Dreaming New Realities: Interactive Storytelling with Extended Reality (XR)

Each summer, high school students from across the country come together at the University of Rochester’s Mary Ann Mavrinac Studio X to explore and experiment with XR technologies. This two-week program welcomes participants of all experience levels, guiding them in creating their own VR experiences. Students begin by learning XR fundamentals and brainstorming project ideas, then progress to hands-on practice with tools like Blender and Unity. To support continued learning, we’ve included free, linked resources designed to empower students to build their skills independently.

These resources gathered by Libby Braun are made available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

group shot of pre-college students and teachers.

Introduction

As a library space, we prioritize making our instruction equitable and accessible. After successfully running this in-person program during the summers of 2022, 2023, and 2024, we are now offering it online. All content provided here can be remixed or reworked for teachers’ purposes. Refer to this guide for additional resources on Creative Commons licensing.

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely accessible teaching, learning, and research materials that anyone can use, adapt, and redistribute. We transformed our program into an OER to make these lessons more affordable and equitable, while also encouraging cross-disciplinary collaboration. You can use our resources as a complete course or as standalone items.

Learning Design

Learning Goals

  • To develop knowledge and understanding of XR and its impact across disciplines and industries.

  • To introduce students to how XR applications are created.

Learning Objectives

  • To familiarize students with XR terms, history, use cases, and critical issues, so they are informed users of the medium.
  • To provide foundational technical skills in key XR technologies, students will participate in hands-on Blender, Unity, and VR hardware workshops.

Learning Outcomes

  • Basics of XR & Project Planning

    Students will be able to:

    • Use XR technologies to gain familiarity with hardware and software.

    • Demo a sample project to kickoff brainstorming of their own project.

    • Create a design document for their final game project using design thinking.

  • Blender

    Students will be able to:

    • Design a unique art piece by manipulating 3D shapes in Blender to learn the basics of the platform.

    • Make a custom mesh by manipulating primitive objects in Blender for their final project.

    • Make a custom painted texture for their character model.

  • Unity & VR Development

    Students will be able to:

    • Identify Unity use cases to understand how the platform is used across a variety of fields and disciplines.

    • Modify a Unity sandbox project to understand the basics of the platform, including key terms, gestures, UI, and functionality.

    • Analyze a partially written C# script and write the other half to see how scripting works at a basic level in Unity.

    • Connect a VR HMD to Unity and test the template project.

    • Identify key VR concepts, including locomotion and interactables.

    • Implement a locomotion system, turning, and interactables.

    • Activate objects, create particle systems, and set up their characters.

    • Consider critical issues related to accessibility, inclusivity, empathy, and motion sickness for game design.

    • Produce their own VR game.

Course Description (2024)

  • Title: Dreaming New Realities: Interactive Storytelling with Extended Reality (XR)
  • Description: Bring your ideas to life with XR (the umbrella term for augmented, mixed, and virtual reality)! Students will start with XR basics, including their history and application. They will use design thinking, storytelling, world building, and low-fidelity prototyping to brainstorm and design a virtual reality mini-game or digital story. They will then learn the basics of XR tools, such as Blender, a 3D modeling tool, and Unity, a real-time creation platform, through hands-on workshops to develop their own unique virtual reality experience. Students will also engage in critical discussion of XR, including topics on privacy, accessibility, and empathy. All learning levels welcome. No experience necessary. Just bring your creativity and big ideas!

Previous Student Project Examples

Requirements

Blender and Unity software are used in this course and should be downloaded ahead of time to ensure a smooth development process. Ensure your device meets the minimum requirements for these programs (Blender info, Unity info).

  • This course requires the use of Blender and Unity software. Please download and install these programs in advance to ensure a smooth development process. Make sure your device meets the minimum system requirements for Blender and Unity.
  • Meta Quest headsets (Quest 2 or Quest 3) are used in this program. Ensure your device is set to Developer Mode.
  • Install the Meta Quest Link app to connect your headset to your computer.
  • After installation, connect the headset by following the steps outlined in this video tutorial.

Repository for Necessary Files

Our instruction requires students to have access to Blender and Unity software. We provide downloadable files for students to use and build upon. Using the university’s online repository system, we have organized our files here.

Accessing Equipment

  • While our instructional resources are freely available online, we recognize that hardware and equipment may not be accessible to everyone.
  • For university community members, equipment can be borrowed for 3-day loans, with custom reservations available on a case-by-case basis. For those outside the university community, equipment is accessible for use within our space.
  • If you'd like to explore and use equipment from our catalog, we encourage you to make an online booking or visit our space in person. make an online booking or visit our space in person.

Tutorials and Instruction

Follow along to the modules listed below. For each module, the accompanying videos, slides, and all other necessary info are provided. Note: All slide decks and project files link to our institutional repository.

Finishing Development

Refine your skills in iterative design processes by addressing and resolving user pain points to enhance their experience.

Getting Assistance

While working on your project, you may encounter challenges or roadblocks. We encourage students to connect with us for support via our discord, our contact form, or by scheduling an in-person meeting to benefit from our expertise.

Giving Us Feedback

We are always seeking ways to enhance our services and would greatly value your feedback if you've followed our instructional materials.
Ways to Share

We encourage you to share updates on your development process, project photos, or other comments through a quick 2-minute survey, on our Discord server, or through our contact form.

Gratitude

This project would not have been possible without the efforts of numerous contributors.

  • Program Creators: Meg Moody and Liam O’Leary ’23
  • Program Contributors: Aleem Griffiths, Emily Sherwood, Blair Tinker, Vini Romualdo
  • Design Thinking Guidance: Sarah Bennett, Samantha Monaghan, Tamuda Chimhanda '26, Megan Wu '25
  • OER Guidance: Kristen Totleben and Moriana Garcia
  • URRR Guidance: Matthew Mariner

Special thanks to our Studio X students:

  • Libby Braun ’25, for creating this OER
  • Muhammed El-Sayed ’23
  • Haochen Zeng ’23
  • Liz Saltz ’24
  • Miles Vilke ’25
  • Fenway Powers ’25
  • Liz Hogrefe ’25
  • Liv Ritz ’25
  • Tamuda Chimhanda ’26
  • Emmie Lin ’26

Studio X leverages the Unity game engine for instructional purposes, benefiting from the extensive tutorials and assets Unity offers for educators. Many elements of this program are inspired by Unity’s resources, particularly the Create with VR tutorial, which has been invaluable to our staff. Additionally, we incorporate several free assets provided by Unity in our Unity VR Room project file.

Project status
Completed Project