The Virtual Reality Classroom is virtually here

I hated school. It just wasn’t for me. The way we were taught was in a single manor where one-rule applied to all. You had to remember massive amounts of information and regurgitate them for a test. Pass or Fail. Not everyone learns the same. Not everyone has the same ability. Some remember more whilst other learn by touch and feel. Some are good with numbers whilst other good at analysing problems. But school in my day didn’t cater for a varied learning environment.

As a parent, I am highly involved with my kids’ education and I am glad that the system is changing. Today there is a deeper understanding of how different people learn and retain information and classrooms and lessons are starting to cater for this.

Technology is something that today’s kids grow up and they are not afraid to explore and experiment; unlike the older-folks who remember a day when the library index cards were the equivalent of a Google search. Technology is changing the way classes are taught and the way homework is done. A common statement in my child’s homework book is “Research the history of the Cape. May use Wikipedia as a source”.

If this is today’s technology I wonder what tomorrow’s classroom would look like and I found this amazing glimpse into the classroom of the nearby future.

Personal Experience

When we experience an event for yourself, we tend to recall more of it than if we just read about. If you attended the last One Direction concert you can relay more information then reading about it online. You can recall details of your last family holiday on the beach and how the sand felt and the expressions on the kids faces as they jumped into the sea-  you were there and so you remember.  Personal hands-on experience is a great learning tool. But how do you bring a hands-on experience to teach kids about World War 2 battle? or the makeup of the human skeleton ? or Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire ?

You use Virtual Reality.

Virtual Reality in the Classroom

This technology was adopted at the Mendel Gymnasium in Opava in the Czech Republic where on the 20th of October 2014 the first high school virtual reality class took place.

The class was equipped with the Oculus Rift DK2 goggles and Leap Motion technology which can trace hand movements. This allowed the student to control the virtual world and interact with the environment.

The students were able to delve into the human body, walk around the battlefield where Alexander the Great’s fought against the Persian Empire and examine the weaponry of the time, and build a mechanical device to lift heavy loads by assembling pieces in a virtual workshop.

Virtual Reality Technology

Virtual Reality is gaining traction especially when the gaming and mobile companies are starting to offer Virtual Reality headsets. Even Google has a Google Cardboard goggles. These systems use the smartphone as the tech-device and a virtual reality app divides the phone’s display into two stereoscopic halves — one for each eye. These systems are great to watch and interact with a movie and take a virtual tour of cities and museums.

The next level up is a dedicated headset such as the Oculus Rift DK2 goggles that has one display. This headset needs to be connected to a computer with a powerful graphics card such as MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G. But that is the only component requirement and the rest of the PC can run easily on Intel Core processors.

Once you reach the professional level your virtual reality goggles have two displays and these start to cost. One example is a Czech company VR Union which is working on this device and currently cost around R10 000

Its Virtually here

The way kids learn and interact with the world is not like we used to as kids. Never before in history have we had such access to so much information at a touch of a button. The school system has to change and adapt to the new technology in order not just to keep up with trends, but keep up with the kids who are usually far  more tech savvy.

As William Ford Gibson whose coined the term “cyberspace” said: “The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.”

other cool stories check out http://iq.intel.co.za/