Growing up watching Star Trek, The Jetsons, and then the Back to the Future movie series, and Star Trek Deep Space Nine, we children of the 1970s were given glimpses of what the future held. Star Trek Nine showed us virtual reality on the Starship Enterprise on the holodeck, where you could go into a holosuite, and the environment could be turned into whatever you wanted, which usually was inclusive of having a friend, family member, or another loved one in a specific location. This would break up the monotony of being aboard the Enterprise. The idea seemed so preposterous at the time. However, virtual and augmented reality have arrived, and both are being used both in personal homes as well as in the classroom.
" The mission of teachers in today's classroom is to create the proper conditions to determine the shift from the static transmission of knowledge to the student-centered learning. Students are now active participants in the learning process. In order to be successful and to ensure the engagement of students, teachers must use adequate methods common to the current generation of "digital natives" (Nanu et al, 2013). I was intrigued by Google Expeditions, and think that this platform would work well in the classroom. Google Expeditions can be used for virtual field trips to places most students will never get to go and see in their lifetime, as so many of our students live at or below the poverty line, and a large number of students are homeless or in foster care and the reality of them being able to go see these field trips we can bring into the classroom might be the only time they get to see these far away and sometimes exotic places. This interactive learning appeals to this generation of students, because they have been born into technology that quickly changes, and they are more comfortable using technology than our generation. I was able to use Google and find that Best Buy has the Google Expeditions listed with a cost and what comes with the kits. Most likely district pricing will be different, but I think this gives a better idea of what is included in the kits and to know what to expect with regards to the price range of these kits. Although a price was not given, a more affordable version would be the headsets made of cardboard, and those can be seen here Google Expedition cardboard headset.
These kits can be used with almost any class subject, including art, music, science, health, trade skills and history. Lessons can be turned into augmented reality by having dinosaurs or volcanoes appear in the classroom. The only downside to using these devices is making sure there are enough for each student in the class, otherwise, the other students are left out of the experience and will not be engaged in the learning activity. Not only can teachers create their own augmented reality activity, but they can choose from several hundred free activities. These devices and activities allow for collaboration between teacher/librarian as well as collaboration with students. Leila Meyer notes in her School Library Journal article, Virtually There: Kids are using VR to explore worlds and create new ones “There are very different kinds of educational applications [of AR] available,” Yoder says. “Some of them show tremendous promise, and most of them are free.” “The future,” Yoder says, “is really in educating teachers and librarians and school administrators to see the value in this ” (2017). Virtual reality and augmented reality devices are not inexpensive, but I think it is important for school districts, schools, and teachers to look into the technology and what it has to offer our students. These devices could potentially be paid in full, or at least partially by PTO's and school-wide fundraisers or grant writing. The benefits outweigh the costs when it comes to our students learning, especially for those whose only chance to have this opportunity is while in school.
The following are additional resources for using virtual and augmented reality in the classroom to keep our students engaged and actively participating in their learning.
Google Expedition in Social Studies
Virtual reality merged with Science class
Google Expeditions tutorial
Google Cardboard and how it works
CBS Morning Show: The Places You'll Go
References:
Meyer, L. (2017, September 29). Virtually There: Kids are using VR to explore worlds and create new ones. Retrieved July 17, 2019, from https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=virtually-kids-using-vr-explore-worlds-create-new-ones
Nanu, A., Titieni, A., Nedelcu, M., Nedelcu, F. and Sarbu, C. (2013), “IATED digital library”,
available at: http://library.iated.org/view/NANU2013USE
Advances in technology and the creation of social media and gaming platforms have been both beneficial and harmful aspects to children and adults. The benefits include being accessible 24/7, keeping in touch with family and friends, and "meeting" people with similar interests and lifestyles, and in the case of gaming platforms, meeting new people who enjoy gaming. The harmful aspects include being available 24/7, gaming for too many hours a day and becoming addicted to gaming, and making acquaintances with people who one would be better off not having met. All of these harmful aspects can lead to non-stop cyberbullying which seems impossible to escape and which can occasionally lead to a child/adult committing suicide to escape. As educators and parents, we need to keep up with the advances, not only in technology but also with social media and gaming platforms where interactions might be innocent looking from a quick glance, but potentially might not be upon closer inspection. It is our duty to teach our students, beginning in kindergarten the very basics of digital citizenship, and to expand with more information, which is age appropriate for our students while they are in school.
