Bellevue College is giving its coursework a virtual makeover.
In September, the college landed a roughly $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for its "extended reality" lab. Extended reality, or XR, is a catch-all term that encompasses both virtual and augmented reality, and Bellevue College is using the grant to incorporate the technology in its own coursework and help other institutions with their own XR efforts.
"The goal of what Bellevue College is doing with all this is really diverse. It is not just for computer science students," said Drew Stone, the XR lab coordinator. "This kind of a new page of how we interact with the world immersively. We want to train students to be able to integrate immersive learning in whatever fields, like 3D modeling, furniture design, aerodynamics, space. There's all sorts of different things."
The National Science Foundation grant will last until September 2026. With the grant, Bellevue College is giving out 10 microgrants per year of $1,000 each to other institutions for XR projects. Stone said the college got about 30 applications this year, and most of the projects were from community colleges or small colleges.
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The XR lab sits in the library media center, complete with VR headsets, handheld controls and rows of chairs. A projector screen on the back wall allows others to see what someone wearing a VR headset is seeing and doing.
Bellevue College teaches a fundamentals class on XR development. After that, students can incorporate XR into a variety of academic programs. According to Stone and Bruce Wolcott, the XR faculty lead, programs like interior design, astronomy, chemistry, nursing and more can all benefit from the technology. Wolcott said three high school students from the Bellevue Big Picture School built an exhibition on AIDS using the XR lab.
"They created a gallery you can walk through, and it had the international scope of HIV and AIDS," Wolcott said. "They had it color-coded."
Wolcott launched the XR lab with visiting Australian scholar James Riggall in 2017. Stone joined in March of this year, as his position was funded through the grant.
The grant comes during a time of transition for Bellevue College. In March 2023, the college named David May as its president. May replaced interim president and former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, who had filled the role since June 2020. May last year told the Business Journal the college has had problems with enrollment, and he aims to rekindle Bellevue College's growth.
The college's total unique headcount for 2023-24 was 19,783 students, according to a spokesperson. On its LinkedIn page, the school says it is the third-largest institution of higher learning in Washington.
The XR lab has become a recruiting tool and a point of focus for touring students. Stone said the goal is to show potential students that the lab is open to anyone, not just computer science students. On Tuesday, students from EF International Language Campus in Olympia trialed the lab, donning the headsets and playing in a virtual painting program.
Bellevue College also has a VR club of roughly 10 students. According to Stone, the XR lab serves functions beyond the academic.
"Sometimes for faculty, staff or students at the end of the quarter when it's really stressful, to go and sit quietly on a mountain stream," Stone said. "The commute is very easy through virtual reality."
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