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2019 PROVOST’S LEARNING INNOVATIONS GRANTS

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Provost’s Learning Innovations Grants (PLIG) program was developed to broaden and enrich the learning experience of RIT students by funding faculty-initiated projects that enhance student learning. Managed by the Innovative Learning Institute (ILI), this program has been designed to:

• Better support dissemination of individual faculty learning to the wider faculty population • Integrate funding with Institute priorities • Support the scholarship of teaching and learning

I. ELIGIBILITY All full-time RIT faculty (tenured, tenure-track, visiting, lecturers, etc.) are eligible to apply.

II. GRANT TYPES There are two types of grants—Exploration and Focus—for PLIG 2019. Full details are available on the Grants Types page of the PLIG website (www.rit.edu/plig).

III. USE OF GRANT FUNDS Provost’s Learning Innovations Grants for 2019 may range from $1,000-$5,000. Examples of the use of PLIG funds include:

• Course release (reasonable, actual replacement costs for faculty members removed from teaching) • Development of new technology-based learning tools and/or environments • Technologies or equipment required that are not normally provided by the department/college • Resources for research design and consultation, data collection and aggregation, instrument

development and/or purchase, secure data storage, data analysis, and report generation • Travel to support research activity and/or meet with potential funding sources

IV. PLIG TIMELINE AND TASKS The grant timeline assumes that most recipients will use the Spring 2019 and/or Summer 2019 term(s) to plan and develop their PLIG-funded project for delivery or implementation during the Fall 2019, Spring 2020, and/or Summer 2020 term(s). The full timeline, including grantee tasks, is available on the PLIG website.

V. SELECTION COMMITTEE AND EVALUTION CRITERIA Applications for PLIG funds are evaluated by the PLIG selection committee according to the following criteria:

• Utility (solves a defined problem; has potential to benefit many courses/faculty) • Creativity (is a novel approach or application; represents a new paradigm) • Efficacy (uses an evidence-based approach; impact to student learning and/or the student experience

can be demonstrated)

The criteria are further defined, illustrated, and explained in the Proposal Evaluation section of the PLIG website.

VI. QUESTIONS Please email plig@rit.edu with any questions about the PLIG process.

(Examples of previously funded projects are available in the Previous Awards section of the PLIG website).

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2019 PROVOST’S LEARNING INNOVATIONS GRANTS

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

1. Complete this Application Form and save as “Lastname_Firstname_APP” (using your name). 2. Ask your Department Head to complete the Department Head Certification, scan and save as,

“Lastname_Firstname_SIG” (using your name). 3. Email all documents to plig@rit.edu, no later than 11:59pm ET, January 21, 2019.

If you have any questions about completing this application, please contact Michael Starenko at 585-475-5035 or mssetc@rit.edu.

APPLICANT INFORMATION This application is for a (please select one type of grant): Exploration Grant Focus Grant – Active Learning Across All Course Modes

Principal Applicant Name: Shaun Foster

Faculty Title: Assistant Professor Email: scffaa@rit.edu Phone: 475-7124 (Full-time only)

College: CAD Department: 3D Digital Design (3DDD)

Department Head Name: Peter Byrne Email: pjbfaa@rit.edu Others involved in the project (if any): Ihab Mardini Project Name: Virtual Reality Composition & Lighting Total Funds Requested (as calculated on the budget worksheet on the next page): $5000 (requests of $1,000 to $5,000 will be considered)

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BUDGET Complete the table below to calculate your budget

• The total shown on this worksheet must match the “Total funds requested” in the Applicant Information section on page 1 of this application form.

• If awarded, additional funds will be provided to cover any benefits and ITS expenses associated with the salary budget requested.

• Note that any equipment or other materials purchased with grant funds are the property of your department and revert to the department after your project is completed

Personnel Purpose/Justification Amount Full-time Faculty/Staff

Shaun Foster Part Time Summer Pay – Project Development $2,500.00 Ihab Mardini Part Time Summer Pay – Project Development $2,500.00

Adjuncts, Part-time Faculty/Staff, Summer Salary

Student Workers, Graduate Assistants

Personnel Total $ 5000 Equipment Purpose/Justification Amount

Equipment Total $ 0.00 Travel Purpose/Justification Amount

Travel Total $ 0.00 Other (Specify) Purpose/Justification Amount

Other Total $ 0.00 Total Award Requested $5,000.00

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STATEMENT OF UTILITY (two pages maximum) Using the evaluation criteria outlined in the Proposal Evaluation section of the PLIG website, please provide an overview of the project you are proposing, including: • Project objectives

• An explanation of the teaching/learning problem(s) it is designed to address

• An explanation of the significance of the project to student outcomes and/or the student experience.

