VILESA Riga meeting, OCT 2022

On October 6-7, 2022, the EKA University of Applied Sciences hosted the international meeting of the Vilesa project “Development of a virtual learning space as a tool for developing students′ critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity skills in the context of COVID19”.

The meeting was attended by all participating institutions – Vilniaus kolegija VIKO (Lithuania), Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Krakowie (Poland), Iron Cat (Lithuania), Lithuanian Practice Enterprise Association LIBA (Lithuania), and the EKA University of Applied Sciences EKA (Latvia).

EKA was represented by the VILESA project team led by the EKA Vice-rector for science and international cooperation Professor Jelena Titko.

Overall, the meeting focused on the review of IO1 outcomes and transitional issues for the next period – IO2. The discussion of the IO1 outcomes mostly evolved around eleven draft cases, created by the project partners for the virtual reality (VR) game. The participants reviewed the scenarios of the draft cases in pertinence to the VR technical limitations, such as the constraints of time and text, the parameters of player, object, action, function, and the health aspects of wearing VR glasses. The participants agreed to further discuss VR-related limitations with the VR platform designers in November 2022 and to purchase VR headsets in 2023. To verify the draft cases for any design flaws, the participants considered the pilot testing of the cases at partner institutions prior to their implementation into the VR platform. The finalized cases for the VR game are expected by January 2023. The meeting was concluded with a discussion of provisional issues for the subsequent transnational meetings.

The informal part of the meeting proceeded at a museum in Old Riga and the SNOB Bar & Restaurant at the 5-star hotel.

VILESA is financed and supported by the European Commission, Erasmus + Programme, Key Action 2 – Cooperation partnerships in higher education (grant agreement No. 2021-1-LT-01-KA220-HED-000023551).