Playing 3D: Digital technologies and novel 3d virtual environments to support the needs of Chinese learners in western education: Cross-cultural collaboration, gamification, well-being and social inclusion

Universities around the world are increasingly under pressure to ‘internationalise’ and to support and embrace multicultural student bodies and learning environments. At the same time, ‘internationalisation’ is often associated with issues that complicate and pressurise the experiences of ‘international students’ as they attempt to identify and acculturate in their new settings, both socially and educationally, such as blockages in cultural understanding, language barriers and complexities of cross-cultural collaboration. This paper sets out a novel approach to solving these issues for a particular set of students (the large proportion of Chinese studying in Ireland, and specifically in Dublin) by creating original cross-cultural collaborative games (coded by Python) and using gamification based on a new bespoke technology system. This design aims to bridge the gaps in understanding between cultures and to provide an enhanced experience which may even be seen to exceed the levels of engagement of students collaborating in ‘live’ environments. The gamification provides a fun and safe way for Chinese and Irish students to share their culture and language, through unique cross-cultural collaborative games set in a customised bilingually-designed virtual world on a new 3D virtual cloud platform. SMARTlab is developing this unique platform with Hao2 and 3DICC's Terf (an immersive 3D unified collaboration platform integrating game dynamics and adjustable features) and OpenSIM. Our novel collaborative platform further integrates the unique ‘Virtual World in A Backpack’ with a bespoke personalised learning platform in development (Sensei). We show that virtual exposure to Ireland and ‘Irishness’ and the chance to collaborate over time with Irish students can lessen the impact of cultural change and reduce the symptoms of isolation, leading to a more empower and enjoyable learning experience.