• A brief description of how the project integrates with activity already underway at RIT in a priority area and/orhow this approach has been successfully used at RIT already.

Project Objective Imagine you could walk into a room with a few simple controls. These allow you to easily add different types of lights while specifying their placement, color and intensity (as well as the industry standard IES profile). Testing a few more buttons and dials, you modify the room scale, ceiling height and placement and number of windows. Making selections from icons, next you choose objects for the room, some are standard props others you have created yourself. Next, you pull up a color wheel and easily add and modify not only the color but also other material qualities roughness, reflectivity and metal (or nonmetallic) of any object in the room or the architecture itself. Almost finished, you place virtual cameras and take images of the space without having to wait for rendering. Once this first version is complete you are able to save and compare this creation to one you build 5 minutes ago! Comparing the look and feel of different set-ups saves huge amounts of time and gives you the ability to rapidly share with classmates and professors for feedback!

Project Specifics Summary We are going to build a virtual reality system that contains modular elements for the user to practice building compositions, placing lights and modifying the material qualities. The elements will be placeable and also allow for interactive “snapshots”. Since many of the technical hurdles for this project have already been already accomplished, Although much of the technical work for this project has already been accomplished, there remains the critically important work of recombining and building recombine and build additional 3D assets and some additional interactivity in order to provide this project the greatest extensibility and multi-department utility as possible.

• Iteration speed• New visualization process• Multi-department utility• Production time / Cost reduction

Learning from books appeals to certain but not all people. “Devices such as the Microsoft HoloLens (for one) offer the ability to teach and learn in a mixed holographic reality. Users can see how the aortic valve in a heart actually works, collaborate with experts near and far, and see what others see—all in real time. Students can learn about geography not only by reading or watching a video but also through being immersed in it. Their brain believes they are there. They have an emotional response to this experience and they learn more holistically.”

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Learning Problem Addressed This type of room is needed and used by students in multiple classes in 3D Digital Design for Concept & creature design, lighting & shadows, color & composition exercises. However it is also used in Industrial Design (visualize and feel their creations), Interior Design (spatial analysis), 3D Film & Animation (character design especially for designers who are not fluent at drawing & for cinematic studies) and (some) game level designs.

Priority Areas Innovatively Addressed: Multi-class AND multi-discipline: high impact Virtual reality faces the problem of low distribution of applications due to the high cost of software development. This project proposes to solve this challenge in three ways:

1) By innovatively adapting four previously built modules from two previous grants we will save hugeamounts of time and already have a proven, working piecesSpecifically two modules from the VR Cary Collection and two from a Biotech Learning VR project:

• Material and menu module seen below on the “Horn Book” allows the user to interact in VR,modify the (age) material of the object. (see Fig 1)

• Lighting module from the VR Cary Collection allows lights to be turned on/off in VR to createdifferent feels for the environment.

Fig 1. Diegetic UI with interactive shading VR Cary Collection Project

• Modular room system was built which allows the user to rapidly add new rooms, anddoorways. See Fig 2 (below) and also please click on this link to see a 3 min demo showing

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Fig 2. Modular Room System with controls & swappable architecture

• Modular quiz system: Which allows any number of questions to be created and given in VR

while the data is then output after via CSV format to Excel.

2) This project addresses 4 common multi-disciplinary instructional problems faced by 3D Digital Design, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Game Design, and Set Design for Animation: These problem are connected to the speed and the ability to iterate and compare solutions for:

• Configuring a 3D (virtual) space • Testing lighting solutions • Changing material qualities • Framing virtual images from cameras and comparing images • Pre-visualization • Studying color schemes • With a virtual camera, it can provide photography experience (how/why to)

Creating this adaptive training space provides high scale and high impact due to accelerating the iterative design space and while presenting a new way to deliver cross disciplinary content.

