Kids & VR: Why VR makes Simon Says harder and Education better (feat. Dr. Jakki Bailey)

SPARTIE-Cast with Dr. Robby Ratan

Dr. Jakki Bailey, assistant professor and director of the Immersive Human Development Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, shares her expertise on childrens' uses of virtual reality technology.

She shares some humorous moments from her research (e.g., “I wish I could do this [in VR] for forever”), describes some potential concerns about safety for kids in VR and succinctly explains the fundamental psychology behind why kids use and respond to VR differently than adults (e.g., executive function and impulse control).

She also describes how kids perceive characters and avatars in VR, how her “Designing User Interfaces for Children” class prepares students to build the metaverse for children and the ways in which education in VR might be able to exceed the quality of current educational experiences. Her expertise on this important but all-too-often underappreciated topic is rare and valuable. Enjoy the episode!

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About the SPARTIE Lab:

The Social and Psychological Approaches to Research on Technology-Interaction Effects (SPARTIE) Lab performs research on the effects of human-technology interaction, examining how the use of media technologies (e.g., avatars, agents, automobiles) influences meaningful outcomes (e.g., education, health/safety, persuasion).

The SPARTIE Lab is part of the greater academic community at the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University. More information on the lab's research projects, staff, and work can be found on the SPARTIE Lab website.

About the host:

Dr. Rabindra (Robby) Ratan, Ph. D., is an associate professor and AT&T Scholar at Michigan State University’s Department of Media and Information and is the director of the SPARTIE Lab.

He is also an affiliated faculty member of the MSU Department of Psychology, the MSU College of Education’s program in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, and the MSU Center for Gender in a Global Context. Ratan received his Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, his M.A. in Communication from Stanford University, and his B.A. in Science, Technology and Society, also from Stanford University.

Dr. Ratan conducts research on the effects of human-technology interaction, examining how media technologies (e.g., avatars, agents, automobiles) influence meaningful outcomes (e.g., persuasion, education, health/safety). He is particularly interested in the Proteus effect, media-rich transportation contexts, perceptions of media as self-representations and/or social others, avatarification for health and education, and gender stereotypes in gaming contexts.

Dr. Ratan lives near Lansing with his family. More information on his work can be found on his website.