Examining the Feasibility of Virtual Reality to Motivate and Prepare International Students for Community Engagement Activities – An Inquiry among Service Learning Experts

Abstract

There are numerous benefits for students to participate in community en-gagement (CE). However, international students are less likely to get in-volved compared to their domestic counterparts. This paper describes a study with service learning experts to identify ways to motivate and prepare inter-national students to engage with CE. One of the goals of the study is to in-vestigate whether using technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), could offer promise to promote behavioral change to participate in CE both in the short- and long-term. Our findings have revealed an array of strategies adopted by experts to pique the interest of and promote engagement among international students. The potential of using VR to support ‘social good’ is described, along with design suggestions for developing VR applications. This study is the first step in a series that aims to determine how we can promote long-term engagement with CE activities among international students.