Work-in-Progress—iCoding: Immersive Coding in Unity

Abstract

This work-in-progress paper presents a novel application of Virtual Reality (VR), via the Unity framework, in Computer Science Education to provide an immersive experience for Computational Thinking and Coding activities. First of all, we have created a 3D Unity game whose scenario consists of a game room with arcade custom cabinets. Players can move in the game room,
select a cabinet by simply approaching it, and solve coding exercises implemented in a 2D arcade game projected on the cabinet’s screen. The novelty of our 3D application is that each cabinet, besides providing a different arcade game, is equipped with a virtual block editor through which players can provide solutions to the proposed computational thinking and coding challenges. In a
second step, we have ported the 3D Unity game to an immersive VR application via SteamVR, e.g., using tele-transport for player movement. Our framework transfers traditional coding activities (based on visual languages and arcade games) into an immersive experience in a VR scenario. This combination requires additional skills, such as rapidly adapting the passage from 3D to 2D scenarios
during a game. In this paper, we describe the key feature of the application and the expected learning potential and outcomes.