students. Three
connecting flights. Two continents. One ambitious goal: expose Southwest students to the most
cutting edge, emerging technology – virtual and augmented reality (AR). And no clue of how all of
the dots will connect in the end.
The Australian Study Abroad is a program of many “firsts.”
Southwest Tennessee Community College’s Study Abroad program expanded its reach to the
continent of Australia, “down under,” making it the first Australian study abroad program within the
Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) system. Australia has often been dismissed as a viable study
abroad location because some perceive the country “too expensive.” However, the meticulous
planning and conscientious budgeting of Social and Behavioral Sciences faculty Shannon Little and
LaDonna R. Young convinced Dr. Tamara McColgan, associate dean and International Studies
director, a study abroad program in Sydney, Australia, could work.
The program took place in Sydney, Australia, May 10-17. Sydney is one of the most multicultural
cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney, and about one-
third of residents speak a language other than English at home. Poverty in rural Sydney and regional
Australia is a critical concern. Particularly for Aboriginal people, there have been a myriad of
programs to help this segment of the population gain access to services such as health, education,

2. employment opportunities. The historical and present-day experiences and treatment of Aboriginal
people provided the perfect context for our study abroad trip.
Students in EDUC 1010 Introduction to Education focused on Australia’s highly successful K-12
educational system, comparing and contrasting “What's Right with Australian Education and What
Can the U.S. Learn”? Students in SOCI 1020 Social Problems focused on social inequality including
both economic and racial inequality. Together, our delegation became a “learning community on
wheels.” Our “classroom” consisted of wherever planned excursions and lectures took us. One day
we trekked to the University of Sydney and gained an insightful understanding of Australia’s K-12
educational system with a lecture given by Dr. Jen Curwood, senior lecturer and program director,
Study Abroad. We spent a Saturday immersed in the Outback and the Blue Mountains as we listened
to the lived experiences of one Aboriginal man, Evan Yanna Muru. Muru is an Aboriginal person born
on Darug land, who has studied indigenous culture “out in the Australian bush” since a child. Muru
spent two hours with students sharing the history and “dreaming” aspect of the Aboriginal culture
and answering our student's many questions. (www.bluemountainswalkabout.com)
For nine of the 10 students, including Social Problems Assistant Professor Denise Malloy, the
Australian program marked their first international flight and introduction to global citizenship. For
one student, the Australian trip would be her first time on an airplane.
Though many Southwest study abroad programs incorporate some element of technology, the
Australian trip is the first to implement two emerging technologies: augmented and virtual reality.
Thanks to TBR Associate Vice Chancellor of Mobile and Emerging Technologies, Dr. Robbie Melton,
Southwest faculty and students were equipped with the latest technology, equipment, and learning
applications.
Virtual reality, in layman’s terms, is immersive media that transports you into a multi-dimensional,
360º virtual environment, using one’s cell phone or a VR viewer. Augmented reality mixes real world
and virtual experiences by overlaying an image (photo, video or computer generated) on top of a real
object in one’s present environment. Our classes downloaded the app, Aurasma on their iPads and
phones, to create augmented reality experiences. Students included a few Auras in the iBook the
class published. (Just for fun, you might want also to download the app, Action Movie, for FX-
augmented reality experiences to share with friends at parties or social gatherings).
We used a 360 Fly Camera on loan to us from TBR to create virtual experiences for later viewing
after the trip. Video recorded from it is also included in the iBook. The camera, which looks like a
small ball with an eye inside, was mounted on the forehead of the person carrying it, so they became
a hands-free videographer and human tripod, as we walked around Sydney and in the Blue
Mountains.
Students used iPads to create or playback the content they gathered on-ground, and to complete and
submit assignments. Some purchased a wi-fi hotspot (Pocket Wi-Fi) from the airport in Sydney to
communicate with us, each other and upload their work to a Dropbox cloud without incurring extra
data charges to their cell phones. Those with unlocked cell phones purchased SIM cards with
inexpensive data plans. Students used their Pocket Wi-Fi to post on social media sites their
whereabouts to family and friends and tell what they were learning. We also recommended they use
the app, TextNow, for free international texting and calling. They shared with each other more apps
of the kind.

