www.derby.ac.uk

Presentation By Greg Sutton

www.derby.ac.uk

Using Unity to Create Teaching Tools, for

Teaching Academically and Clinically

within Occupational Therapy

www.derby.ac.uk

What is

Unity is a games engine primarily designed for making it

easy to make games.

It can output to:

• Web

• PC, Mac & Linux

• iOS

• Android

• BlackBerry

• Microsoft App Store

• Google Native Client

• Xbox

• PS3

• Wii

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History of the

Occupational Therapy Interaction

Second Life Open Sim

Unity

The research by Rowe, P., Newberry, K., (2012) shows that using the virtual world simulation

increased the depth of understanding and student confidence when compared to the paper

based exercise.

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Second Life/Open Sim Vs Unity Second Life Open Sim Unity

Platforms PC/Mac PC/Mac PC/Mac, Web,

Android, iOS, etc..

Setup costs High Low Low

Running costs High Low Low

Reliability Low Medium High

Virtual real-estate Expensive Free Free

Development costs Low Low High

Development Skill

Requirements

Medium Medium High

Development Freedom Limited Very Limited Unlimited

Distribution Installed client

software with

internet

Installed client

software with

internet

Web site, executable

file, installed mobile

App

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What is the Occupational Therapy

Interaction

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Comparing Open Sim and Unity

• Ease of use

Which did you find easier to

learn how to use Second

Life or Unity?

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

group 1 group 2 group 3 Gr 1+2+3

Second Life

The same

Unity

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

group 1 group 2 group 3 Gr 1+2+3

Which did you find easier to

use Second Life or Unity?

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Comparing Open Sim and Unity

• Reduced training time How quickly do you think you became competent enough to carry out the

activities asked of you?

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

group 1 group 2 group 3 Gr 1+2+3

Immediately

Quickly

Slowly

Second Life Unity

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

group 1 group 2 group 3 Gr 1+2+3

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Comparing Open Sim and Unity

• Reduced Adverse physiological effects

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

group 1 group 2 group 3 group 4 group 5 Gr 4+5

Open

Sim

Unity

Did you experience motion sickness, nausea or dizziness while using either of the

interactions?

Gr1+2+3

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Adverse physiological effects

“Gave me a headache

a lot of movement of

the camera”

“Got stuck

zooming in and

out”

Students’ Comments on Open Sim

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Second Life/Open Sim Vs Unity

Second Life Open Sim Unity

Shared virtual world space Inherent Inherent Optional

Instances 1 (2 flats) 1 (4 flats) Unlimited

Student training time 40 min 30 min 15 min

Simultaneous Users 8 8 40+

Adverse physiological effects 14% 7%

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Would you like a Virtual World

Assessment?

Yes 42%

No 42%

Nil Response 16%

“I think that people

who play video

games are at an

advantage”

“Suffer with

motion

sickness”

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Tablet development

Gestures Thumb Sticks

Joy Pad Big Arrows

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References:

Rowe, P., Newberry, K., (2012) Second Life virtual learning

environment to develop pre-registration students’ clinical skills,

Poster presented at BMJ International Forum on Health and Safety

in Health Care, Paris, 2012.

Threapleton, K., Birks, E., Sutton, G., Rowe, P., Newberry, K.,

Drummond, A., Standen, P., (2014) Developing a Virtual

Environment for Discharge Planning after Stroke; A Preliminary

Study, Nigel Newbutt chair, Conference Proceedings: Interactive

Technologies and Game Conference, Nottingham, 16-17 Oct.