Tar Heels build language confidence with virtual reality

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Virtual reality headsets are most closely connected to computer science, but they are a key ingredient in Teaching Assistant Professor Caroline Sibley’s Advanced Arabic class.

Though they were physically half a world apart, Tar Heels in Sibley’s class used Google Cardboard VR devices to explore a virtual world with students in Morocco and Algeria in real-time. The students navigated the virtual environments together over the course of the fall semester to complete assignments and hone their language skills.

“我们在教室里, and we’ve been in a historical site with ruins,哈斯蒂·萨德里说, 大二的和平, 战争与国防专业. “I will explain what I understand in Arabic, and then [my partner from Algeria] will go in, and she will explain what she understood in Arabic and what I missed and what I can work on. And then we do the same in English for the English clues.”

The experience is funded by the 史蒂文斯倡议 和美国.S. Department of State to create virtual exchanges between American university students and their counterparts in the Middle East and North Africa. 西布里说。 Tabadul程序 has been invaluable in building her students’ confidence in speaking Arabic and developing their understanding of the region’s culture.

“Doing the VR really helps to spur conversations about different things,乔·乌杰克说, a junior history major and student in the Advanced Arabic class. “It’s so important in an increasingly diverse country that we live in to have a knowledge of a different language no matter what that language is because people come from all over the world.”

Sibley’s course in the 文理学院’ Asian and Middle Eastern studies department is one of many ways Carolina is preparing Tar Heels to be global leaders through the University’s 全球 Guarantee.

The 全球 Guarantee ensures that a variety of opportunities are available, 比如出国留学, 语言及地区研究, Collaborative Online International Learning 课程, virtual global re太阳城娱乐城 and internships, on-campus global 程序s and events and globally oriented 课程.

“在卡罗莱纳, faculty members like Caroline Sibley are diversifying and strengthening global learning in innovative ways, which helps us create a rich menu of global education opportunities for students through the 全球 Guarantee,Sharmila Udyavar说, associate director of global education in the Office of the Vice Provost for 全球 Affairs, 负责监督卡罗来纳州 Collaborative Online International Learning 程序, which involves virtual teaching and learning between faculty and students in two or more countries.