3) Incorporating a new piece of technology for showing the user and VR simultaneously so that professors and students can self evaluate their work interacting in VR for analysis and critique. One problem right now with VR is that the experience is almost only through the point of view (POV) of the user. Setting up views of the user while simultaneously compositing them in VR has been difficult. However, the most recent version of the VR software has a new module for “Mixed Reality Capture” rapidly calibrating a green screen instant composite. Seen here A video describing how The Weather Channel Breaks New Ground with Immersive Mixed Reality can be seen here

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STATEMENT OF CREATIVITY (three paragraphs maximum) Provide a brief description of how this is a novel approach, or a new application of an existing mode or model of teaching and learning, and/or research about how teaching and learning represents a new paradigm.

Breakthrough approach or new paradigm Provide a brief description of how this is a novel approach, or a new application of an existing mode or model of teaching and learning, and/or research about how teaching and learning represents a new paradigm.

The status quo of teaching design requires the students to look through the window of a computer screen or view PowerPoint slides in a lecture room. Being immersed inside of a virtual environment to test and iterate on design brings a whole new ability to understand the objects or the surrounding area. Two recent case studies describe some of the specific potentials of this.

The first case study shows how one firm, Agile Lens does designing in VR. Their company helped to design and furnish a theater with Virtual Reality. One specific use-case benefit I found that connected to our project was when designing a space, the ability to place the user in within the space immediately helped to identify design problems and opportunities connected to line of sight or lighting that wouldn’t have been immediately apparent by only using 3D renderings!

Our specific project also creatively bridges the cross disciplinary potentials. A 2014 talk at (GDC) Game Design Conference talk by a prominent game designer presented overlapping ways demonstrating why Interior Designers are Like Level Artists. He showed that by contrasting principles taught in Interior Design, like form & function, balance of intent as well as the key elements and principles of design; lighting, balance, emphasis, contrast, rhythm, proportion and scale.

I see the potentials of this project opening the doors further to interdisciplinary discussion and new creative approaches between students with different focuses.

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STATEMENT OF EFFICACY (two pages maximum) Provide a brief description of the experiment/research design, methodology, and methods of data collection and analysis you will use to gauge efficacy.

Baseline: As professors in 3D Digital design we already have a baseline teaching students the creating, lighting and shading of a basic environment using traditional mouse + keyboard + screen methods. This would be augmented and contrasted by the virtual reality module previously described above.

Virtual Reality already a proven training tool: While the current flavor of Virtual Reality hardware is new, VR has been around for over 30 years in various forms. A large amount of research show “strong evidence” that the greater immersion combined with speed and immediate feedback accelerate the learning process. A growing number of articles providing strong quantitative and qualitative data are continuing to be published. Here are links to five of hundreds of supporting articles describing VR for training:

1. Virtual Reality has transformed Medical Training 2. Virtual Reality & Learning Potential 3. Virtual Reality as an effective Narrative Prototyping tool 4. VR Employee Training 201 5. More Scholar Articles from Google Scholars

Moving to High Scale: VR is in the early stage of mass adoption. This provides two challenges: Building tools for use in VR is slow and costly. The second is equipment access. Our team has solved 80% of the first efficacy problem by repurposing tools already built for previous projects. The second issue of equipment has also been solved. In 2016 professor Foster was given a grant by HTC Vive/Epic Games of two HTC Vive Virtual Reality equipment sets. He donated one to RIT’s 3D Digital Design department. The other he kept for home use/development.

VR and other applications sometimes also suffer from narrowness of the scope for the interactive simulation. The modular nature of our pedagogical and interactive solution allows for our project to be further easily used across multiple disciplines given it greater bandwidth and scale. In the past year other design and Interactive graphics programs: MAGIC, Industrial Design, New Media, SOFA all have purchased Vive equipment. It’s a simple matter of providing copies of the produced module for our colleagues to test.

Finally, This tool would give the students/learners a productive break away from the work stations while doing work, for ergonomic and healthy practices. Learners of 3D art tend to get affected (back, neck, wrist...etc) by traditional working tools. While this certainly won’t replace most computer based work at this point, it’s a step in the right direction.

Once this project has been successfully completed we already envision several future funding, pedagogical, and production goals.

