Virtual reality is more real than you think. Who hasn’t heard of those cool goggles that lets you play video games and feel like you’re in a real-life scenario? For years, this market has been dedicated to gaming, but virtual and augmented realities are being taken to the next level. Virtual reality is 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” (TechCrunch). Virtual reality programs have been providing immersive experiences to military workers, astrologists, geologists, anatomists, biologists, etc. You might even know of some virtual reality apps yourself, and this technology hasn’t even reached its peak. How often have you considered the role that virtual technologies can play in education? According to TechCrunch, statistics on virtual reality use in K-12 school have not yet been gathered, however “the steady growth of the market is reflected in the surge of companies solely dedicated to providing schools with packaged educational curriculum and content, teacher training, and technological tools to support VR-based instruction in the classroom.” Virtual reality technologies can provide low-cost, low-risk, and effective methods of teaching. With virtual reality, not only can your students learn about science, language, history, geography, sociology, health, physical education, the arts, etc. but they can experience it. Thinglink offers students to take a trip to different countries and learn about places like the French Alps, archipelago of northern Australia and the Norwegian tundra. Not only can students look out onto the landscape, but they can spot additional links and unlock extra information. Titans of Space aims to give students a thorough idea of how each planet is positioned in our solar system by taking them on a virtual tour around our planets and earth. Egyptian Mysteries is a game that teaches students about ancient Egypt, and who doesn’t love a quest-based game?
Just think about the field trips you can go on without stepping foot outside of your classroom (check out the Digital Human Library for easy, free, and exciting virtual opportunities – go to my INTERNSHIP page for more information!), the tools that will make assessment a breeze, taking tours of the human body and its inner systems, providing meditation and stress management, social and emotional learning, using applications that will benefit students with special education applications, teaching your students about teambuilding, and even assisting your students with practicing presentations. Really, if you can think about it, there’s probably an app for that. And if there isn’t, maybe you could make the education system stronger by suggesting it. If you’re feeling uneasy about how to integrate virtual reality into your classroom, here are some resources to help: EdTech4Beginners teaches 10 simple ways to use Google Cardboard in your classroom NZPetTeacher teaches how to use Google Cardboard in PE And FortuneTech will tell you about schools that are already implementing virtual realities into their classroom Now, I’m no expert, but I do know that the possibilities are endless. Virtual reality is at the cusp of education, which is all the more reason to join me and the hundreds of thousands of other teachers in learning about how we can incorporate it into our lessons. We’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Let’s explore.
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February 2017
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