Glyn’s ‘mind palace’ helps students reduce exam anxiety with virtual reality
A DERBY College teacher has devised a system that will help students reduce anxiety in exam conditions, while providing them with opportunities to learn and revise using the artificial intelligence AI advancements to support them.
Glyn Pickering has created an AI virtual mind palace to help prepare students for exams by allowing them to access a virtual version of their exam room and access mock papers and quizzes.
A virtual mind palace is like a mental filing system stored in a computer or digital device. It’s a method of remembering things by mentally associating them with specific places or objects in a virtual space instead of a real one.
This technique helps Derby students organise and remember information more effectively, making it a useful tool for learning and memory improvement.
Parts of the resource are co-created by students, and with nearly 4,000 views, it is making its mark. It is freely accessible on the mobile phones of Derby College students. They can play psychology-related games, watch documentaries, get feedback on their work, access the week’s course content, receive bespoke resources, get directions to their exam hall, and complete a full paper in the room, as well as watch videos on their course.
Glyn said: “It is a very exciting project to lead and is truly innovative but allows students to interact with their subject in a way not possible in any other way, it also allows students to explore and develop their digital skills and creativity whilst in an academic context.
“And it is really exciting to be able to give students the opportunity to experience their learning virtually from any location on any device from anywhere in the world. It really helps the students to prepare for further study and the waiting world beyond.”
Glyn is a chartered psychologist and an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is involved in a number of events to showcase to other educational institutions how they can replicate the resource in their own settings. He is currently writing a paper on its impact, which is due for publication later this year.