I found the Seven Digital Deadly Sins interactive video to be very eye-opening and interesting. Click the link below to read the short article and then click on wrath to view the cyberbullying deadly digital sin. https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2014/08/seven-digital-deadly-sins-good-material.html#.WjMOYFQ-fBI
I read the "I Bullied a Girl" story and in the left sidebar it notates that about "50% of teenagers have been bullied" and that "Regret Bullying has 2,280,000 hits on Google". Those numbers astounded me, especially the number that searched for regret bullying. Unfortunately, I have personal experience with being bullied as a child, when there was no such thing as cyberbullying and as an adult where I have encountered a few cyberbullies hiding behind their computer screens. I used the block option on social media to shut down the bullies. As an adult, this was easy for me to do. Unfortunately, my cousin lost her 12-year-old son to suicide a few months ago after he was being bullied. He left no note and no answers. His parents had no idea he was being bullied. This incredibly sad and tragic event not only shook the family but also the community. This is why we need to teach what cyberbullying is and what a student should do if it is happening to them or someone else they know. Staying quiet is not the right answer in either situation. This video and story by Amanda Todd really hit home, when thinking about those numbers from above...50% of teenagers have been bullied and 2,280,000 regret bullying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vlfCQgSNM0#action=share This is a video I would share with older students, maybe beginning with 8th grade and definitely to my students in high school. Students need to see the real effects of cyberbullying, and this video and story are relatable to so many students.
A simple Youtube search on cyberbullying or cyberbullying and suicide brings up so many news stories from around the world regarding cyberbullying and suicide, cyberbullying and suicide prevention PSA's, and other vloggers telling their stories and asking people to just stop. I would address cyberbullying with my students using the AASL standards when teaching digital literacy and citizenship to my students. These AASL standards guideline state for grades K-12 that we are to teach the following:
"1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within the learning community.
1.3.5 Use information technology responsibly.
4.3.4 Practice safe and ethical behaviors in personal electronic communication and interaction." These guidelines can be taught by using videos demonstrating proper digital citizenship and cyberbullying. Lesson plans would contain materials demonstrating cyberbullying through various means and asking the students to underline or mark what they think is cyberbullying from what they have read. This would be an idea to then take into a question and answer period after going over the materials together as a class and visually and/or verbally identifying the forms of cyberbullying via text, chat, and videos using cell phones, tablets, and computers. With older students, role play would be another way to engage students in the activity. I also found several websites that would be useful in teaching about cyberbullying to students, and also would link them to the library webpage so that students and parents could retrieve the information at home.
Additional resources:
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/iftoolkits/litoolkit/safetyandresponsibility
http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslissues/bwad/AASL_Internet_Safety_Filtering.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullying-suicide-translation-final-a.pdf
https://www.freetech4teachers.com
https://www.stopbullying.gov/
https://www.wabisabilearning.com/blog/5-powerful-cyberbullying-videos-discussing-kids
References:
Ronson, J. (2014). Seven Digital Deadly Sins[Web documentary]. Vancouver: National Film Board of Canada.
Standards Alignment. (2019, February 04). Retrieved July 8, 2019, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/standards-alignment
Growing up watching Star Trek, The Jetsons, and then the Back to the Future movie series, and Star Trek Deep Space Nine, we children of the 1970s were given glimpses of what the future held. Star Trek Nine showed us virtual reality on the Starship Enterprise on the holodeck, where you could go into a holosuite, and the environment could be turned into whatever you wanted, which usually was inclusive of having a friend, family member, or another loved one in a specific location. This would break up the monotony of being aboard the Enterprise. The idea seemed so preposterous at the time. However, virtual and augmented reality have arrived, and both are being used both in personal homes as well as in the classroom. 
