Extended reality-based empathy experience and measurement in design education: An application in the context of universal design

This thesis examines how integrating Extended Reality (XR) technologies into the design studio, through the lens of universal design principles, affects design students' empathy levels. The study was conducted with nine project groups (N = 25) from a third-year Interior Architecture and Environmental Design studio, where students re￾ designed existing playground parks in Ankara within an XR environment according to universal design principles. Quantitative empathy scales were analyzed together with semi-structured interviews, observation notes, and jury evaluations. The findings indicate that XR reduces scale misperceptions, enabling students to identify most ergonomic and spatial errors, and leads to strong increases in both cognitive and design empathy. Qualitative results show that students' understanding of disability shifts from a medical model to a social model, and that affective empathy moves from a pity-based stance toward an internalization of users' psychological needs (such as claustrophobia, privacy, and safety). The study also identifies an "action gap": heightened awareness and spatial validation do not always translate into high-quality design action when group dynamics and motivation are weak. Overall, the thesis argues that XR functions as a powerful diagnostic and validation tool in design education, but that its impact on design outcomes depends on being supported by appropriate pedagogical strategies.