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Virtual Reality Movies in Youth Work
Virtual Reality Movies in Youth Work
Content
This activity introduces a good practice from Klaipėda City Municipality, where youth workers use Virtual Reality (VR) movies to explore sensitive issues such as disabilities and bullying.
Through immersive storytelling and interactive endings, young people can step into someone else’s perspective and reflect on their choices. VR becomes a powerful tool to strengthen empathy, encourage dialogue, and promote inclusion in youth work.
By completing this activity, participants will:
- Understand how VR can be applied in youth work as an educational and engaging method.
- Experience empathy-building approaches through immersive learning.
- Reflect on topics such as disability, diversity, and bullying.
- Learn how to facilitate VR-based education in youth centres and schools.
- Gain inspiration for integrating VR and interactive storytelling into their own youth work practices.
Get Inspired
Klaipėda, the European Youth Capital in 2021, developed VR movies as part of its programme. The aim: to address bullying and discrimination in a more engaging, youth-friendly way by using immersive VR tools. Two VR movies were created:
- Movie on disabilities - shows life situations from the perspective of people with hearing, vision, and movement disabilities, with multiple endings based on viewers’ choices.
- Movie on bullying - set in a school, where young people can experience the perspective of both the bullied student and the bystanders, also with alternative endings.
A methodology for youth workers accompanies the movies, including guidance on how to structure a 45-minute session, facilitate discussions, and encourage young people to reflect on empathy and respect.
How can you use Virtual Reality movies to achieve youth work goals?
Youth workers and youth work organisations can use Virtual Reality movies in different ways to support their youth work goals. Based on the experience of Klaipėda Municipality and their international partners, here are some key recommendations:
1. Start with clear educational goals:
- Use VR not just for fun, but to explore sensitive and vital topics such as bullying, empathy, diversity, and inclusion.
- Define what you want young people to learn or reflect on before choosing or creating a VR experience.
2. Use VR as an empathy-building tool:
- VR works best when young people can “step into someone else’s shoes” - for example, experiencing life with a disability or facing bullying.
- Immersive storytelling helps young people connect emotionally, making reflection deeper and more meaningful.
3. Always combine VR with guided reflection:
- A VR session should not be the only experience or activity - a discussion with reflection questions, or creative tasks should follow it.
- Klaipėda’s methodology suggests a 45-minute session where VR is only one part, supported by dialogue and group activities.
4. Provide both analogue and digital facilitation methods:
- Analogue: reflection sheets, group discussions, and role plays.
- Digital: online polls, digital storytelling, video reflections.
Offering different formats helps all young people participate, including those less confident in speaking out.
5. Make VR sessions inclusive and accessible:
- VR can be a new or intimidating experience - ensure young people know what to expect and feel comfortable.
- Support those with limited digital skills by offering extra guidance.
- Keep sessions voluntary and respect different comfort levels with immersive technology.
6. Integrate VR into your organisation’s strategy
- See VR not as a one-off experiment, but as part of your organisation’s digital youth work development.
- Plan how VR contributes to long-term goals: empathy, inclusion, digital literacy, or youth participation.
- Consider partnerships with schools, municipalities, or NGOs to co-create and scale up VR-based programmes.
7. Start small and share experiences
- Begin by using a few available VR movies in your youth centre or school.
- Collect feedback from young people and colleagues to improve your approach.
- Share your experience with other organisations - spreading good practice helps others adopt VR in youth work.
Claim Open Badge for recognition
By completing this activity, participants can earn the “Virtual Reality movies in youth work” Open Badge.
To claim the badge, you must:
- Watch a video interview with VR project leaders from Klaipeda municipality
- Share 2-3 ideas on how you can use Virtual Reality movies to achieve youth work goals
Who promotes this good practice?
This good practice was developed by Klaipėda City Municipality (Lithuania), in cooperation with partners from Latvia, Croatia, and Cyprus.
Cities of Learning Network members developed this activity and badge to appraciete and celebrate good practices in digital youth work:
- Awero, Lithuania (Project Lead)
- Klaipeda city municipality
- Partner organisations from the Cities of Learning Network
Next steps:
Try out VR experiences and activities designed for youth work.
Connect with local or European partners to co-create more VR experiences for youth work.
Pridobite značko aktivnosti
Virtual Reality Movies in Youth Work Pridobi to značko
This badge is awarded to participants who explore how Virtual Reality (VR) movies can be used in youth work to build empathy, raise awareness of bullying, and support inclusion. The badge recognises the readiness to engage with immersive digital tools, reflect on learning, and connect VR experiences to real-life youth work goals.
By earning this badge, you show that you are curious about using digital learning experiences and virtual reality movies not only for fun, but for meaningful dialogue, skill development, and youth empowerment.
Cities of Learning Network partners value badge earners’ efforts and issue this badge after reviewing the provided evidence.
Naloge
Naloga št.1
Dokaze preveril: En organizator dejavnosti
To get the badge, you must watch a video interview with VR project leaders from Klaipeda municipality.
- Share 2-3 ideas on how you can use Virtual Reality movies to achieve youth work goals.
Veščine
ESCO
#virtual reality of natural environment
#Excellent Level. Understands the benefits and risks of gaming and XR, knows how to deal with them and how to guide young people to ethical platforms; when needed, refers young people to specialised support in case of excessive/inappropriate use.
#Fair Level. Facilitates contexts where young people engage in gaming and XR activities, overseen by youth workers.
#Excellent Level. Confident in using a diversity of digital tools and platforms to support youth work and deliver youth work services. (e.g. advanced technological equipment, digital cameras or software, AI tools)
#Excellent Level. Constantly assess, together with young people and/or other youth workers on the quality of the digital work and reflects what has been learned; as an intentional process part of the digital youth work strategy.
#Good Level. Sets with young people learning objectives for digital youth work.
#Excellent Level. Shares practices, as a member of a network, which meets regularly and aims at developing digital youth work.
#Fair Level. Askes young people to critically assess the practices of the youth work offering.
#Good Level. Ensures that young people with fewer opportunities have participated in digital learning activities, such as thematic events, problem-solving, producing their own content, or vlogs.
Organizatorji
Digital Youth Work Resource Hub
Badgecraft vodi spletno infrastrukturo za mesta in regije učenja in jo razvija skupaj z vodilnimi izobraževalnimi organizacijami. Evropski konzorcij razvija to platformo s pomočjo sofinanciranja programa Evropske unije Erasmus+. Kontaktirajte support@badgecraft.eu.
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