Week 6: Virtual Reality - Experiencing the Past

Virtual Reality (VR), like Augmented Reality (AR), allows students to experience the interactions between the physical and digital world at their various levels of learning (Nam et al, 2020). However, as shown on Milgram et al. (1995)’s Reality-Virtuality continuum, AR is closer to the physical environment and VR is closer to a virtual environment. VR is a simulation tool that allows the user to make real-time decisions to experience a virtual environment.

Figure 1: Reality-Virtuality Continuum (Milgram et al, 1995).

VR can be experienced through two types of environments. The first is ‘Desktop’ VR that allows for interaction with renderings of real environments or virtual worlds through a computer screen such as Sims or Second Life; whereas “Immersive” VR allows this interaction through head-mounted displays (HMD) such as Oculus Rift (Innocenti, 2017).

One interesting way VR technology is being employed are websites doing VR tours of historical sites. One example is a desktop VR tour of Pompeii, where specific buildings or areas can be viewed in detail on Google Maps, and information on each is available on the website. One I found is on Siteseeing Tours of Italy. This use of technology is increasing accessibility of historical sites, and allowing people from all over the world to see them if they can’t physically travel there.

Figure 2: Screen Recording of VR Pompeii Tour.

A similar use of VR technology is on many museum websites, where you can interact with a 3-D rendering of an artefact; such as the Australian Museum.

Figure 3: Gif of Apis Bull artefact on the Australian Museum 3-D Site.

Moreover, students and teachers can both create their own VR environment in CoSpaces. CoSpaces is an easy-to-use platform that can be used in all subject areas for students to create their KLA specific virtual environment; such as an interactive farm scene to experience at the beginning of a project in Agriculture.

Figure 4: CoSpaces Code (Original Author Content, 2023).

Figure 5: Screen Recording of above CoSpaces scene (Original Author Content, 2023).

Nam et al (2020)’s study indicated that using CoSpaces as a VR program promotes motivation and interest in the creative learning task. Despite this, VR has some common limitations with the educational quality that includes distractions, overreliance on the wearable technology and problems with familiarity with the interface (Bower & Sturnum, 2015). Logistical issues also include cost and potential technical issues that can prevent equitable student interactions with the technology (Bower & Sturnum, 2015).

It is also important to consider the ethical and health risks of VR in the classroom, such as psychological risks of long term immersion in a virtual environment and motion sickness caused by VR headsets. Therefore, it is important to use VR lessons somewhat sparingly and be aware that some students may experience these adverse effects.

References

Bower, M. & Sturman, D. (2015). What are the educational affordances of wearable technologies? Computers and Education, 88, 343–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.07.013

Innocenti, A. (2017). Virtual reality experiments in economics. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 69, 71–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2017.06.001

Nam, C. M., Kim, C. W., Hong, K. S., Cho, C. N., & Hong, J. H. (2020). A comparative study on learner characteristics and curricular differences in virtual reality education. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 13(4), 209–222.