Journalism students have been given the chance to explore a virtual reality murder scene as part of an innovative teaching session on crime reporting.

University of Sheffield journalism teacher Lindsay Pantry developed the immersive newsgathering experience as an opportunity for first year students to see what it would be like to visit the scene of a breaking news event.

Using 360 video filming and the WondaVR platform, Lindsay and the team from the School of Journalism, Media and Communication created interviews and content that was put together in a virtual reality scene – leaving students to explore, pick up information and use quotes in their stories.

Former Yorkshire Post reporter Lindsay led the team, developing the storyline, script, set and props, while colleagues Lisa Bradley, Will Oliphant and Jenny Eells were roped in to act as interviewees in the project.

Journalism students at the University of Sheffield have been using VR to learn about on-the-scene crime reporting.

Said Lindsay: “We often use press releases and role play interviews with our first years when they are learning the basics of news writing, but virtual reality technology gives us the opportunity to go one step further, by showing the students what it’s really like to be outside a crime scene and interviewing neighbours and witnesses on the street.

“Research has long-shown the value of experiential learning experiences – something we do day-in-day-out in the department, with our students taking part in everything from news days to covering election counts and court cases – so harnessing new technology to help embed this further in our curriculum makes perfect sense.”

By navigating the VR scene, the students discover a burglary has taken place at the home of a parish councillor. He was killed in a scuffle with a thief, who, as detectives later tell the reporter, was also responsible for a string of other burglaries in the area.

Videos of interviews with a neighbour, the chairman of the parish council, and a local landlady give the reporters extra on-the-scene quotes for their stories.

Following its use with the first years on the BA Journalism Studies degree, the experience will also be utilised by those on the University’s Global Journalism and Journalism MAs programmes.

Mark Bradley, Director of Education at the School of Journalism, Media and Communication, said: “Lindsay’s innovative use of VR allows us to provide students with an initial opportunity to experience challenging journalistic situations in a controlled environment before they go out and do them for real.”

University of Sheffield staff, with Lindsay Pantry far left, putting the VR world together.