What is currently known about the subject?

• This paper builds on research related to AR and VR in educational fields. It explores the role of immersive technologies in social innovation education and the notion of changemaking. The current status of health and physical activity in young people is a global issue and there is much debate relating to the role of gaming and technology in contributing to sedentary behaviours. Immersive technologies are appealing to young people and there is a growing drive to incite change and be creators and innovators. This work draws on the maker movement and combines the notion of digital making with changemaking.

What this paper adds?

• This study is pioneering in its use of AR and VR technology in an educational context by demonstrating that the creative use of immersive technologies, supported by a mix of other technologies, has the potential to enable young people to recognise social dilemmas, plan collaboratively, and design and make prototype solutions. It presents an original set of data that suggests that the creative use of technologies such as AR and VR might develop changemaker attributes and an understanding of the changemaker process within an international project, providing compelling evidence that there is much potential for technology-enabled changemaking in education.

Implications of this work for practice and future policy?

• Whilst immersive technology use in schools is in its infancy, this study indicates that there is a willingness and excitement to develop it as a learning tool and as a pedagogical approach. This work identifies the potential to develop exergaming in relation to health, physical activity, sport and physical education on a wider scale. It also identifies opportunities to explore social and environmental issues through AR and VR within the context of social innovation education. The work highlights the enabling power of technologies in acting as a catalyst for transformative learning, promoting the aims of UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal 4, Target 7 that focuses on promoting sustainable societies and global citizenship through education (UN, 2015).

Review of Literature

We review literature pertaining to the use of AR and VR technology in physical activity settings in schools, relating this to the notion of changemakers and how it supports the development of skills associated with changemaking. Changemaking can be defined as a process of designing, refining, implementing and evaluating an innovation (Thorogood, Azuma, Collins, Plyushteva, & Marie, 2018) and might be promoted through activities that develop ‘soft skills’ which are not easily taught, including project management, persuasion, teamwork and leadership. At the heart of the process is “the active, engaged student who does not passively consume knowledge but who is active in creating it” (Thorogood, Azuma, Collins, Plyushteva, & Marie, 2018, 544). Alden-Rivers, Armellini, Maxwell, Allen, and Durkin (2015) recognize the complex nature of changemaking, highlighting the ability to identify an issue and take positive action as one of an array of relevant attributes.

Links have been identified between changemaking and critical learning theory (United-Nations, 2015). The latter looks to develop attributes linked with social responsibilities, such as social conscience and empathy, allowing learners to acquire and analyse both social and self-knowledge (Mclaren & Crawford, 2010). Additionally, critical learning theory encourages learners to develop empathy, critical thinking and civil responsibility (Scorza, Mirra, & Morrell, 2013), attributes central to changemaking. Connections can also be made between changemaking and employability, through its emphasis on empathy, creativity and reflection (United-Nations, 2015). Whilst changemaker skills are not necessarily new, they are contemporary, as there is “an expectation for young people to be the social leaders and innovators of tomorrow” (Alden-Rivers, Armellini, Maxwell, Allen, & Durkin, 2015, 11)

Intercultural competence has been defined as “the skills needed to function effectively in interactions with people who differ from an individual linguistically or culturally” (Dziedziewicz, Gajda, & Karwowski, 214, 32). Importantly, it develops sensitivities around gender and diversity, and is concurrent with changemaking which similarly emphasises empathy, tolerance, respect and appreciation.Dziedziewicz et al. (2014) suggest that collaborating with people from different countries and cultures builds creativity and breaks down barriers, however they acknowledge that few such programmes focus on children. This study recognises both intercultural competence and intercultural awareness and adds to the debate of how to build both in children and young people by investigating the impact of international teams working together to solve social problems they have jointly identified.

The studies cited above emphasise the combination of empathy for others with the motivation to take creative action to solve problems, recognising that this ability is favoured by employers. The inclusion of digital competencies to this skill set makes it consistent with the transformative ambitions of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.7 which promotes sustainable development and global citizenship (Mochizuki, 2019; United-Nations, 2015). A similar combination of skills is recognised by Hughes and Maas (2017), who explored the use of AR and VR with marginalised young people. They found the addition of technologies enhanced students' ability to collaborate and communicate, and helped develop ‘transferable life skills’ such as resilience and problem solving. They suggest that digital creativity facilitates the development of jointly-constructed understandings and shared beliefs, both of which have been identified as having a positive impact on the development of changemaker attributes (Alden-Rivers et al., 2015).

AR and VR have recently begun to appear more frequently in educational contexts (Hughes et al., 2017). VR technology “completely immerses users in a synthetic world without seeing the real world” (Carmigniani et al., 2011, 342). In contrast, AR superimposes information or virtual objects into the real world, allowing a reality where virtual objects seem to coexist in the real environment (Azuma, 1997).Lin and Chang (2015) recognise that these technologies have in the past been cost prohibitive; however, recent advancements have made them more accessible and particularly well suited to use by children.Faric et al. (2019) highlight numerous studies that report increases in intensity of physical activity and higher ratings of enjoyment and interest through AR, noting that the immersive qualities are likely to distract participants from the physical exertion. Similarly, Thornton, Ernst, & Clark (2012, 18) observe that AR and VR by their very nature have “the potential to both engage and excite”. This represents an opportunity within educational settings to embed authentic learning experiences that facilitate cognitive immersion and engagement with physical activity through AR or VR.

