I remember when cell phones came out and I was so happy and excited to communicate and play games using text-based applications. As a child, I found it to be extremely fascinating. Then as I grew into an adult, I watched a series called Caprica — the show created after Battlestar Galactica. In it, people used virtual reality devices to visit virtual places to socialize. I don’t think I would have imagined that in the near future virtual reality could become a tool we use in the classroom. It’s true however that virtual reality devices have existed for a long time. What makes this different is the distribution of affordable virtual reality devices. What better way to engage students and spark their interests and curiosities? My mind is buzzing with so many interesting and engaging uses for virtual reality in the classroom and throughout education. I’m sure you too can think of some pretty amazing uses.
Just imagine! Organizing field trips to expensive locations or to foreign countries is not really something we as teachers can do to help enhance our teaching. Now we can open a virtual reality app and presto! Students are able to visit virtually any place (yes, even space). It takes less than a minute to transform your phone into a virtual reality device. Just open up the app and transport your class to visit the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty! “Isn’t that what Google Street view is for?” you say? Well, it’s not quite the same until you experience it! It’s a full immersion of the senses. You look through the view finders and can wear earphones to receive the experience complete with image, sound and amazing interactivity features such as movement of your head! What better way to learn about manta rays than to experience yourself scuba diving underneath them in the aqua waters of the Caribbean, watching them as they swim peacefully above you in their natural environment? You become a visitor, you’re transported to a new and exciting place. This place is exactly where curiosity, creativity and a love for lifelong learning is born. Like the awakening some of us experience when going on a vacation to a new place for the first time, we feel adrenaline, intrigue and a sense of relaxation and interest. Learning is an experience that should follow us throughout our lives and as a certified teacher, a lover of technology and education, a gamer and an explorer of the world, I believe it is essential to facilitate new ways of making that possible for all of my students and for others across the World Wide Web.
Surely, there are downsides to this amazing new technology?
Yes and no. There will be some who will refuse this new technology with a passion because it is just an extension of the digital, impersonal world. There is some truth to that, but I do believe that with the right chaperone, these adventures can be moderated to spark personal experiences that will bring us together, closer than we have ever been. Our world is transforming, person to person relationships are surely changing and we have to be willing to accept change and mold it in a way that can benefit us instead of being apprehensive. The new generations of children have a very different childhood from the days before mobile devices. Given this new vastness in technology, as educators we need to become technological ambassadors to learn how to wield these new tools and create the best possible learning environment for our students.
Of course, we need to keep in mind that boundaries and safe ways of using this technology will need to be developed. A new form of technological/global citizenship will need to be incorporated into our teaching repertoires.
