WK6 - Virtual Reality & Education

This blog post will critique Virtual Reality Technology (VRT) and how it can be used to foster student digital creativity and learning.

Innocenti (2017) describes VRT as a computer-generated tool that allows users to simulate situations, environments, and tasks where they have control over their experience. VRT creates artificial locations through an interface that simulates one or more senses in which users artificially feel as though they’re physically interacting.

Yang et al., (2010) describes two types of virtual reality environments, these include;

• Desktop virtual reality – computer screen renderings of real-life environments, virtual world where users interact via avatars eg. The Sims, World of Warcraft

Fig 1.1 The Sims desktop view

• Immersive virtual reality (IVR) - usually uses head-mounted displays (HMD) to project images on multiple interior screens/specialised displays in a Cave Automatic Environment eg. Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard, augmented/mixed reality devices

Fig 1.2 example of IVR HMD (own images)

Check out this video that explains how to use VRT!

VRT has various affordances that enhance and support student creativity and learning. Research from Mikropoulos & Natsis (2011) provides several reasons for using VRT in education as it promotes active participation, high interactivity, and individualism as learning outcomes. Additionally, VRT has various educational applications like first-person experiences and non-symbolic interactions that support the construction of knowledge under a social constructivist view (Mikropoulos & Natsis, 2011). First-hand experiences as allowed via VRT, allows students to feel ‘present’ in the learning which is key to the learning process (Winn & Windschitl, 2000).

Fig 1.3 Table from Bower & Sturnam (2015)

A great example of a VRT that could be incorporated into educational lessons to enhance student creativity and learning is CoSpaces Edu (accessed here - https://cospaces.io/). CoSpaces Edu allows users to “build 3D creations, animate them, and explore them in a Virtual or Augmented Reality. Engagement with CoSpaces Edu promotes the development of digital literacy an 21st Century learning skills such as coding and collaboration, which ultimately empowers and prepares students for the future to become creators” (CoSpaces Edu).

Check out this page for more information on CoSpaces Edu for Virtual Reality in education!

- https://cospaces.io/edu/about.html

CoSpaces would be well suited for the following Stage 3 Science and Technology K-10 Syllabus skills outcome;

ST3-3DP-T: “defines problems, and designs, modifies and follows algorithms to develop solutions” (NESA, 2017).

For example, students could be given the task of designing and building a structure via CoSpaces Edu that protect a character from being rained on. In this task, students would be able to utilise VRT to personally engage with the structure they’ve created, as they could wear a VRT headset to interact and experience, first-hand, whether their structure would suit the requirements of the task. Additionally, students could visit their peers CoSpaces Edu creation which would allow students to receive feedback in an interactive and exciting way.

Check out my own Virtual Reality scene I created with CoSpaces Edu below!

Fig 1.4 - video of myself using CoSpaces Edu (own video)

Fig 1.5 - video of my coding a character in CoSpaces Edu (own video)

VRT has various pedagogical opportunities to enhance students’ learning and creativity, however teachers should also be aware of any potential limitations the technology may have. Bower & Sturman (2015) includes a table which seeks to identify potential issues VRT. Please see table below.

Fig 1.6 Table from Bower & Sturman (2015)

For schools, one of the most prominent issues is the cost of VRT headsets, however, with VRT technologies such as mobile VR the issue of cost, which was once prominent, has now been reduced. Many schools are now incorporating VRT into their programs via cardboard headsets in combination with mobile VR. Cardboard headsets range from approximately $4-25 per headsets and are a great inexpensive alternative to proper VR headsets that cost anywhere between $500-1000+.

Fig 1.7 Regular VR Headset vs Cardboard headset (own images)

References

Bower, M., & Sturman, D. (2015). What are the educational affordances of wearable technologies? Computers & Education, 88, 343-353.

CoSpaces Edu. What is CoSpaces Edu? https://cospaces.io/edu/about.html

Innocenti, A. (2017). Virtual reality experiments in economics. Journal of behavioral and experimental economics, 69, 71-77.

Mikropoulos, T. A., & Natsis, A. (2011). Educational virtual environments: A ten-year review of empirical research (1999–2009). Computers & education, 56(3), 769-780.

NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). (2017). Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus. htps://educatonstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/science/science-and-technology-k-6-new-syllabus

Winn, W., & Windschitl, M. (2000). Learning science in virtual environments: the interplay of theory and experience. Themes in Education, 1(4), 373-389.

Yang, J. C., Chen, C. H., & Jeng, M. C. (2010). Integrating video-capture virtual reality technology into a physically interactive learning environment for English learning. Computers & Education, 55(3), 1346-1356.