About
The University of the District of Columbia, established in 1851, serves almost 2,900
students across undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, the law school, and
the community college.
A historically black land-grant university, UDC is also the only public university in Washington, D.C. The university is dedicated to serving the needs of the D.C. community and producing lifelong learners.
About CAL
CAL, the Center for the Advancement of Learning, is a unit under the Chief Academic Officer who provides the university with a variety of professional development opportunities.
CAL is faculty-facing, supporting staff in terms of digital transformation, with their
expertise lying in course design, instructional technology, and managing distanced learning
Goals
- To enhance the university’s teaching and learning culture through technology.
- To prepare Human Resources students to transition into the industry, which is becoming increasingly digitized.
- Provide their students with social mobility through digital transformation instruction to help broaden career prospects.
Deployment
Course Integration
Dr. Yolandra Plummer is integrating Bodyswaps modules into her HR classes, mapping functions and concepts to certain modules for her students to experience and further their understanding.
Working in Tandem
CAL works closely with faculty to help them advance learning technologies to increase learning outcomes, offering support in instructional technology and design, and some IT expertise.
City Grants
To scale these efforts, Dr. Plummer is working on integrating Bodyswaps into her training for government employees. This will provide a pathway for UDC students and attract government employees to UDC.
One of my students finished a module, came out of the headset, and said,
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe this. I've always received feedback at my job that I have certain body language actions. I just completed the Bodyswaps module, and it told me the same thing.”
Dr Yolandra Plummer
Results
- 92% of learners would recommend Bodyswaps to their peers.
- 100% of learners identified areas to improve on their skills
- 75% of learners increased their understanding of their skills
Advice
- Discover who your champions are: CAL reached out to Dr. Plummer in their first stage of
Bodyswaps deployment, who helped to champion the modules for her students. - Be willing to make mistakes and learn from them. Use each mistake as an opportunity to refine your process and ask yourself: what can I do better?
- For example, one valuable lesson the CAL team learned from working closely with Dr. Plummer was how to effectively instruct students on using Bodyswaps. Through ongoing sessions with Dr. Plummer and her students, the CAL team gained insights that allowed them to refine and improve their instructional methods.
It's important to understand that there is a lot of work involved, requiring ongoing collaboration between the faculty and the Center for the Advancement of Learning (CAL).
Open communication, including both positive and constructive feedback, is crucial for the growth and success of the initiative.
Fatma Elshobokshy
Future Plans
Ideally, there would be further integration of Bodyswaps modules into classes across schools, complementing and enhancing existing teaching.
And for those in CAL, they would eventually like to embed Bodyswaps into all operation processes, including onboarding, helping move the university’s mission forward and to enhance its digital advancements and embody an innovative mindset.
If you'd like to see more of the University of District of Columbia's use of Bodyswaps and other immersive technologies take a look at their video on Dr. Plummer's class here, or take a read of this article on how harnessing VR can help to advance the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) mission.