Global Campus Studio

At the beginning of my university course me and my colleagues were invited to take part in international collaboration called Global Campus Studio (GCS). We knew only a little about this project and as new students were a bit unsure about another task being added to our list.  

It came out that GCS was a brilliant project, where people from four different locations around the globe (Canada, Germany, Japan and the UK) were meeting live online once a week to get to know people from other cultures, socialize, learn new skills and work on a project together.  

My LCC VR cohort collaborated closely with students in Toronto. We worked in groups on projects with a positive impact on people’s lives in a COVID-19 and post-covid world. It could be anything, related to VR or not, something meaningful and important to us.  

I was assigned to a group working on a virtual travel idea. Even though Canadian students had started GCS a month ahead of us and we were not involved in the idea making process, I found the concept of virtual travelling without leaving your own house simply fascinating. 

For several weeks we were working together, discussing and developing our ideas. We knew that we are reaching the goal of being able to present our VoyagAR offer, but at the same time it was pointed to us on many occasions, that the whole process we are taking part in, is equally important as the outcome of our collaboration.  

Online collaboration in these difficult times proves that amazing things can happen when people are open to new, often unknown options and are willing to put an extra effort into their work.  

My group did a great job, even though there were some little bumps on a way. We agreed on a concept and wanted to provide people, especially families, with an extraordinary but at the same time affordable options of virtual vacation. Tokyo was a destination in our prototype. We researched, gathered materials, prepared presentations and developed our idea further. We tested our product and knew what must be improved. 

We used various tools such as Padlet, Google docs, Discord to communicate and work together. In the end we presented our product on a website including a brochure presenting a virtual short stay in Tokyo. 

We wanted our customers to be able to fully experience chosen destination. Therefore, we included a local cuisine with recipes and cooking classes, getting to know local traditions and basic language, attractions and activities for adults and children, as well at all the traditional elements such as sightseeing. My idea was to add a big adventure park to Tokyo sample, to make it even more exciting. I created this simple Padlet about Disney Resort in Tokyo . 

We haven’t built the actual VR project but prepared the description and all the above elements of it (inc. mentioned website). Me and another colleague from the VR course, also thought that it would be important to add some AR elements to our product, to expand it beyond the experience in a VR headset. I gathered my ideas here . 

Below I am presenting a brief summary of our product I have written at the end of the collaboration.

VoyagAR is a customizable online vacation experience that uses Virtual Reality (VR) to provide travels, from the comfort of people’s own houses. Our product is affordable and attractive, especially for families. With VoyagAR customers can have vacation from their dreams. The travel industry is already using VR in marketing and to keep people engaged with travel. Thus, we believe that a virtual vacation that combines multiple areas and elements, such as sightseeing, local culture, food and attractions, can be successful in a post COVID-19 world. Tokyo is an example destination we have chosen to explain a VoyageAR experience.
Bon Voyage!

We think that people shouldn’t be limited by the circumstances and that the potential which the latest technology holds, can influence people, their behaviour, create interests and shape their personalities. Virtual travels are a field to be explored and developed by both sides, users and creators. We believe that creativity can bring incredible results and we gave a beginning to something truly amazing.

To conclude, being a part of GCS was an interesting learning experience, broadening my training and allowing me to connect and work with people from various fields and with diverse backgrounds. I felt I was a meaningful member of our group.