AR and VR technologies pose further benefits for multi-sensory and active learning.Lin et al. (2015) conducted a small scale study within a special educational needs setting using a body motion interactive game developed in Scratch and found that the use of AR had a significant and positive effect on children’s physical activity levels. They stress the ease of interaction afforded by AR and suggest that games which rely upon sensory and movement control are more successful and accessible. Hughes et al. (2017) similarly found benefits of AR for children with special needs, including “increased content understanding of spatial structure and function, learning of language associations, long term memory retention, improved physical task performance and increased motivation and engagement”. They conclude that AR and VR appeal to the sensory nature of learning by drawing upon auditory, visual and spatial skills, making it a more immersive experience. As noted byWu, Lee, Chang, and Liang (2013), this style of learning contrasts conventional teacher-centred pedagogies and can promote transformational learning, which focuses on individuals’ learning needs. Transformational learning allows learners to develop skills they themselves feel they need to improve. The focus is on the impact of learners' critical reflections and discussion of their experiences (Fazio-Griffith & Ballard, 2016). Through first-hand, practical experiences and activities, transformational learning allows learners to explore and develop changemaker attributes (Alden-Rivers et al., 2015) .

This review of literature highlights the potential for AR and VR to promote active engagement with physical activity and suggest that they can improve accessibility, engagement and changemaking skills for many learners. It sets the scene for our investigation into the potential for using digital technologies to create exergames supporting the development of changemaker attributes and impact.

Use of technologies

This section demonstrates the technologies used to facilitate the creation of exergames in response to the social problem of childhood physical inactivity.

Firstly, AR and VR enabled the development of mutual understanding between pupils in England and Denmark at the beginning of the project as they used various tools to get to know each other and to understand their social and educational contexts. These social activities included:

• the exchange of seasonal greetings through the creation of AR Keynote GIFs triggered by the app EyeJack;

• swapping 360° stills and videos of their classrooms and creating 360° tours of each other’s local environments;

• sharing virtual meals in AR and VR via CoSpaces;

• exploring landmarks in each other’s countries in 360° through Google Earth tours.

Figure 1 represents the sharing of favourite meals developed in Co Spaces and 360 films of their school shared between countries.

Secondly, pupils designed and exchanged digital artefacts during collaborative days, where pupils in both countries worked synchronously on their exergame projects, aided by collaborative tools such as video communication and Twitter. Their invented exergames included:

• combining the app Plankpad with balance boards and VR headsets;

• creating a soccer video sensing game using a webcam in the coding environment Scratch;

• challenging international partners to explore an environment with the Cardboard Camera app;

• playing a giant human Pac-Man game using MakeyMakeys connected with electric fence string and tin foil;

• creating basketball coaching videos in VR;

• remixing a balance board challenge using Microbits and Scratch.

These examples illustrate some ways in which digital making and creative use of immersive technology can support changemaking. They combine to make a set of digital tools and strategies for connecting classrooms and enabling pupils to jointly create prototype artefacts and environments that represent innovative solutions to the social issue of physical inactivity.

Changemaker attributes

There was a majority of positive responses to discussions around changemaker attributes. By analysing their experiences from the collaboration days, pupils formed a judgement on how what they had learnt could impact themselves or others. They discussed how they were able to work with their international peers using digital communication and how this enhanced their technological abilities. Pupils shared ideas and felt confident in arguing possible solutions to the exergame challenge. They understood that problems can be solved through teamwork, and listening and negotiating solutions. Empathy between pupils was evident as they showed an understanding that experiences differ, and they included discussions around the type and accessibility of the technologies for their designs. Resourcefulness was shown using video communication, Twitter and by sharing AR and VR films and images of their environments to see how the Danish pupils approached the tasks. By doing this, pupils learnt new ways of approaching problems. Empathy was further demonstrated through understanding that changemaking, whilst sometimes difficult, requires togetherness and cooperation to succeed. The project influenced pupils’ intercultural awareness and the English pupils were keen to work with the Danes. Pupils exhibited an awareness of some of the issues the world currently faces and a responsibility towards making change happen. Although their challenge focused on using technology to improve physical activity, they were able to apply this thinking to other issues, such as the environment.

You’ve got to think about things before you do it, understand it before you do it.

Using technology and physical education…you can do both at once you can do exercise whilst playing video games in your house.

We had to hold hands and interact with each other and you had to speak quite a bit because one person would have one idea and another person another, you'd have to agree on the idea. It really helped us to work together and to work as a team.

Using simple things like your phone or VR headset allows you to experience things in the world and understand more of the world and see how places you might have never been to and how people live their lives and how enriched they are in those places.

