FIT4701/4702 VR Route Learning Student Team
Profile
This is a Monash FIT4701/FIT4702 final-year software engineering student team working on a human-centred virtual reality project. The team includes James Chea, Tony Ly, Eric Blyth, Kade Lucy, and Mai Hoang.
🎯 Project Focus
The student project is titled Design of a Human Centric VR-based route learning module for elderly immigrants with travel anxiety. It connects with the broader research project Empowering Independent Mobility in Elderly Immigrants: VR-Based Navigation Support.
The project explores whether virtual reality can help older immigrants practise routes before travelling in real life. The aim is to reduce navigation-related anxiety, improve spatial confidence, and understand what older immigrants and caregivers need from a VR route-learning tool.
📌 Current Progress
The project received ethics approval under MUHREC Project ID 51690 in May 2026. The student team is now moving from study preparation into participant recruitment and interview logistics.
Current activities include:
- preparing participant-facing materials and expression-of-interest processes;
- sharing consent and explanatory information before interviews;
- recruiting eligible older immigrant and caregiver participants;
- running semi-structured interviews to gather design requirements for a VR route-learning module.
👥 Supervision
- Project investigators: Dr Wei Wang and Dr Trung Dung Bui
- Student team: James Chea, Tony Ly, Eric Blyth, Kade Lucy, and Mai Hoang
- Project context: FIT4701/FIT4702 final-year software engineering project
Dr Wei Wang has supported the team by reviewing participant communication, ethics-aligned wording, expression-of-interest processes, and consent materials.
💬 Contact / Collaboration Notes
This student project contributes to research on accessible, culturally responsive mobility support for older immigrants in Australia. It also connects with broader work on inclusive technology, accessibility, and human-centred design for people who may face barriers when navigating unfamiliar places.
