emerging technology: virtual reality
TRANSCRIPT
Virtual reality is a computer-generated 3D simulation in which a viewer
can interact with the environment in realistic ways.
Google Cardboard, or just Cardboard, is a
virtual reality platform that consists of a
viewer and a smartphone. The viewer is
often made out of cardboard, hence the
name of the platform.
What is virtual reality?
What is Google Cardboard?
Cardboard supports the CCSD Vision and MissionThe Clarke County School District vision is for all students to graduate as life-long
learners with the knowledge, skills and character to succeed in our community and the
global society.
Cardboard allows students to experience other cultures, contributing to their
citizenship in a global society.
The Clarke County School District mission is to inspire students to achieve at high
academic levels through challenging and innovative learning opportunities that support
the development of students’ individual talents.
Cardboard simulations contribute to a challenging and innovative learning
environment.
Key Benefits● Increase student engagement through engaging and
immersive virtual reality simulations
● Growing content library supports many content standards
● Teachers can choose to direct student’s simulations or allow
them to explore individually (depends on app)
● Low cost for Cardboard viewer ($15 or less)
Cardboard supports standards in almost all classes K-12. Here are some highlights.
Social Studies
Students can travel
virtually to explore new
cultures, countries, and
geographic locations.
Teachers can lead
students on field trips
with the Google
Expeditions app.
ScienceStudents can virtually
explore biomes around
the world, active
volcanoes, inside a
human body, or
experience scientific
phenomena.
ArtStudents can examine
artwork at thousands of
museums through the
Google Arts & Culture
app.
Target Population
Cardboard supports standards in almost all classes K-12. Here are some highlights.
Low SES
Students can travel for
free to locations that
would be impossible or
improbable for them to
visit and experience the
richness of global
cultures.
Visual LearnersStudents are more likely
to retain information
through seeing and
experiencing than
through reading or
hearing.
Students with Language Impairments
Students who have
difficulty with text can
participate fully in virtual
reality simulations.
Target Population
Cardboard equipment consists of a
viewer that holds a smartphone.
Smartphone must contain a gyroscope
and have the following OS
requirements:
● Android 4.1 or higher (all new
Android phones since 2013)
● iOS 8.0 or higher (all new iPhones
since Fall 2014)
Cardboard software consists of free
apps from the Google Play Store or
Apple App Store.
There are over 100 compatible
Cardboard apps. Many of these are
educational apps.
Equipment and Software
The needs for technical support would be determined by the smartphones used.
Student devices or donated devices would require technical support from teachers and
instructional technology staff to install apps. CCSD iPod Touches could be configured at
each school using Apple Configurator.
The Google Cardboard Help Center addresses the most common questions and
problems.
Other issues would be addressed by Clarke County instructional technology staff and
technology support staff.
Technical Support
LimitationsWhile existing apps addresses many content standards, the library is still limited.
Content must be developed specifically for the Cardboard viewer to be compatible. This
precludes teachers from easily developing content.
Some simulations allows for true flexibility in exploration, but many follow a
pre-programmed path from point-to-point.
Cardboard simulations are designed to be experienced individually, so strategies will
have to be developed to encourage collaboration when using Cardboard.
Troubleshooting during a simulation usually requires rebooting the app or device.
Viewers from Google cost $15 each or $25 for a two-pack. Since Google has freely
published the specifications for making viewers, some manufacturers sell them for as
little at $5 each.
While purchasing devices is an option, obtaining them through other means is a more
cost-effective solution that prevents a need to purchase, inventory, and maintain
additional new devices. Smartphones can be students' personal devices, donated from
the community, iPod Touches that have already been purchased by schools, or a
combination.
Cost of the Technology
All Clarke County schools are Title I schools. Title I funding can be spent on technology
that meets the academic goals of the students and is not excessively expensive.
The Clarke County Foundation for Excellence awards over $10,000 every year in grant
money in $200, $500, and $1000 increments. Grant applications are usually due on the
last day of post-planning and awards are announced on the first day of pre-planning.
The Hilsman PTO provides grant money in small quantities every year.
Crowdfunding sites such as donorschoose.org
Potential Funding Sources
Teachers can support their instruction by using Cardboard to give students an
immersive visual experience. Collaborative teachers and ELL teachers can use
Cardboard to support students with language difficulties.
Teachers can take students on over 600 virtual field trips through the Expeditions app
Teachers can show students 360 degree videos using the YouTube VR app.
Teachers can show students the journey of a character from a class novel.
Teachers can use simulations to explain and explore scientific concepts.
How can teachers use Cardboard?
How could Cardboard promote specific learning goals?Cardboard apps exist to address content standards for geography, culture, history, earth science,
life science, physical science, physics, and art. All content areas can use 3D videos from YouTube
and create 3D photographs with the Cardboard Camera app.
Cardboard simulations can be used to support ISTE Standards for Students (Empowered Learner,
Knowledge Constructor, Global Collaborator)
Cardboard simulations can be used to support Common Core literacy standards
● L6-8RST9: Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations,
video or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic.
● L6-8WHST2: Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events,
scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
How could Cardboard be used to differentiate instruction?Cardboard is especially effective for students with language barriers (students with
disabilities and ELL students). Teachers could use Cardboard in station teaching or with
pullout groups to address the needs of a few students
How could Cardboard promote communication and collaboration?Virtual reality simulations provide individual experiences and apps are not currently
designed to encourage collaboration, so teachers would have to develop the
instructional strategies to encourage students to communicate and collaborate while
using Cardboard.