Changemaker impact

Pupils’ views of their changemaker impact was that it was an ambition rather than something they could clearly see had happened. Whilst there was a majority of positive responses, the high number of negative responses suggests pupils see changemaker impact as being particularly challenging. They demonstrated an understanding that change must happen for a reason and a willingness to take responsibility in tackling the issue of motivating others to be active using technology. Pupils aspired to personal development and noted that this was an ongoing process which could occur at any point in life. The collaborative days encouraged the pupils to think about how their actions could make a difference in the future. They were able to listen and respond sensitively to pupils from other countries, and demonstrated an interest in exploring similarities and differences between the cultures and the varying approaches to tackling problems. Their curiosity to see how the pupils in Denmark approached the tasks illustrated an openness to different viewpoints. They collaborated to make decisions and communicate their ideas, taking time to reflect on each other’s inputs before making a final decision as a group. Being sensitive and socially conscious was also exemplified in practice by their consideration of the other pupils’ written and spoken English as they thought carefully about how they presented their instructions for non-native speakers. Additionally, they recognised that digital technology is an everyday part of their lives and understood that it can be used to improve their level of physical activity at school and at home. Pupils began to look at everyday technologies in a different light, using them to overcome language barriers by combining text, images and speech in their video calls. Pupils noticed that changing the use of technology from entertainment to exercise could impact not only their own lives but everyone else’s too, and they described how they applied their skills to implement change outside school with friends, the school community and family. Altruism was also apparent in their reflections, as they appreciated that they could improve the lives of others without the need for personal recognition.

Breaking environmental boundaries would take a lot of effort but if we incorporate that in our daily lives we know we can make a change.

I know what I need to achieve to become a changemaker. I've changed some people's mindset because sometimes we're not entirely capable of doing things but that doesn't affect who we are as people and what we can do.

Anyone can change the world with a small app. One of the important things to teenagers today and to your life is being able to use technology in a way that is both fun and that helps you to improve the way you live. While being entertained you can still be active using one of the new apps.

It shows that we can help make a difference with joining physicality and technology because some people think just adults can do this but we're showing that children can do as well.

We've got to think about things to make them work and not just do it and put some effort into understanding why we're doing what we're doing.

Technologies developing changemaker attributes and impact

Pupils encountered technology tools that were new to many of them and there is evidence to show that in developing and applying their skills, they demonstrated a range of changemaker attributes such as resilience, perseverance, negotiation and collaboration (Hughes et al., 2017). The immersive technologies, as part of a number of technologies used in the project, not only gave pupils a creative platform through which they could innovate and invent, but facilitated a process whereby pupils could share their work with peers from other cultures and receive feedback in real time. It was evident that participation in the collaborative days encouraged pupils to consider how they could engage in changemaking and they recognised that this could have an impact on themselves and those around them in the future. Additionally, pupils were aware that, for change to be permanent, everyone must invest in that change. This amounts to a growing understanding of some of the processes involved in being a changemaker.

The findings clearly show some development of intercultural awareness in the pupils and, in the context of the project, technology created an environment that allowed this to happen. For example, the synchronous digital communication tools such as a real-time twitter wall and video conferencing lent an immediacy and interdependency to the collaboration, which made it more genuine. As a result, during the collaboration days, pupils were active in the generation of knowledge and solving of problems (Thorogood et al., 2018). Being able to share and discuss ideas virtually enabled them to connect internationally and their mutual interest led to a developing understanding of their cultures and the differing approaches their partners took to tackling problems (Hughes et al., 2017). The pupils understood some of the attitudes, environments and challenges that would face their partner schools and took them into account in their game designs and instructions (Welsh & Dehler, 2013).

Digital making supporting changemaking

The DLAB project has taken an innovative approach to the use of AR and VR to empower young people to build understanding of each other’s environments and culture, and to design, build and share prototype exergames. Immersive technologies are increasingly a part of young people’s lives and, through their inventions, our pupils showed that such technologies can be put to positive effect. Some pupils described a change in their attitude towards technology as they moved from a more passive role as consumers to become active innovators, designers and makers, a process that required significant motivation and focus. However, there is the risk that the novelty will wear off and old habits resume or are resistant to change.

There is evidence of both critical learning theory and transformational learning theory in practice, as pupils developed attributes within themselves and within a social setting. Transformational learning experiences were evident where the pupils demonstrated critical discussion of ideas and negotiation skills as part of a team (Alden-Rivers et al., 2015; Fazio-Griffith et al., 2016; Mezirow, 1991) . Critical learning theory was evident in their ability to demonstrate empathy, civil responsibility and problem solving (Mclaren et al., 2010; Scorza et al., 2013; United-Nations, 2015). As pupils gained metacognition of the changemaking process they developed attributes such as self-efficacy (Scorza et al., 2013).

This study was not without its challenges, not least the communication and collaboration between the countries involved. Working as a large international team across time zones and accommodating different philosophies across the partner institutions presented an ambitious programme. We worked with pupils aged between 11 and 12, who came from a range of international, socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. The variability in experiences means it cannot be assumed that the attributes demonstrated were developed because of this study; there will be cases where some of the attributes demonstrated were already present but were seen to be applied in this context. Overall, we are aware that this research is situational in the context of this study.