This project would pave the way for applying for two additional research funding requests: There is currently little research done on how multiple people collaborating in VR work together.

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Once the previously mentioned modules have been created, we will work towards a “networked” module which will involve multiple students working in the same virtual environment through networked virtual reality helmets.Second, a new hardware component that we would aim put pursue after this grant is a upgraded VR Helmet called the HTC Vive Pro Eye. This new hardware has built-in eye tracking. We would propose a study using our current modules and quiz items to do cross correlation connected to kinesthetic and eye movement, in collaboration with professors in RIT’s psychology department.

Support We have shown the previous VR projects (pictured above) and described our intended goal of a flexible modular VR system for teaching composition / lighting modules to the following professors. They have all express high levels of enthusiasm, support and a desire to work with us even BEFORE we start building our modules!

• Tim Wood (Industrial Design) • Mary Golden (Interior Design) • Jesse O’Brian (IGM)

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ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS Please address these questions, if needed.

Will your project require assistance for extensive or unusual media, multimedia, simulation, and/or software development? If so, please explain?

All courses offered by RIT must be accessible to students with disabilities, according to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (rit.edu/studentaffairs/disabilityservices/info). Is your proposed teaching approach accessible to all students, with reasonable accommodation? If not, please explain.

RIT abides by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), which prohibits instructors from making students' identities, course work, and educational records public without their consent (rit.edu/xVzNE). Will any data gathering or sharing for your project raise any FERPA issues? If so, please explain.

Yes it is accessible

No. There will be no specific data released connected to identifiable sources.

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DISSEMINATION AGREEMENT By completing this grant application, I agree to provide the materials and services described here, in support of disseminating what is learned from this project to the RIT community.

I also agree to return all/a portion of the funds that I receive for this project to RIT if I fail to complete or provide the materials described here: • Full Project Plan (including roles and responsibilities, milestone dates, and pertinent project details) • Preliminary Findings report (may include experiment/study design, lessons learned, initial data collection,

and/or literature review summary) • Participation in an ILI/TLS Preliminary Findings Roundtable dissemination event (share and discuss your

preliminary findings with your PLIG cohort) • Final Summary of Findings (including data collection, lessons learned, implications for further study, and

which may be in the form of an article abstract, conference presentation outline, or short report) • Final budget accounting (reconciliation of budget provided with your application and the actual project

expenses) • Participation in an ILI/TLS PLIG Showcase dissemination event (present a poster or other display at the

annual Showcase)

By submitting this application, I accept this agreement. SF (applicant, please initial here)

TIMELINE AND TASKS Please indicate any variances to the planned PLIG 2019 schedule as described in the above Dissemination Agreement and the reasons for this variance. If you do not intend to deviate from the schedule, you may leave this section blank.

Task Date Proposed Variance and Reason

Full Project Plan submitted to TLS August 16, 2019

Preliminary Findings report submitted to TLS January 10, 2020

Participation in an ILI/TLS Preliminary Findings Roundtable dissemination event February, 2020

Summary of Final Findings report submitted to TLS August 21, 2020

Final Budget Accounting report submitted to TLS August 21, 2020

Participation in an ILI/TLS PLIG Showcase dissemination event November 2020

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DISSEMINATION PLAN (optional) Provide details about the journals, conferences, shows, or other external vehicles with strong potential for dissemination of your results (in addition to the ILI/TLS Preliminary Findings Roundtable and PLIG Showcase dissemination events). Include supporting documentation, such as preliminary interest or acceptance, with your application, if available. (Please note that special consideration will be given to proposals that have a defined opportunity for external dissemination, such as an academic journal or professional conference.)

We will propose talks as well as demonstrations at the following conferences:

SIGGRAPH 2020

Conference on Higher Education & Pedagogy 2020

Game Based Learning Conference 2020

Frameless Labs 2019

DEPARTMENT HEAD CERTIFICATION I support this PLIG application and verify that the principal applicant is a full-time faculty member in good standing in my department.

Principal Applicant Name: Shaun Foster

Department Head Name (PRINT): Peter Byrne Email: pjbfaa@rit.edu

Department Head Signature: ___ ________________________Date: 01/18/2019

NOTE: When signed, please scan and email with your Application Form to: plig@rit.edu