It’s Virtually Real

Virtual Reality is a 360-degree video experience where the participant is able to control or explore a place or thing or play a game. It allows for the participant to feel that they are immersed in an experience that they would get to experience otherwise (Johnson, 2018).

Virtual reality allows for students engage in immersion to gain the most ideal way of learning. Students can be stopped from experiencing these immersion education experiences by location, finances or safety reasons; however Virtual Reality allows for a way to still experience these in a way that they can focus on simple features (Johnson, 2018 & Johnson, Moher, Cho, Lin, Haas & Kim, 2002).

Below is a video of a school who has incorporated Virtual Reality in to their classroom: 

Classroom Implementation:

There are many different aspects to look at when bringing Virtual Reality into the classroom. One experience I was able to embark on was exploring the house of Ann Frank (which felt so real, I actually tried to grab a piece of fabric in the house). Teachers can find many different applications on Virtual Reality that will assist with their subject. One example presented in Johnson (2018) was with studies of religion, that students no longer need to travel across the world to see historical religious buildings, instead they can experience them from within the classroom. These experiences can engage students on all levels and complement real classroom experiences to make a rich learning experience (Johnson, et al. 2002).

Creativity:

From what was explored, students can get involved in the creating of virtual realities for their classmates. One Virtual Reality device which was used was the Google Cardboard. While this was not as fancy as the more expensive sets, it worked quite well and provided an inexpensive alternative to Virtual Reality. Through this, students can partner with YouTube to create a virtual reality video. This allows for endless creativity as students can literally create a video on any subject matter for other to explore. This opens up a world full of rich learning experiences as students not only consume the technology but can be a part of creating the experience.

Bibliography:

Johnson, A., Moher, T., Cho, Y., Lin, Y., Haas, D. & Kim, J (2002). Augmenting elementary school education with VR. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications,22(2), 6-9.

Johnson, C. (2018). Using virtual reality and 360‐degree video in the religious studies classroom: An experiment. Teaching Theology & Religion,21(3), 228-241.