3. Finally, the Australian Study Abroad program is one of the first programs where faculty used the
flipped classroom approach. Rather than ask students to purchase a textbook, we designed the
course so students would publish their textbook (or iBook) from self-created content using the iBook
Author application.
The goal of both professors was to engage students in immersive,
total-body learning experiences, using virtual and augmented
reality technologies in the classroom and on-ground in Sydney,
Australia. We wanted to leave a lasting learning experience by
having students connect the dots of in-class discussions/instruction
to real-world experience.
Sounds likes a lot of innovation? Well yes and no.
VR and AR are certainly not new technologies — that is, to higher
ed. Typically seen as gaming technologies, VR and AR are gaining
momentum as viable instructional and educational platforms.
Institutions like Stanford, MIT, and UCLA are leap years ahead of
most institutions with well-established exploratory VR learning labs
and published academic research. Eastern Iowa Community
College, using grant funding from a $15 million grant that went to
community colleges in Iowa, just set up a state of the art virtual
reality lab for their faculty and student to explore and “play.” In this
respect, our exploration with VR is not that innovative.
However, as we breathed a sigh of relief and reflected on our trip, it dawned on us that “the
innovation” connected with our trip was not merely about the technology and WHAT we
accomplished. Rather, it was as much about WHO we are. In a state where most believe innovation
and forward thinking is somehow prohibited beyond the Mason-Dixon line and limited only to eastern
Tennessee, it was great to pioneer VR technology and expose western TN, community college
students to the most cutting edge technologies.
Secondly, our student cohort reflected the typical community college student as defined by the
American Association of Community Colleges - minority, low-income, first generation, working while
enrolled and comprised of both traditional and non-traditional students. Furthermore, our classroom
did not mirror the educational setting of Stanford or Eastern Iowa Community College. We are
“urban” in every sense of the word.
Every Monday night, for seven weeks, we met on the Union Ave campus and as Dr. Robbie Melton
often says, attempted to go where “no other teacher or students have gone before.” Nestled
between the gregarious personality and flavor of Midtown Memphis, the reality of Juvenile Court and
201 Poplar (jail) running parallel to urban gentrification along the E.H. Crump Blvd southern corridor,
and with "The Grind House"(Fed Ex Forum) that perfectly exemplifies the “grit and grind” of all that is
Memphis looming in the background from our computer lab/classroom window, incubated this small
pocket of teaching and learning perfection and innovation - dispelling all myths about what
community college faculty and students, can and cannot do.
Finally, this ambitious effort was led by two African-American, female educators. We notice that not
many people in the room at education technology conferences look like us. Our bringing the VR and
Download the Bridging Two Worlds:
Sociology and Education textbook
from ITunes - Available June 15,
2016.
sociology& education
B r i dgi ng T w o W or l ds
Bridging Two Worlds

4. AR experience to the downtown, campus is significant because the student population on the Union
Ave. Campus, in particular, is predominately African American and female. We hope to influence
other women and minorities that there is a place for them in educational technology or the emerging
“ed tech space.”
Why is this important?
Experimenting with virtual and augmented reality is major for an urban community college. VR and
AR are game changers in education. Southwest is now in the company of top colleges and
universities experimenting with VR (Zimmerman, 2016). We are also among the growing number of
faculty early-adopters across the nation who are also finding innovative and engaging ways to apply
them in their curriculum and programs (Doucette, 2016; Lien, 2015). Furthermore, students are
looking for jobs that use them, as well as academic programs that train them to create these media.
VR and AR are especially catching on in higher ed, revolutionizing campus tours, recruiting, and
marketing campaigns, in addition to rivaling PowerPoint and Whiteboards in the classroom. As
Southwest engages in a “re-branding” effort, VR and AR can become valuable recruitment and
student engagement tools.
A paradigm shift may come with it as well. According to surveys conducted by The Pew Research
Center Library and The Kaiser Family Foundation, African Americans, Hispanics, and those in lower
socioeconomic groups are the greatest consumers and users of gaming technology (Pew Research
Center; Tinuoye, 2014). Yet, there is an overwhelming lack of diversity behind the scenes. There are
very few minority coders, developers, and entrepreneurs.
What is significant to us is that now students at Southwest are exposed to VR in teaching and
learning. These once, consumer-only students are now contemplating coding or creating content,
especially some of them who have experienced VR via the Samsung Gear VR headset. Furthermore,
after this experience of engagement through study abroad, they may not look at or approach a class
in the same way again. Hopefully, one take away for our students is, “How can I use this technology
to help me learn other course material or in my future career?”
We ordered VR viewers with Southwest logo printed on them
giving Southwest exposure in a foreign country.

