Nebraska Students Build VR App for Career Exploration

By Scout Nelson

A team of students from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is developing a virtual reality app to help younger students learn about different career options in a fun and interactive way. The project, called Career Explore XR, is part of the School of Computing’s Senior Design program. It allows middle and high school students to explore careers using an extended reality platform designed for Meta Quest 3.

The app focuses on careers such as technical trades and health care roles that do not require a four-year college degree. Students can take part in virtual activities like building a house, installing electrical outlets, and assembling plumbing systems. These tasks help users understand real-world job responsibilities. The app also includes information panels that explain salaries, job duties, and career growth opportunities.

The development team includes Sean Casey, Burke Groenjes, Will Bernal, Noah Russell, Colman Scharff, and Tyson Veik. They worked together for six months with project sponsors Jeff Falkinburg and Britney Falkinburg. Jeff Falkinburg is an assistant professor, while Britney Falkinburg is a school counselor who helped shape the idea based on her experience guiding students.

“In the college and career lessons that I did, I thought a lot of the students I worked with weren’t exposed to different careers, and some of these would be a great fit for them,” Britney Falkinburg said. “I was trying to think of ways we could use technology to expose them to these careers, get them excited about them and introduce them to something they might want to work toward later on.”

The app was tested at Lincoln’s 2025 Hour of Code and Interactive Tech Fair, where students shared feedback to improve the design. Developers say the project also helped them gain teamwork and technical skills.

“We wanted to choose ones that had a good balance of being educational and accurate, but also fun,” Casey said.

The app is currently available online and will soon launch on the Meta Quest Store. It will also be showcased at the Senior Design event.

Photo Credit: univeristy-nebraska-lincoln