Leading the charge: How the University of Liverpool integrates VR into assessments for their students

The University of Liverpool are innovators in the Careers and Employability, with a number of achievements in their history. They were the first institution in the UK to introduce peer-to-peer careers mentoring with their Career Coaches. And in 2024, they won multiple awards that celebrated the innovative work they’ve been doing with Bodyswaps. You can take a more in-depth look at this work in our article with them in the AGCAS journal: Phoenix.

The university currently runs a dual deployment, allowing individual access to Bodyswaps via their frontline Career Studio service, supported by dedicated Career Coaches in private spaces, as well as curriculum-based usage of Bodyswaps for assessments.

VR for public speaking assessments

It was a typically rainy day in Liverpool when Laura stopped by their campus, excited for the day ahead.

Thanks to Matt, Jason, and Sophie from Liverpool’s Careers and Employability team, Laura was able to drop in and observe exactly how Bodyswaps is integrated into the first year’s politics employability module assessment, in collaboration with module convenor, Dr Andrew Routledge.

Our Public Speaking & Presentation Skills module forms the first part of a public speaking assessment ladder, which then feeds into the whole assessment of the compulsory, first-year skills and methods module which has been designed to act as a vehicle for employability and professional development.

To begin with, students are introduced to the ladder approach and Bodyswaps in a lecture ahead of sessions to show them what’s to come. This could include a live casting of the public speaking training to build awareness of the nature of the VR experience.

Previously, students booked onto a VR slot, but this year the team partnered with Timetabling to allocate each student with a timetabled slot to complete the assessment – there can be up to 9 students per session in a space set up by the team. 

The University of Liverpool has a mobile VR approach that allows them to deliver sessions in any of the rooms that are available on campus and assigned to them. They transport headsets in specialised VR storage (Onero-X Charge and Go) and ensure they have headphones (Lindy) to increase privacy during the experience. 

The team ensures that all the headsets are set up with boundaries and that the Bodyswaps app is prepared ahead of the students’ arrival for the session. 

Running the sessions

At the beginning of the session there is a short briefing that covers initial registration to Bodyswaps class using a Class Self Enrolment link via QR code as well as refresher on the hardware. 

Top tip!

A handout with instructions and a class QR code can be really helpful for students as well as being a big time saver for facilitators.

Students are then directed to the pre-set spaces set up by the team where they begin the module, accessing topics that were selected by the team ahead of time. The digital team is on hand to support at any point.

 

 

After completing the module, they’re given access to a feedback form to capture qualitative feedback for the team. 

As a next step on the ladder, they’re invited to reflect on their experience, as well as any AI-driven feedback they received and to identify an activity that they feel will continue to develop their public speaking skills.

 

I’m so thankful to Matt, Jason and Sophie for taking the time to show me the ins and outs of their assessment process. I love to see the innovative and impactful ways that Bodyswaps is delivered - it really shows how widely applicable our platform can be.

Laura Heath

Head of Customer Success, Bodyswaps

 

 

Investing in our future leaders

The University of Liverpool’s Careers and Employability team are constantly innovating their offerings, calling upon the latest advancements in technology – like Bodyswaps – to ensure their students are prepared for the future. 

We can’t wait to see what they do next!