Week 8 Activity 2

As a grade 6 teacher, one of the subjects I think would be incredible to be able to explore using VR would be Space. Being able to "travel" to and walk around on the planets in our solar system and beyond would certainly augment students' understanding and ability to absorb details relating to the physical conditions on each of the 8 Planets. Likewise, with part of our unit dedicated to learning how Astronauts meet their needs in space, I think it would be really interesting for students to actually be able to "see" what it is like in a zero-gravity environment. They could see how they would needs to adapt their daily activities to be do things like brush their teeth, or use the bathroom, or make food in space.

I cannot think of ideas using Google Cardboard for my work environment (massive open online course). However I do see opportunities of using Google Cardboard to create more engaging gaming environment. For example, they can work with Nintendo wii games or Microsoft Kinect to provide a more authentic gaming environment.

I like the idea of using google cardboard for virtual field trips. As I work mainly with mining engineers and geologists, it would be nice to "visit" mines all over the world and explore the terrain. I can see the educational potential in so many different fields!

As mentioned in my Activity 1 post, my previous experience in "promoting" VR actually encouraged me to purchase a cardboard device and try it out myself before using it in my classrooms. As I am an English professor in Japan, I often mention about other countries and cultures to my students and encourage them to see the world outside this island nation. Regardless of how much I can explain in words, in pictures in the textbooks, or on video on YouTube, using a Cardboard device can have students actually feel like they are really there. Simple things such as Google Maps can even be accessed through a Cardboard device, but customized tours of many world heritage sites are also available (just the other day actually) through Google Expeditions: one of the VR aspects I am extremely looking forward to incorporating into my educational practice!

2) Given I am not in the classroom, the application of google cardboard for me would come from the perspective of education technology sold into the classroom. For most part I focus on teaching and learning tools for students and can how we could create software to accompany the hardware. For example, in psychology you could have students experience the Stanford prison experiment first hand or psychoanalysis from Carl Jung. In my previous post I discussed the benefits of virtual labs in chemistry and physics, but could also help to visualize and understand difficult concepts. In cultural anthropology, students could experience field work in a significantly more tangible way via a VR app and google cardboard. These are just a few examples, but it seems that the applications for VR apps using google cardboard are significant.

Google cardboard can definitely have a positive impact in an educational setting. It is a cost efficient way to bring VR into the classroom. In my organization, I can see something like google cardboard having an influence on the learning and training. Organizations like mine already use VR in their learning and lessons - I believe google cardboard can be including into my organization as it would be an easy way to include VR at a low cost. Also, the amount of VR apps out there makes using google cardboard even more appealing.

I have not had any previous experience using Google Cardboard but the affordable price is definitely a positive for educators. Further, given the fact that most students tend to have their own smartphone, it would seem evident that this aspect could be easily employed in high school classrooms. On a personal note (as an elementary teacher), I could see how Google Cardboard could allow my students the opportunity to explore places that they would otherwise be unable to do within the classroom setting. Unfortunately, the ability to visit some locations are impossible due to location, costs and accessibility. So, I could envision how VR (and Google Cardboard) could allow my students to ‘visit’ locales and immerse themselves in that learning process on a sort of virtual field trip. I could also imagine how my students could benefit in learning about states of matter, the water cycle and their local community through VR.

I think it would be amazing to have a personal cooking experience with the top chefs in the world or fashion designers through VR. Can you imagine if we could just immerse ourselves in a reality where we could have personal mentoring or lessons through VR? It would be amazing. Or following someone throughout their day in the lives of famous artists and learn how much dedication is needed to be in that field. Students could learn so much from an experience in VR. I could have my students go through the food cycle and learn where their food comes from and ethical ways of growing food. I would love to have students learn about the importance of local, organic foods through VR or the labour needed to resource their foods. The possibilities are truly endless.

I could see using something similar to Google Cardboard to practice describing and writing descriptions of setting in narrative writing. Students writing in another language often have even more difficulty getting started and I've found visual prompts to be very helpful. Using VR and a few possible locations to explore, students could describe what they see in great detail and with the aid of appropriate vocabulary review. The issue I have with Google Cardboard is that many K-6 schools like mine don’t have mobile phones for this purpose. We have desktops, laptops, Chromebooks, iPads and other tablets. Is it really worth purchasing more mobile devices for this purpose? Why not use the 360 tours in apps like NearPod instead? Thinglink now has 360 image viewing too. I don’t think I have to have the images occupying my entire field of view to get the benefit of VR at this point in time. Possible ventures: an app aggregates kid-friendly 360 views of imaginary landscapes and real world experiences for student research and exploration.

I have been lucky enough to get to play with google cardboard and have been brainstorming how it could be used in a shop class. One area that I can see potential in is safety testing. Currently in most shop classes safety is taught through a demonstration followed by a traditional summative test. We are unable to demonstrate everything as some simulations would be too dangerous to attempt, though would be informative to see. I would be interested in exploring the use of augmented reality to increase shop safety. Another area I could see using google cardboard would be through creating virtual tours on how to complete a project or use a tool. Much of my time as a teacher is spent answering the question "what next?" I dislike assigning projects that use one specific set of plans. Instead I tend to issue design challenges and the students create their own plans. This means I am often teaching different processes and tool uses to small groups of students at different times. If the students were able to use google cardboard to effectively lean new processes or tool use, it would be a game changer in my classroom.