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VR: Cool tools opening up a literal world of possibilities


Youtube entrepreneur PewDiePie (real name Felix Kjellberg) has over 44 billion subscribers (PewDiePie, 2016). What does he do? Plays video games (rather poorly, which is admittedly part of his charm) and adds inane commentary, attracting people from 13-year-old kids to 32-year-old moms. PewDiePie represents a bridge between passive and active entertainment and gamers like PewDiePie are showing the public new worlds in both gaming and virtual reality, especially since 2016 is supposedly the year where virtual reality begins a breakthrough (Fildes, 2015).

So, what does this mean for education? Well, the future for these tools in education is vast. Services like Twitch.tv can be used in a flipped classroom space or just for virtual learning where students can either watch live and interact with both the teacher and peers or watch at their convenience. Kids are familiar with Twitch and there is growing interest in using it with education.

As for virtual reality’s hardware, there are numerous web articles devoted to using VR in education. While VR should not be considered a surrogate for learning-to-learning centred technology, many view VR as “a useful tool, and perhaps even a productive enhancement to human interaction, bringing together people from around the world to engage and interact — regardless of social, economic or geographic disparities” (Reede & Bailiff, 2016).

VR would be an amazing tool for subject that’s it was previously difficult to represent in classroom environment – in biology, students could examine hearts and lungs, in science, students can build great structures or visit the Seven Wonders of the World. There are already apps such as Labster, a T-shirt for a virtual look inside the human body, a visual of the Titanic sinking! I could

really see students using this for examinations where the student has a conversation with a virtual teacher or a literal “show me what you know” type scenario where students use interactive visuals to build their own final project. As someone who suffered/s from testing anxiety, VR would immensely help if it made the exams seem less like exams and more like an informal conversation.

Drawbacks are fairly obvious. The costs are currently pretty outrageous, though Google Cardboard combined with smartphones is an inexpensive VR hack that almost every school can afford. Bandwidth is another issue – does your school have enough for possibly a 1-1 program, teacher laptops/smartphones, AND at least a class set of VR headsets? Further, VR seems incredibly useful for concrete exploration, but will it impede abstract thought? Will schools have enough time and resources to train both the students and the teachers on the use of VR? Even if teachers are trained, do they have the time and energy to incorporate VR into the already tight curriculum?

That being said, the prospects of adding virtual reality to education are, quite honestly, thrilling, opening doors to possibilities never before considered. Students will be more engaged and teachers can provide their students with a world of virtual opportunity to enhance their education.

One day, we might even be able to physically manipulate objects while we are in VR.

References

Fildes, N. (2015, December 17). 2016 set to be year virtual reality takes off- raconteur.net. Retrieved May 27, 2016, from http://raconteur.net/technology/2016-set-to-be-year-virtual-reality-takes-off

Lenhart, A., & Pew Research Center Internet (Pew). (2015, April 09). Mobile Access Shifts Social Media Use and Other Online Activities. Retrieved May 27, 2016, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/mobile-access-shifts-social-media-use-and-other-online-activities/

PewDiePie. (2016). PewDiePie. Retrieved May 27, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie.

Reede, E., & Bailiff, L. (2016, January 23). When Virtual Reality Meets Education. Retrieved May 27, 2016, from http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/23/when-virtual-reality-meets-education/


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