Empathy through virtual reality has become a growing topic of interest in higher education. Additionally, the Walk of Privilege activity has grown in popularity on college campuses. This exercise, created to raise awareness of social, economic, and cultural differences, has been proven to help participants recognize these diversities in their community. My project creates an environment in virtual reality that stimulates the Walk of Privilege. By utilizing virtual reality, it eliminates false data, as individuals who are in a group conducting the walk of privilege may not feel comfortable take a step forward or back due to guilt, or shame. The larger goal is to introduce this educational experience on college campuses to promote self-reflection and empathy among members of the community.

This environment includes a variety of topics that can start conversations in the classroom and everyone will have an experience that they can share with others. Some questions to ask after a user has gone through the stimulation are:

• “What did you feel like being in the front of the group? In the back? In the middle?”
• “How can your understanding of your privileges or marginalizations improve your existing relationships with yourself and others?”
• “What question made you think most? If you could add a question, what would it be?”
• “If you broke contact with the person beside you, how did you feel in that moment?”
• “What do you wish people knew about one of the identities, situations, or disadvantages that caused you to take a step back?”

The depth of these questions will make the viewer’s feelings and thinking visible, as well as, measure how impactful the environment was to the user emotionally. The assessment will also offer the individual a moment of metacognition. It is best to share these questions to a group and let others hear the individual answers.

This environment would be great in therapy with a professional that can help talk through the steps for each statement. It was allow the person to discuss their feelings about each topic and the cause of the emotions. Group therapy could be another option for Empathy Walk. Using the questions for a group discussion would be a way to share and provide a way to empathize with others.