Students in simulations can collaborate with students who are not in the simulation by
describing what they see. Students can use what they learn in a simulation to take
notes, which they can compare with other students’ notes. They can use a simulated
setting as the context to write stories or to write a report.
Evaluation of ResearchResearch suggests that students retain much more information when they simulate or
experience content than when they read or hear the same content (Dale, 1969). This
includes virtual reality simulations.
Virtual reality simulations such as those by Google Cardboard offer four main
characteristics that are important to support learning for students with disabilities: 1)
Immersiveness, 2) Interactivity, 3) Customizability, and 4) MultiSensorial platforms
(Pavlik, 2017).
Virtual reality supports the tenets of constructivism since it provides students “with an
immersive synthetic environment where they become learners who can construct
knowledge through the learning-by-doing process” (Lee Steven O., 2017).
Step 1: One Teacher Pilot
Buy one class set of Cardboard viewers. Enlist a volunteer teacher to pilot Cardboard
apps in their classroom. Choose a teacher whose content standards are is directly
addressed, such as social studies teachers in grades 6 or 7. Have an instructional
technology specialist co-plan and co-teach a lesson with the volunteer teacher.
Step 2: Continue
Have the instructional technology specialist and teacher co-plan and co-teach
additional lessons based on their increasing knowledge of the Cardboard apps.
Implementation Plan
Step 3: Expand the Pilot
Expand the pilot to 1-2 other teachers who are interested in co-planning and
co-teaching with the school’s instructional technology specialist. After several weeks of
using Cardboard, have these teachers collaborate on a set of recommendations for use
(logistics, tips).
Step 4: Make a Decision
Based on the advice of pilot teachers and the instructional technology specialist, the
goal would be to purchase 1-2 classroom sets of Cardboard viewers for each Clarke
County School at a cost of $450-$900 per school.
Implementation Plan
Erika Liebel, a middle school teacher in rural Idaho, had her students use virtual reality
simulations to explore careers. The students “were captivated” by the responsibilities
of being a marine biologist such as “learning to operate a submersible and how to
scuba dive with seals and tropical fish off the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador” (Liebel,
2017). Students were equally excited about attending college after virtual tours of
Boise State, Stanford, Northwestern, and other colleges.
Students in a sixth grade social studies class had a “[generally] positive
experience...while using the Google Cardboard, a low-cost VR tool, which means that it
is a valuable opportunity for many educational institutions with a limited budget and
capacity to take advantage of this technology for learning” (Lee Steven O., 2017).
Endorsements by Educators
Endorsements by GoogleAccording to Google, over 10 million Cardboard viewers had shipped and over 160
million Cardboard compatible app downloads had been made by March 2017. The top
30 Cardboard apps each have over 1 million downloads. Over 2 million students have
used the Expeditions app to take virtual field trips.
Virtual reality simulations have been so successful that Google built Cardboard’s basic
app features into Android N, the most recent major release. The improved platform is
called Google Daydream.
ReflectionsWhile I have heard about Google Cardboard and the uses for virtual reality simulations
for the past few years, I had paid little thought to its use in the classroom until I received
a Cardboard viewer as a thank you for presenting at a Google conference in Clarke
County. It is a lot of fun to explore places and be immersed in the environment, turning
around and looking up and down to see everything that is around.
The technology has great potential, and while there are still minor frustrations (ex: some
virtual field trips are comprised of 360 photos instead of 360 video, YouTube VR does not
work on some devices even when Cardboard does, etc), they pale at the engagement that
simulations can provide. My four-year old niece and two-year old nephew had fun
exploring new places.
(continued)
Reflections (continued)While I initially had some ideas how this could be used in my social studies classroom,
looking at some other educators made me excited about the ways other contents could
use it to support learning. In particular, Erika Liebel’s account of her Spanish classroom
resonated with me. Many of her students will be first-generation college students, just
like many of my students, especially the ones I believe could benefit most from the
engaging nature of Google Cardboard.
I anticipate issues using any new technology, but I believe the engagement and visual
learning provided by Google Cardboard, combined with the low cost of use, make this
technology a great addition to the classroom.
ReferencesChang, R. (2017, June 15). MEL Science launches virtual reality chemistry lessons. THE Journal. Retrieved from https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/06/15/mel-science-launches-virtual-reality-chemistry-lessons.aspx
Dale, E. (1969). Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching, 3rd ed. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Liebel, E. (2017, June 21). Idaho teacher leverages virtual reality for Spanish class. IdahoEdNews. Retrieved from https://www.idahoednews.org/voices/idaho-teacher-leverages-virtual-reality-spanish-class/
Google VR. [googlevr]. (2017, Mar 14). @RupBoysDad @erniecline 2 million students have taken virtual field trips with Expeditions so far, and we're working on VR for everyone. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/googlevr/status/841685565149863936
Lee Steven O., Z. (2017). Utilization of Virtual Reality Content in Grade 6 Social Studies Using Affordable Virtual Reality Technology. Asia Pacific Journal Of Multidisciplinary Research, Vol 5, Iss 2.2, Pp 1-10 (2017), (2.2), 1.
Pavlik, J. V. (2017). Experiential Media and Disabilities in Education: Enabling Learning through Immersive, Interactive, Customizable, and Multi-sensorial Digital Platforms. Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal, 10(1), 15-22.
Singh, A. (2017, February 28). More ways to watch and play with AR and VR [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.blog.google/products/google-vr/more-ways-watch-and-play-ar-and-vr/