Learn more in VR
VR or Virtual Reality is the hype of the moment. Choices must be made within teaching; do you stay with the old system that you know works or do you look for new methods to give students a better teaching? There are more and more opportunities to deploy VR teaching in the classroom and beyond.

Are they games that distract from serious education or is it a new learning tool that will improve the learning process? For teaching it is important to explore the possibilities of Virtual Reality without losing the core of teaching

What is Virtual Reality?

At VR you put on a headset or special glasses that completely isolate you from the environment. You can look around freely in a room that is displayed with computer images. Interaction with this virtual world is possible.

What is Augmented Reality?
With AR, a layer is projected over reality. You see a classroom but there seems to be a dinosaur on the floor. You can view that dinosaur from all sides with a headset or special glasses as if it were standing next to you.

What is Panorama Video or Photo?
This technology is often linked to VR. In fact, it is a video film or photo that is recorded as a cylinder so that you can look all around you. This makes it seem as if you are in the film or photo yourself. This type of media is basically not interactive.

The technique
There are various technologies that can be used for VR and AR. From cheap to expensive, from simple to complex. These are the two main methods:

Headset accessories for PC: The Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive are currently the most popular PC headsets. They are linked to a powerful PC with cables which can offer a display with very realistic images.

At the Rift you stand still, you can look around freely and operate the VR world with a game controller. This makes this system suitable for small spaces. With the Vive you can move freely, you need a few square meters of space and someone to keep an eye on the player.

Mobile smartphone holder. The Google Cardboard and the Gear VR from Samsung are the most popular mobile solutions. With a modern smartphone and a cardboard holder of a few euros you can already get acquainted with Virtual Reality.

Due to the relatively low costs and format, this solution is ideal for introducing VR teaching. Children can then complete “homework” assignments at home if they have access to a smartphone.

Virtual to the school desks

The teacher is usually one or two generations away from the student. New technology is picked up much faster by the students. Because Virtual Reality is still in the emerging phase, teaching is looking for the right way to use VR for educational purposes. There are basically two ways to use this technology:

Bring information to the classroom where visual elements bring great involvement. Subjects are literally getting closer. Children can explore the ocean without getting wet, go on a time journey and walk around on a distant planet. Everything takes place within the school under the guidance of the teacher.

 

Take students to school wherever they are. For example a child who has to stay at home or in the hospital due to illness. With a VR headset, this student can take a virtual seat in the school desk of their own trusted school and follow lessons. Sound goes both ways so the child can actively participate in the lessons.

It is also possible as a student in the World to take history lessons in the school desks of the University of California, then learn English at Oxford and go on an excursion in the afternoon at an excavation in Cairo. All without leaving the house.

 

Custom VR teaching
A number of companies are already developing teaching modules for teaching, particularly for the American market. Curiscope works with a T-shirt that enables the student to view the organs of a classmate virtually.

A smartphone serves as a virtual scanner. Unimersive and Nearpod offer complete lesson programs with age indication. Some teaching programs are purely software-based, while other providers also sell or rent the hardware.

Learning while playing
More and more teaching games are coming on the market that use VR technology. For example, a game in which you fly through the bloodstream of a human being and are overloaded with biological facts. The visual character of these games leads to a higher involvement and retention with the student.

Will VR teaching change?

Virtual Reality is more than a form of entertainment. Just as a documentary and a feature film both use the same medium, virtual and augmented reality can also be used for both entertainment and teaching. VR will not replace traditional teaching, but it does offer new opportunities for more effective