By now I hope you know about the innovative classroom set up in Leavenworth 202. But did you know that if you’re curious about what Virtual Reality can bring to your classroom you can stop by and check it out? You! Yes, you!
I was curious so I stopped in to chat with Matt Moriarty. He went over the basic mechanics with me (turning the headset on, following prompts, how to interact using the headsets, controlling the volume…) as well as patiently waited for me to acclimate as I learned how to navigate the virtual space I found myself thrust into.
How he did this with a straight face and without laughing at me is beyond me… I think he might be a better instructor than I am? Of course, I had a headset covering my eyes so I couldn’t really see his face…
But once you’re in there – wow! The first headset I tried on, I was standing in a wide open lounge area (like a futuristic, Southwest decorated hotel lobby with amazing floor to ceiling windows I could see mesas and hot air balloons through) and that was just for while I was browsing the menu of apps and channels to decide what program I wanted to try first! (A later headset I tried on had me standing in what I can only describe as the central crew hangout area in a space ship.)
Sure, I started with one of the getting to know the Oculus Rift programs hat helped me get used to how to use the hand controllers and how to stay in the safety space I had drawn. (Lesson 1: Try to do it in a space where your cats aren’t going to come over and check out what their human weirdo is doing.) But after shooting at targets, picking up and stacking cubes, and flying a remote control drone I felt ready to check out some of the other programs.
Beat Saber was fun and challenging and reminded me a lot of the Dance-Dance-Revolution craze. I could see playing it as a regular workout. While I could handle pieces of Star Wars, I could barely survive the training room, so I’m pretty sure it would take me some more time to master its basics before I’d actually enjoy the gameplay. I tried out a puzzle game called The Under Presents that sounded like it would be like Myst (yeah – remember that? Back when those were amazing graphics???) but the method of movement in the game left me a little motion sick so I didn’t get too far.
So where’s the educational piece you ask? That’s definitely part of the exploration I still have to do. I started with Traveling While Black. It’s an incredible immersive experience. It starts like a movie, but then you find yourself in different scenes, with 360 degrees of rotation to look around you and there’s something everywhere you look. But it’s so in your senses that I was actually a bit disoriented when I took the headset off and found that I wasn’t actually sitting in Ben’s Chili Bowl…
Just imagine the possibilities! Sure, you can take your class on a field trip to anywhere in the world, but what if you could also take your English class to recite Shakespeare on the stage of the Globe Theater? What if your history class could re-enact a historic battle? Heck, if I aim a little closer to my realm of expertise I find myself wondering if you could actually experience the different perspectives in Flatland or take Donald Duck’s role as he explores Mathmagic Land!
Want to explore more? For starters, you should go see Matt Moriarty or Chris Boettcher about borrowing a headset. Next, go check out some of the curated resources below and see what neat ideas they spark for you about the future of education!
Interested in learning more about VR in education? Â
- Here is an overview some hints at future directions.
- Institutions are using VR classrooms for remote learning.
- The Archeology Program is getting ready to use the 3D modeling capacities of the Innovation Lab for the Granger House project. Â
- The Castleton Department of Nursing recently tested some nursing VR simulation software.
- Institutions all over the country are using VR to teach empathic response to others.
In the meantime, watch for an announcement about upcoming workshops and informal chances to work with the Innovation Lab equipment.