5. So What’s Next for the Dynamic Duo?
Professors Malloy and Young have been accepted to present at local, state and national conferences
and will continue to share their expertise and educational technology across the state, nationally, and
globally. In April, the faculty duo educated and mesmerized an audience of college students, Pre-K-
12 educators, museum curators, and community activists at the Gandhi King International
Conference on how VR and AR could transform political activism and social movements like Black
Lives Matter.
Hopefully with the help of Technology Access Funds (TAF) grant funds, we anticipate a research
study in the fall. The study will investigate the effectiveness of VR technology in two separate
disciplines, Sociology and Education. Using Kegan’s theory of “Evolution of Consciousness” as a
theoretical framework, the study will compare and contrast sections using VR technology and
sections not using VR. Studies show that VR technology is highly engaging and helps students
connect with their subject area. Sociology has been identified as a high drop/withdrawal/failure
course, and recently gone through a course redesign. Because of the highly engaging aspect of VR,
the professors think VR, properly implemented, might reduce current drop/withdrawal/failure trends,
in addition to increasing students’ mastery of cultural competencies. We plan to publish the results
of their study.
Dr. Young is particularly interested in utilizing VR to help develop cultural competency skills among
pre-service and veteran educators. “As we look across the country and see the alarming and
disproportionate rate in which black and brown boys are suspended from pre-K, I believe VR can help
culturally agnostic teachers understand “’the why’ behind cultural nuances surrounding student
behavior. VR allows a person to be fully immersed in a whole-body learning experience, essentially
‘walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.’ It is my hope that transporting individuals into the daily,
lived experiences of minorities, the marginalized, or the often misunderstood through VR technology,
we can hopefully engage both the head and the heart of those who have the authority to make
critical decisions that can significantly impact the educational process, day to day life, and services of
underserved populations.”
Professor Malloy is passionate about teaching and learning with technology. “I see technologies,
especially emerging technologies, as tools not gadgets. As educators, we should have a say in how
and what type of technologies are developed for educational use. Retrofitting tools to suit education
(and ADA compliances) slows down the process of adopting and utilizing these tools. Perhaps this is
one reason why later adopters of ‘newer’ technologies initially dismiss a tool as a gadget. Educators
have to be willing to become developers or sit down at the table with them to craft sufficient tools for
education and workforce development.” Professor Malloy agrees strongly with her mentor, Dr. Robbie
Melton: “Companies that provide third-party products for educators should adapt to educators needs,
not the other way around…where educators adapt to a product on the market. Educational content
need not be an afterthought.”
Doucette, D. (2016). Virtual reality makes impact on campus: Colleges and universities find innovative ways to give virtual
reality a starring role in athletics, academics and more. Ed Tech: Accessed Jan. 2016,
http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2016/01/virtual-reality-makes-impact-campus.
Lien, T. (2015). Colleges look to virtual reality tours to enhance recruiting. LA. Times: Accessed March 2015.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vr-college-tours-20150320-story.html.

6. Pew Research Center. (2014) African Americans and Technology Use: A Demographic Portrait. Accessed 2016.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/01/06/african-americans-and-technology-use/.
Tinuoye, K, (2014). Blacks play more video games, but little diversity behind the scenes. Accessed May2016.
http://thegrio.com/2011/11/11/blacks-play-games-but-dont-design-them/.
YouVisit (2016). 360º Virtual realty campus tour of universities. https://www.youvisit.com/education.
Zimmerman, E. (2016). College Students Experiment with Virtual Reality: Innovative course curricula at three higher ed
institutions give students hands-on practice with virtual reality. EdTech: Accessed May 2016.
http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2016/05/college-students-create-virtual-reality-projects.
For a list of more academic articles pertaining to the use of augmented and virtual reality, visit www.scholar.google.com.
Denise Malloy is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Southwest Tennessee
Community College. As faculty mentor, trainer, researcher, pilots tester, and
technology presenter for the TBR Office of Mobilization and Emerging
Technologies, she travels extensively presenting at national and international
conferences, informing and training educators to use emerging technologies in
their teaching and learning practices. With more than 10 years and hundreds
of hours of faculty development training including various technologies under
her belt, Prof. Malloy is passionate about helping educators use mobile and
emerging technologies for teaching, learning, and workforce development. She is currently pursuing
a Doctorate of Educational Leadership (Postsecondary and Private Sector Leadership) and Policy
Analysis from East Tennessee State University.
LaDonna Young, Ed.D., currently serves as an Associate Professor of Education
at Southwest Tennessee Community College. Known as the “culture queen,”
Dr. Young’s professional and teaching career has centered around two central
themes: 1) developing highly successful programs, initiatives, and best practices
for minority, marginalized, and underrepresented populations and 2) teaching,
coaching, and empowering the professionals charged to educate, treat, or
advocate for them. Her work emerges from self-exploration, social justice and
commitment to underrepresented populations. Her passion for presenting,
teaching and consulting expertise has afforded her opportunities to travel in a
professional capacity around the country and internationally to Cape Town and Johannesburg, South
Africa, Paris, France, and Sydney, Australia. Dr. Young earned her Ed.D. and MA degrees from the
University of Memphis and her BA from Christian Brothers University.