Virtual Reality to Teach Communication

Working (and especially communicating) in pairs to defuse a bomb is the goal of the game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. I use it to teach communication to students in various technical programs (Dental Hygiene, Optical Dispensing, Computer Science Technology, etc.).

My colleague François Lalonde is quite a technophile and has been interested in virtual reality since it first appeared. He was the one who discovered the app Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (available for about 10 dollars) and saw its pedagogical potential.

He convinced me to try it out in the winter of 2020, just before the pandemic. Since then, other colleagues have joined us in this adventure!   

Activity logistics

In Cégep Édouard-Montpetit’s library, there is a large area called Espace Moebius. This space includes an active learning classroom, a media lab, and a discussion zone. Several virtual reality headsets are available, and a technician is always on site.

On the day of the activity, the class starts in the usual classroom. I explain the day’s activities to everyone, and then head to Espace Moebius with half of the group. The other half stays in the classroom to work on a stress management assignment started the previous week. (It is a fairly long assignment that the students will have to complete at home, so they are happy to have class time to work on it.)

The students at Espace Moebius engage in a virtual reality activity. For most of them, this is their 1^st virtual reality experience. Before they put on the headset for the 1^st time, I explain the basic safety rules, such as not moving around whilst wearing it. I also show them how to use the controller and introduce the game. The technological aspect of the activity is not complicated at all, but it contributes to the idea of ‘becoming familiar with the unfamiliar”, which is part of the exercise.

Students form teams of 2.

• 1 person (Person A) puts on an Oculus Go virtual reality headset (and holds the controller that goes with it). Person A sees a virtual “bomb” that needs to be defused.
• The other person (Person B) has the written instructions to defuse the bomb but doesn’t see the bomb. As Person B reads the instructions, they must guide Person A to defuse the bomb.

The app website Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is only available in English, but the app itself (and the Bomb Defusal Manual) is available both in French and English. The app is easy to use and works well. I have experienced very few technical problems over the years.

After a 1^st attempt at diffusing the bomb, the roles are switched: Person A takes the place of Person B. Each student has the time for several attempts at the exercise in each role. Each attempt enables them to learn and to improve their communication strategies.

After about 1 hour, the students at Espace Moebius return to their classroom and the other half of the class goes to Espace Moebius to play.

The whole session lasts 3 hours.

A serious game

The activity is a lot of fun (the app is actually sold as a game!). However, it is also unquestionably educational. It encourages the students to apply the basic concepts of communication in a very concrete manner:

• transactional model
• sender
• receiver
• physiological and psychological noises
• verbal and non-verbal communication
• etc.

One observation the students made is that they don’t all have the same references. For instance, not everyone is familiar with the Greek letter Ψ (psi).

The activity enables students to realize that as specialists in their field of study (dental hygienists, opticians, computer technicians, etc.), they develop a set of references that may not be the same as those of the clients they will encounter in their professional practice.

The exercise helps everyone understand that meaning does not solely reside in the words used: the people communicating need to share the same references. Students become aware of the importance of the vocabulary they use to ensure clear communication. The game also helps students recognize the significance of non-verbal cues in supporting communication. Indeed, the person wearing the virtual reality headset doesn’t see the person giving them instructions. They are completely deprived of the other person’s body language.

In addition, the game puts students in a stressful situation (there is a time limit to defuse the bomb before it explodes, and students are only allowed to make a certain number of mistakes). Besides being a psychological noise that can hinder communication, stress management is actually one of the themes covered in my courses since stress affects the ability to formulate a clear message.

Other psychological noises can also come into play, such as feeling one’s ego threatened when seeing that other teams are succeeding. As the facilitator of the activity, I can also have fun diversifying the noise sources to increase the level of difficulty (for example, adding background music, turning up the volume, etc.).

As only a few students are wearing a headset at the same time, I can closely monitor the progress of each team and provide real-time feedback to students. For example, when a team encounters a communication issue, I can ask them to identify it by referring to theoretical communication models. This forces the students to integrate the theoretical concepts covered in class.

Summative evaluation

After the activity, students have to write a reflection on their experience. This assignment helps them become aware of their strengths in communication skills and the challenges they will need to overcome. (The reflection is one of the 1^st summative evaluations of the course.)

A significant activity

I had never used a virtual reality headset before. I found the activity quite fun and it helped me realize how challenging it can be to give instructions to someone else when we don’t see the same thing.

—A student

I realized that I had to provide many clues and use the right words to defuse the bomb.

—Another student

The students really enjoy the activity Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. It’s an invaluable experience that leaves a lasting impression on them because it’s fun, innovative (with the use of virtual reality), and educational. I’ve run into former students in the hallways several semesters after their course, and they still mention the game!

Have you ever integrated a fun virtual reality activity into one of your courses? Share your experience in the comments!