From an Idea to a Master’s Thesis: My Journey Through the World of Virtual Reality
How a single guest lecture led me to research XR technologies and their use with autistic people
Marieta Markov
Every master’s thesis begins with an idea, and mine began with a guest lecture at the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences. Željko Habek from the Association for Lifelong Vocational Education STRUKA came to present extended reality (XR) technologies and their use in the education of people on the autism spectrum. The lecture caught my attention straight away and got me thinking about how I might get involved in this field myself. After the lecture, I decided to contact him and share my idea – I wanted to write my master’s thesis on exactly this topic.
At the time, I could not have known where that decision would take me, but that conversation marked the beginning of an experience that included taking part in research and exploring the topic, and in the end, what I had been striving for – defending my thesis and graduating.
First steps – from an idea to real experience
After our first conversation came the opportunity to get involved in the project’s activities. I first took part in activities in Zagreb, and the very next day in Čakovec. Although I was looking forward to the experience, I must admit I also felt a certain amount of nervousness. Everything was new to me – my first project, a new area within my profession, new people, and a technology I knew far less about then than I do now.
Until then, my view of virtual reality had been fairly simple. I associated VR mainly with games, entertainment and tourism content, such as a virtual tour of Diocletian’s Palace. I did not see it as something that could have a place in the education and rehabilitation profession. That is exactly why it was so interesting to suddenly find myself in a situation where VR was no longer just something I observed from the outside, but a technology I had the chance to get to know through its real-world application. I began to see it as a new door within my profession, opening onto possibilities I had never even considered before.
In Zagreb and Čakovec, I also had the chance to meet experts from Hungary who were taking part in the Green ASC VET – Metautism project and who had been involved in developing the technology used within the project. It was particularly interesting to listen to their experiences and learn about their perspective. Until then, I had thought about the technology mainly as someone just beginning to discover it, and now I could hear the story from the people who had developed it and followed its use.
It was also interesting to meet people from different countries and notice some differences in their experiences and ways of working. Although we came from different backgrounds, the atmosphere was very relaxed and collaborative, which quickly helped me relax as well.
It meant a lot to me that members of the STRUKA Association were available to help the whole time. Once the technology was set up in the room, they helped professionals and people on the autism spectrum use it, answered questions and stayed with them while they tried it out. Because of this, the whole experience did not feel strict or formal, but more like a shared exploration of something that was still relatively new to all of us.
For the first time, I could experience the technology through their eyes
I found it especially interesting to communicate with people on the autism spectrum while they were using VR technology. One moment that has stayed with me was when they were practising a painting task in a car body repair workshop in the VR environment. During the activity, I had the chance to talk with them and be part of their experience, which allowed me to see the technology not only as something that is used, but also through the way they experienced it.
At first, some of them seemed rather withdrawn and reserved, but while they were using the VR headsets, communication became more relaxed and natural. What stayed with me most is that this ease did not end when the headsets came off. The conversation and connection continued after the activity, which I was especially glad to see.
That experience showed me how much can be discovered when you do not just observe technology from the outside, but get to know it through real interaction with the people who use it.
From experience to master’s thesis
After my first experiences with the project, I faced the part everyone probably pictures when they think of a master’s thesis – sitting down, opening the literature and starting to write.
Much of that process took place while I spent four months in Greece. Although I was far from the faculty, my thesis, of course, came with me. I spent my time reading, searching for literature, putting the text together and trying to turn a large amount of information into a coherent whole.
At first, I mostly tried to understand and present the topic itself. The deeper I got into the literature, the clearer it became that I was not writing only about technology. I was writing about people, their educational opportunities, the transition to employment and career guidance, and how technology can support them in that process.
Writing about something new also means wondering how it will be received
The deeper I went into the topic, the more exciting it became, but at the same time it was a little frightening to write about something new within my own profession. When you open up a new topic, you do not know in advance how others will receive it. I wondered whether someone might think I was advocating technology as a replacement for what the profession has been doing for years and what still matters to autistic people.
It was through writing that I began to realise this had never been my idea at all. The goal was not to digitalise their lives or to replace existing ways of working with technology. On the contrary, the more I learned about the topic, the clearer it became that technology should be seen as an additional option – a tool that can complement what already exists.
From reading the literature to my own results
The next step was to look at what the results of our research showed. I created charts from the questionnaire results, compared the responses of people on the autism spectrum with those of professionals, and checked whether there were statistically significant differences between the groups.
It was interesting to see how what I had previously read about the technology and its possibilities compared with the experiences of real participants. Not all the responses were the same, and people on the autism spectrum and professionals did not always have exactly the same experiences. I found these differences particularly interesting because they showed that different users can experience the same technology in different ways. Overall, the results were extremely positive and showed a high level of satisfaction with using the technology, as well as its potential in this field.
From the last page to the defence
After months of reading, writing, editing, analysing results and countless revisions, the moment came when my thesis finally reached its final version. One more step remained – the defence. I prepared a presentation, went through the results and tried to sum up everything I had researched in just a few minutes.
In the end, the defence went well – at least judging by the professors’ reactions and the impression I had afterwards. After everything that had happened while working on the thesis, it was especially nice to hear positive feedback. At that moment, I felt that the whole journey, which had begun with that one lecture, had finally come full circle.
What did I learn in the end?
Looking back today at the whole journey from that first lecture to my thesis defence, I feel that I did not just learn much more about virtual reality. I also learned to see the relationship between technology and my profession differently. Throughout the whole experience, it became clear to me that the question is not whether technology should replace what we already have, but how we can use it to make what we already do even better.