Virtual Reality in the Classroom: My POV on VR

Greetings all and welcome to my 7 th entry focused on the emerging technology of virtual reality.  We have discussed the place of VR in a classroom, in industry, and at home as well as the developments, applications, and costs associated with it.  One thing we have yet to discuss is the first question that should have been asked, should we develop this technology?  While the answer to this question is obviously yes, given today’s social environment and technology driven…well, everything, some may posit that we spent so much time basking in the glory of what we could accomplish with this technology that no one ever stopped to wonder if we should.  We are all aware of the emphasis on technology development throughout a majority of the world, but I would like to focus on one nation for the purposes of this discussion, Korea.  I recently spent a year on assignment in Korea and I must say that when it comes to technology development, internet access, and the use o...

Greetings all and welcome to my 6 th entry focused on the emerging technology of virtual reality.  Thus far, we have explored the basics of VR, it importance in today’s society, how classrooms are currently using VR technology, VR costs and capabilities, and my own personal plans on how VR could be introduced throughout school systems.  Today, I would like to step outside of the classroom environment and see where VR technology is being used in industry. Several modern industries rely on VR technology for an array of purposes ranging from training and education to research and entertainment.   I found a great article that covers 21 different industries that are currently using VR tech at: https://virtualspeech.com/blog/vr-applications#:~:text=VR%20is%20being%20used%20in,them%20and%2For%20the%20characters.&text=VR%20could%20also%20revolutionise%20the%20way%20that%20media%20content%20is%20made . Reading this article was not only interesting and informative, but a...

Greetings,  My last post delved deeply into the costs associated with classroom VR introduction and your comments helped to spur my thoughts for this week's entry, and for that, I thank you all.   After my last entry, I was wondering what it would look like to begin to integrate VR into an entire school system and it occurred to me that it would ultimately bankrupt our educational system.  While private institutions may have a better prognosis, our public school systems that teach the majority of students would fall flat.   Therefore, I began thinking of an integration plan and then I read Pitt's response that talked about how the cardboard headsets may be appropriate for grade schoolers, but beyond that, they may not have much effect.  If we, as instructional designers, started there, with the elementary schools, I feel that we would have a much better shot at growing VR as an educational platform across the educational enterprise, over time.  Phase ...

  Greetings,  While last week I focused on the current applications of VR in classrooms with examples such as Dr. King’s VR classroom (see previous entry), this week I want to look at feasibility of VR classroom employment, primarily cost and capability.  VR tech has grown in popularity over the past ten or so years as made evident by the countless videos of grandma falling out of her chair while wearing a VR headset that some jerk set to play a shark attack on.  With the popularity and the advancements in programming software, prices for this technology have decreased, but are still a huge factor when considering employment of VR tech in a classroom.  This week I decided to look at a couple of VR suites that are commercially available: Google Expeditions VR Classroom Kit https://www.eduporium.com/store/30-pack-vr-bundle-with-30-unit-vr-cart.html?utm_source=google_shopping Capacity:  30 students Cost:  $9,937.65 This unit com...

 Greetings to all on this fine morning. Thank you to all who responded to my 1st entry, I appreciate the feedback and the questions. This week I plan to dive a bit further into the idea of incorporating VR into the classroom by exploring some learning environments that are already utilizing this technology.  We all know that every state, district, school, and even classroom functions very differently. While my son, a high school sophomore, is currently on a full distance learning requirement, students from the neighboring district are in a blended format where they are in-class and online equally. My son was able to transition to online learning quite easily as his district issues laptops to all students, and he already had his. My brother, who works as a a principal in Las Vegas, faced much larger challenges as his students had no such luxury. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our learning environments across the board. From preschool to terminal degree university programs, eve...

Our world changes every second, but the changes we have seen in the last 8-10 months are truly unprecedented.  Our nation has gone from a society of intermingling individuals to one of individual solitude.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in the classrooms of our educational institutions.  Rows of desks sit empty, lecture halls silent, and libraries are collecting dust.  Beyond the educational environment of our schools, the social aspect has all but disappeared as well.  The free exchange of ideas, thoughts, and theories in courtyards, quads, and cafeterias has been replaced by safer and more distant means.   I am a father of a high school sophomore and soon-to-be college freshman and I can already see the strain my children are enduring heading into the 2020-2021 school year.  My son is in a totally online format that utilizes Zoom, Google Duo, and Schoology as its sole means of classroom interactivity.  My daughter will be physically at...