The XR Showdown™ involved college students creating VR/AR/MR for enterprise use.

By KarI Y. Snyder, MFA

THE PROBLEM

While teaching at the University of Houston, I noticed that Houston region technology and media students lacked paid internship opportunities to grow their skills under professional mentorship. I created and produced the XR Showdown training event to help solve this problem. 

MY ROLE

- Instructional Designer
- Showdown Creator
- Executive Producer (business development & fundraising)
- Creative Director (all graphics and promotional work)
- Director (live stream and event)
- Lead Editor
- Writer

TEAM SIZE

- 3 Co-Hosts
- 4 Co-Producers
- 7 Media Team Students
- 19 Software  Students on four teams
- 37 Professional Mentors
- 9 Professional Advisors

DURATION

- Fundraising and Pre-Production: 8 months
- Production: 6 weeks
- Post-Production: 6 months

MY TOOLS

- Monday
- Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Audition, After Effects, XD)
- Unity
- Azure (AI and Machine Learning)
- HTML, CSS, and React
- MS Office

OBJECTIVES

I sought to develop a rigorous XR training experience that brought together a team of college students from various colleges to create virtual reality and augmented reality projects under the direction of professional mentors. I reached out to sponsors so that the students were provided paid work even as they learned new skills.

Presented by ExxonMobil and hosted within the Ion XR lab, the XR Showdown™ involved college students and recent graduates creating VR/AR/MR simulations and games for enterprise use, followed by a review by potential employers, all featured in a livestream TV show followed by a documentary.

Showdown

Feb 3rd - Mar 13th, 2020

Length

6 Weeks, 3 hours per evening

Projects

XR (VR, AR, MR) SErious-use Projects

Live-Stream

Broadcast Show and Documentary

Location

ION XR Lab,
Houston TX

Paid

Paid STudent INternship

EDUCATIONAL SHOW BREAKDOWN

I created the showdown with the idea that a live-stream broadcast would allow employers to watch the students work as well as for other students around the world to be inspired and learn new skills as well. Each week of the showdown the live-stream episode featured a specific job. Students were interviewed regarding how they were conducting their work; professional mentors shared tips, and special guests offered fresh insights.

EPISODE

01

Episode THEME:

Project Managers

Special Guest:

Keisha Howard

LIVE CGI
EPISODE

02

Episode THEME:

3D Art/Animation

Special Guest:

Jeri Ellsworth

Tilt Five
EPISODE

03

Episode THEME:

Programmers

Special Guest:

Zac Duff

JIG Space
EPISODE

04

Episode THEME:

UI/UX

Special Guest:

Connell Gauld

Tilt Five
EPISODE

05

Episode THEME:

Digital Media

Special Guest:

Ayoola John-Muyiwa

LiveSnap+
EPISODE

06

FINALE:

ProtoType reveal

Awards Ceremony

Finale

+ Gaming event

SHOWDOWN SUPPORTERS

I raised $120,000 in sponsorship with ExxonMobil as presenting sponsor and Houston Community College (HCC) as a team sponsor. The ION co-working center in Houston offered the filming location for the event and assisted with additional outreach to employers. Hardware sponsor, MACE Virtual Labs, provided VR headsets. Other XR industry organizations provided more marketing support and opportunities for the students such as the Industrial VR/AR Forum allowing the student teams to present their work at a conference and meet more employers.

PROJECT SOLUTION

Over 50 students signed up for the event with twenty-six (26) students making the final selection based on a round of job interviews coupled with an on-camera test. Selected students were from the University of Houston, Texas A&M, The Art Institute of Houston and the Houston Community College. Four teams produced XR software projects while the media team documented their work. I secured thirty-seven (37) professional mentors who graciously volunteered their time to rate the skills and work of each student each week based on customized rubric I developed. An additional nine professionals were selected as an advisor group to review student applications and provide sponsor outreach connections.

AR Galveston History Museum Tour app

AR with machine learning Warehouse Object classification app for ExxonMobil

VR electrical engineer Training app for ExxonMobil

VR Oil Rig Training app for ExxonMobil

In order to best assess performance gaps and demonstrate successful skill growth, each week students were evaluated by professional mentors and rated 1-10 on job specific skills in the categories of Project Management, Programming, 3D Art & Design and UI/UX. I created the grading rubrics after interviewing 20 different professionals in each field. Each rubric was also reviewed and approved by the board of advisors prior to the showdown.

Outside of being evaluated each week, students could win special recognition badges for soft skill merits such as kindly assisting another student, helping clean up without being asked, and putting in extra time in study.

THE RESULTS

Over 1,200 people viewEd the finale with 200 actively participating in the live-stream

Five (5) showdown graduates were offered job interviews at the finale

At the end of the six week internship, all four teams presented their final XR projects to see who would win the top prize. Due to the outbreak of COVID, only an online audience was able to participate since the in-person event was canceled. Despite that set back, the finale event was well received with over 1,200 views and a robust live audience of over 60 asking questions. Winners were announced for Top Project Manager, Top UI/UX, Top 3D Artist,  Top Programmer and Top Project. Most importantly, five students were offered job opportunities.

"ExxonMobil is leveraging XR to create a safer and more effective workforce. We believe we are just hitting the tip of the iceberg with the technology and want to help drive it forward. XR Showdown™ represents an opportunity to continue on this journey together while helping universities build the skills needed for the future of Serious Games."

Kyle Daughtry, immersive technology design lead at ExxonMobil

"Digital realities will continue to improve and evolve, but ExxonMobil is already using virtual reality for immersive learning to radically change the way we train employees.  We hope XR Showdown™ will invite the curious and creative minds to harness the power of digital realities to improve our current reality!"

Athicha Dhanormchitphong, immersive technology architect at ExxonMobil
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