TALIA

TALIA - Teaching and Learning Immersive Authoring platform

Virtual or immersive experiences used to be time-consuming to make and the technical assistance required in production made them prohibitively expensive. We wanted to develop a simple tool for users of all skill levels to quickly and independently create their own immersive experiences, such as virtual field trips (VFTs), lab inductions, building tours and so much more.

So the PVCE Media &  Immersive team have created a tool that all staff at UNSW can now take advantage of to create engaging learning experiences (or have students create their own)!

 

TALIA Platform Link

UNSW TALIA Sharepoint Site

 

Project Details

"The VFT (Virtual Field Trip) was a great task, really fun and interesting to see the samples in their context"
Student feedback from BEES6741 Astrobiology: Life in the Universe course

In 2021, academics joined forces with the PVCESE Innovation Pillar immersive development and learning design teams to create a new virtual field trip platform (immersive editor) to bridge the gap between the technical knowledge needed to make an interactive spatialised experience and the ability for academics to create them with little to no help.

TALIA - Teaching and Learning Immersive Authoring platform - is as simple to use as PowerPoint. Talia enables users of all technical abilities to create the immersive environment by drag-dropping 360o images and videos, easily add hotspots, navigation and instructions for rich, engaging learning experiences for or by the students.

Using the pedagogical framework and the Talia platform, Associate Professor Carol Oliver and Associate Lecturer David Edwards from the Faculty of Science produced two virtual field trips (VFTs) to deliver in their courses in T3 2021. With additional features and functions delivered since, the VFTs were refined and delivered multiple times, again with very positive feedback - one student said she showed it to her grandparents who also thought it was amazing and reported "even they could find their way around it and understand!".

The technology being used for the creation is a Unity core supported by a PHP web stack running from the Immersive servers. The web version runs using webGL in the browser while the VR build targets primarily the Meta Quest headsets. The technology stack is being refined and developed in collaboration with UNSW IT and the latest cyber guardrails.

Videos

Data & Examples

"The high quality imagery (panoramic and drone/satellite) allowed for you to really get as good a feel for the landscape and various sites despite not being able to experience them in person. Being able to link in various internet resources as well through the VFT software was another benefit of the virtual process"
Student Feedback from BEES6741 Astrobiology: Life in the Universe course

Usage

TALIA is now in use across a range of courses and use-cases ranging from the Astrobiology and Environmental Science field trips to Construction sites and campus tours.

5400+ unique users have logged in and accessed published TALIA projects where the platform as a whole has seen over 13,000 logins.

Examples

Check out these TALIA projects to get a feel for how you might be able to leverage the platform for your students either via the web or in VR:

Credits

"The VFT was my favourite part of this course. It really changed my views on how much information scientists can gather from rocks.”
Student Feedback from BEES6741 Astrobiology: Life in the Universe course

Reimagine awards shortlisting badge 2024Shortlisted for the 2024 International QS Reimagine Education Awards.

Key Academic Partners

Carol Oliver (Professor, Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Science, UNSW)
David Edwards (Associate Lecturer, Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Science, UNSW)

Project Development Team

Nikki Hayes (Senior Education Designer, Educational Delivery, PVC Education, UNSW)
Seyha Sok (Immersive Technology Specialist & Developer, PVC Education, UNSW)
Paul Dyer (Immersive Technology Specialist & Developer, PVC Education, UNSW)
Graham Hannah (Manager of Immersive Technology, PVC Education, UNSW)
Thuy Vu (Manager of Educational Delivery, PVC Education, UNSW)

Work Integrated Learning Student Partners

Tony Nguyen (Software Engineering Honours Thesis Project, UNSW)
Tiana Douroudis (Software Engineering Honours Thesis Project, UNSW)
Frank Su (Software Engineering Honours Thesis Project, UNSW)
William (Will) Sieber (Software Engineering Honours Thesis Project, UNSW)
He Ren (Master of Simulation and Immersive Technology Capstone, UNSW)

News & Press

"Seeing the landscape really helped connect the information we learnt to how it looks in the real world. Did very well for an online learning software."
Student Feedback from BEES6741 Astrobiology: Life in the Universe course

Sept 2024: UNSW Digital and Online Learning Community of Practice
Presentation on the success of TALIA for Virtual Field Trips and other use cases, Carol Oliver

Sept 2024: UNSW Faculty of Science Colloquium
Carol Oliver presenting on the use of TALIA in Science education.

Sept 2024: UNSW News Room
UNSW revolutionising university education with new virtual field trip tool

Sept 2024: Education Supplement, The Australian
Virtual learning: fancy a trip to Mars?

April 2024: UNSW Education News
Professor Carol Oliver honoured for innovations in virtual learning and teaching

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Get Involved

TALIA community

  • Join the Team: TALIA Community (UNSW Teams link)
  • Collaborate: share ideas and questions on Talia.
  • Content: get access to demo 360 images and videos.

Try it out

Get in touch