My name is Ina Stacher, I did my masters degree in Psychology at the University of Vienna, with a focus on Developmental, Clinical and Health Psychology. Currently, I am working at the Research Group D.O.T. (Die offene Tür) and I am doing a PhD at the University of Vienna, Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention. My research interests lie in the field of health promotion, social relations and stress, youth engagement and social connectedness.
During my career, I gained clinical experience at the AKH Vienna and at a nursing home. I supported autistic children and collaborated with special educational needs teachers at a nursery school. I have many years of experience in the guidance and realisation of recreational activities with children and adolescents.
My core tasks in the D.O.T. project are the coordination, co-development and implementation of interactive workshops focussing on social connectedness and scientific analyses based on qualitative and quantitative research.
LINA – a digital learning game using mixed reality to discover interpersonal relations in the classroom and foster social connectedness
Young Academic Presentation, Friday, 18th October, 15:30 – 15:45
Discrimination and social exclusion due to any kind of otherness is a burning issue in school classrooms. Rejection and social exclusion provokes stress and can lead to negative outcomes such as depression, loneliness or low self-esteem. An important protective factor in the negative circle of exclusion, stress and mental health problems is good and supportive social relationships. Today’s youth use smartphones to establish and maintain relations with peers making online contact as relevant as direct contact.
Thus, the aim of the academic research group D.O.T. (Die offene Tür) is to develop a digital intervention game for early adolescents using mixed reality to discover interpersonal relations in the classroom and foster social connectedness.
The game, LINA, is conceived as a mystery-style game played simultaneously by an entire class of students aged 10-12, alongside their teacher. Players use smartphones to explore both their classroom and their relationship with each other in new ways. The game uses augmented reality and shared collaborative experiences to uncover the story of Lina, a fictional pupil who has suddenly and mysteriously left school in the middle of the term.
By stimulating positive contact via successful aspects of contact-based research (e.g. promoting shared interests/emotions, cooperative tasks) in both, an analogue and a digital setting, the game will create a unique mixed reality experience for youth. The co-development process strongly involves the target in order to adequately address their needs, challenges and preferences.
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