RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES
CAVE Youth Program
The Center's CAVE is an educational resource for the campus and local community. The Youth program invites K-12 educators to bring their students for an educational virtual reality experience.
Interested educators should reach out at least six weeks in advance of their ideal visit date. Contact Jessica Peoples, scheduling coordinator, for more information and to complete the required paperwork. Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups are also welcome and will need a certificate of insurance from the National Boy Scouts of America or Girls Scouts of USA.
Villanova University Virtual Reality Competition
The University Virtual Reality Competition (VUVR) allows the Villanova community to explore virtual reality and augmented reality as a medium for compelling interactive experiences that educate. The competition is open to students, staff and faculty of the University, with a grand prize of $1,000.
Competition Rules
- Teams: There is no limit to team size, but all team members must be affiliated with Villanova University and must include at least one student.
- Platforms: We will accept submissions that are viewable in head-mounted displays, the Villanova CAVE or mobile devices.
- Software: We are ready to accept submissions designed for playback in Vizard, Unity, KRpano/HTML5, iOS and Android. Other software platforms will be considered as teams suggest them.
- Content: Teams may use models/libraries from online sources as long as they are properly attributed and used in accordance with suppliers’ licenses. Note that the licenses must allow for free unlimited public display. Submissions can take any form and any subject, so long as they exclusively use VR or augmented reality to shape the presentation. Some examples include games, short tours of environments, mathematical visualizations, scientific visualizations and interactive social media presentations, but this list is not intended to restrict teams’ imaginations.
- Judging: Teams can expect to have their submissions judged according to several criteria, with emphasis on the following:
- How well does the presentation teach or convey knowledge?
- How well does the presentation make use of immersion?
- How intuitive is the user interface?
- How interactive is the overall experience?
Registration Deadline: Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024 11:59 p.m.
Teams will register their members and leader, submit a title and one-paragraph description of their project, indicating their expected development platform.
Virtual Workshop: Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Workshop on the design of VR experiences and the content development technologies available at Villanova. Falvey Room 205.
Optional Virtual Workshop: Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Workshop on the design of VR experiences and the content development technologies available at Villanova. Falvey Room 205.
Deadline to Submit Semifinal: Wednesday, April 3, 2024 by 11:59 p.m.
Each team must send a link to a YouTube video to jessica.peoples@villanova.edu. The video is to be a report describing the status of the project thus far. Teams that pass this round will compete in the final round in April.
Final Round: Thursday, April 25, 2024, 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Each finalist team will make an eight-minute presentation on their project, followed by a 15-minute period during which judges can interact with the project and ask questions of the team. Falvey Room 205
Student Research Opportunities
Faculty in the Center invite students to work as partners on their research projects. Students interested in using the CAVE or other virtual reality research tools should contact Frank Klassner.
