2016 is shaping up to be a significant year for Virtual Reality (VR). A plethora of devices, applications and content will be added to newly released VR platforms such as Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, Sony Playstation VR, HTC Vive and Google cardboard.
2016 is shaping up to be a significant year for Virtual Reality (VR). A plethora of devices, applications and content will be added to newly released VR platforms such as Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, Sony Playstation VR, HTC Vive and Google cardboard.
Reports from mainstays like Fortune magazine, BBC , Guardian are asking if 2016 is the beginning of widespread use of Virtual Reality technologies. I believe that VR is about to cross into broader use where experiential learning and educational content are two domains that will benefit.
Virtual reality is a technology that replicates an environment, real or imagined, and simulates a user’s physical presence and environment in a way that allows the user to interact with it. Virtual realities create sensory experiences, which can include sight, touch, hearing, and smell.
Higher Education will be a beneficiary of this technology both in creating and using it as a learning tool. Although early days, clear benefit arises from understanding and embracing Virtual Reality at the right time, starting now.
This paper gives a glimpse of demonstrations and current events indicating the growing use and interest in VR technology use.
Sydney’s Powerhouse museum recently introduced the immersive experience of David Attenborough’s exploration of the Great Barrier Reef via VR headsets – David Attenborough’s Virtual Reality Experiences official trailer .
UNSW Business School has used the interest in VR to provide a tour for prospective students through their flip classroom Apple store application: UNSW Business School Classroom Application.
The uses for VR within the learning environment are extensive; recent examples include:
- Live streaming of a cancer operation earlier this month where the viewer was able to control what they viewed at all immersive angles (Surgery live streamed from London)
- Movies and TV have tried, but VR might be the only way to truly get even an inkling of what it’s like to be locked alone in a cell (Experiencing solitary confinement)
- Shifting the field of view science in virtual reality
- Changing design, “When designers can travel anywhere and be anyone, design changes forever”
- Adding an extra dimension to videos, “Google is adding live, 360-degree video and audio to its YouTube videos, as the company seeks to capture people’s attention and advertisers’ budgets with more elaborate content” (link)
It is one thing to view these video streams but how do we create them easily. Specialised cameras are entering the market that will allow easy and ready capture of an environment e.g. Facebook unveils “surround 360” VR camera.
I am aware that pockets of usage have been underway for many years at UNSW (e.g. Mechanical Engineering). However, the increasing availability of headsets, material to view, and ease of access to capture and create content will provide an avenue that benefits and expands use beyond the niche areas of the past.
You can track more information within the UNSW community on the Yammer – Digital Champions group (Yammer group link – available to all UNSW staff) and if you want to follow up on specific opportunities please contact me – David Bryan, UNSW IT Strategy Director- d.bryan@unsw.edu.au