When I think back to my first experiences with the concept of Virtual Reality as a child, the “View Master” camera comes to mind where we could “[bring] our favourite movie scenes to life [or we could be transported] to some of the best scenic landmarks in the world with the push of a button” (Retro Dodo). It was one of the toys I enjoyed the most and I was constantly bugging my parents to purchase new slides for me to use with this camera. There was something very appealing as preschooler to be able to see different scenes through a camera and have a scenery up so close that you felt you could almost touch it. I also recall heading over to Disney World with my family when I was about 8 years old and there was this Bermuda Triangle Simulation ride at Epcot which for the time was intense and very lifelike. It is impressive to see how much progress we have made in the world of Virtual Reality since the 80’s/90’s. At present, this technology is capable of entering the classroom to enhance our learning experience in different ways.
After our presentation this week, I came to reflect on ways that I may have already incorporated the concept of virtual reality in my own teaching. During the pandemic when we went to online teaching for a bit, I did get to engage and play around with the notion of virtual reality with my students. With a few of my other colleagues at school, we came up with the idea to incorporate virtual field trips into our online teaching curriculum. We tried planning one virtual field trip a week and added it into our Google Classroom. Amongst the places we “visited” virtually were aquariums, museums, famous landmarks, natural landmarks, zoos, space, and even amusement parks. Many of our students during the pandemic did not get to experience any field trips at all, therefore planning virtual field trips allowed them to partake in the idea of field trips virtually when we could not physically visit these places. Furthermore, it allowed them to experience and explore famous landmarks and natural landmarks that under normal circumstances, they may never get the chance to visit (we got to explore an active volcano virtually without having to leave the comfort and safety of our homes which was pretty cool); it made lots of different landmarks easily accessible to students.
Following our presentation this week, I went to explore what VR technology was available to educators and students that could possibly be incorporated into the classroom. I came across an article entitled “ 10 Best Examples of VR and AR in the Classroom” (Marr, 2021) that provided a list of different programs and apps we could use with our students relating to VR and AR resources for the classroom. There are quite a few applications I would be interested in trying out with my students. I think my students would enjoy if I used augmented reality to bring different science concepts to life such as a tornado for example. Google Expeditions would also be another engaging program to try out with my students where I could take them on a series of highly immersive field trips. With Google Expeditions, I could explore “The Deep Sea”, different countries, iconic sites such as Machu Picchu or even learn about different school subjects with my students. Additionally, I would also be interested in looking into Mondly where students can partake in an immersive language learning experience where you can have real conversations with real people.
There are some great VR and AR options for educators that could seamlessly be integrated into our teaching. The key would be to give yourself enough time to explore all these different options and to try them out before you plan on using them with your students. “There’s so much potential for bringing the curriculum to life using virtual and augmented reality experiences, from visiting far-flung corners of the world to holding the human heart in your hands. [It is important for educators to keep in mind that] VR and AR can have a remarkable impact in all areas of learning stemming from comprehension skills all the way to digital literacy” (Virtual and Augmented Reality in Education: Age 7 to 11 years).