Blog Post Week 3 - Virtual Reality Technology
Virtual Reality Technology… WHAAAAAT? I had never heard of
this!
Apparently, Virtual Reality is the wave of the future. It allows you to see new worlds and experiences
without even leaving your home!
In our ICT class Monday, we were able to try out VR headsets. The headsets were surprisingly simple to use. You simply find the VR video on your phone
through either a VR app or YouTube, put the phone in the headset and press play
and enjoy the experience!
BUT, how can we incorporate this cool technology into the
classroom?
There is an abundance of EDUCATIONAL VR videos out there,
including videos in:
- Science (astronomy & physics, biology and engineering)
- Travel/geography (tours of cities in North America, Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia)
- History - (visit museums)
- Art - (learn about art history through art museums)
Google Expeditions is also a great app for VR educational videos (available for Apple and Android)
What about the cost?
These headsets must be a fortune!
They surprisingly are not as expensive as I had imagined. There are some $20.00 ones available on Amazon, all the way up to $1,000.00 headsets. Click here to check out a very affordable headset at only $17.99! There are also the Google Cardboard headsets, which are a great option for schools, at about $19.00 a piece.
Overall, I like the idea of using the Virtual Reality Technology in classrooms, depending on what age and subject area I end up teaching. I think it would be very interesting and engaging for the students to use in the classroom!
~Miss C.
I agree, why aren't more schools using thins?! I now see endless possibilities for using it in the classroom, thanks to your list of educational Apps. Using VR with Google Translate almost seems to good to be true. The discription says "students can translate 30 languages by aiming their camera at students and can watch in real time as the text is translated". This almost seems like watching a movie with subtitles. This would be amazing to use to help EAL students.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! The idea of using technology to learn in a classroom is depended on the age of the learner in my opinion. Some kids are not ready to learn on their own or through technology. I like the fact that you have presented a number of applications which can be used for learning and the cheap sources of getting them. I also agree that that VR tool can be used for watching movies but teachers need to be knowledgeable and identify the right movie for the specific learners.
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