Virtual and Augmented Reality in the Classroom

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.

Virtual reality in the welding classroom

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