Gold Lotus Collaborating with UCL for Language VR Research

We are delighted to announce that Gold Lotus is collaborating with a number of academic and commercial partners in Italy, the UK and the US to investigate ways in which virtual reality "VR" can enhance the way English as a foreign language is taught using Task-Based Language Teaching methodology in a project funded by University College London's Global Engagement Fund.

The project will run until summer 2020 and is funded by the Global Engagement Fund of University College London. The Global Engagement Fund supports UCL academics in collaborating with colleagues across the world.

The UCL academic in question is Dr Andrea Révész of University College London's Institute of Education. Dr Révész is Professor of Second Language Acquisition and researches the roles of tasks, input, interaction and individual differences in instructed second language development, on hand with expert support in ensuring that all the digital learning content we create follows research-based methodology.

Dr Révész will be collaborating with Professor Lucio Tommaso De Paolis of the University of Salento's AVR Lab, who will be providing technical support throughout the project, ensuring that the VR tasks created can allow for correct pedagogical application to support the learning and teaching of English as a foreign language in collaborative settings.

Michael McDonald of the Gold Lotus project will take on the role of project manager alongside Dr Révész. Gold Lotus, based in Italy, with its experience in creating VR English-learning content will ensure that the content created is fit for purpose and tailored to what schools are looking for, thanks to its network of schools in southern Italy who will be testing the project's creations and participating in the final research study.

Doghead Simulations, which is the creator of the real-time collaboration platform rumii in the US, will be on hand to ensure that any technical hurdles are overcome during the creation of the pedagogical language-learning tasks.

To read more about the collaborative partners, project objectives, the Global Engagement Fund itself and latest updates please visit our dedicated page here.