Case Study: Walden University brings life-like social work training to students with Google for Education VR solutions

Walden University students practice life-like social work scenarios through VR

Walden University, a large online institution serving working professionals worldwide, wanted a better way to prepare social work students for the unpredictable, sometimes stressful situations they would face during on-site visits. To meet that need, Walden University turned to Google for Education and its VR tools, including Daydream View and Google Cardboard, to create a more immersive, accessible learning experience.

Google for Education helped Walden University build a virtual reality pilot in Unity that simulated realistic home-visit scenarios with visual and audio cues, such as barking behind a door or other warning signals. The pilot trained 500+ students, and among the 188 survey respondents, 100% said the VR experience gave them valuable insight into on-site visits; all also wanted more VR learning opportunities. Based on this success, Walden University is expanding VR across its curriculum, with additional experiences in development using Tour Creator.

Walden University

Steve Tom

Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer