Bridging the (Oculus) Rift

 

I survived Hurricane Helene- and only marginally worse for wear!  On to the post!

I'll start by saying that I have some... rather strong opinions on the SAMR model.  In my county, SAMR is our framework for technology integration in the classroom; half the teachers in my school have an old SAMR poster hung somewhere on their wall, and almost all of our tech-oriented PL will emphasize "Teaching Above The Line," that is, stressing the "Modification" and "Redefinition" bits over "Augmentation" and "Substitution."  In theory, this shouldn't be unattainable- after all, we're a 1:1 technology district!  Every student has guaranteed access to a laptop or Chromebook, which should greatly magnify the options available for teaching.  After all, the internet is a powerful tool- you can do so much more digitally than you can with pen and paper, right??

Well... perhaps not.  I don't think I've witnessed an implementation yet which isn't simple Substitution.  Instead of taking a quiz on paper, it's taken on Canvas.  Instead of reading out of the textbook, the students read from the same book from an app on their Launchpad.  Frankly, it's a waste of potential- there's so much more that could be done with the tools at hand!

With that in mind, I wanted to look at a way to integrate technology into the classroom that could bypass the first two levels of SAMR; something capable of really transforming how students engage with their lessons.  To that end, I decided to look at the Oculus Rift:

The Oculus Rift is a Virtual Reality (or VR) headset, which (to greatly simplify) allows the wearer to experience a highly-immersive, three-dimensional projection, through which they can actively move and shift their view at will.  Thus far, the OR and similar devices have largely been used for entertainment purposes; motion simulators and video gaming, predominantly.  However, there is very real and well-documented potential in implementing such technology in the classroom, as a way to utterly transform curricular objectives into fully interactive experiences.

Let's look at a few examples, framed through the SAMR model:

A 5th grade class is learning about museums, and how they preserve pieces of art and history.  Ordinarily, the teacher would put up a PowerPoint, showing various images of famous art pieces and exhibits from around the world.  With a VR headset like the Oculus Rift, however, the whole assignment could be transformed; Students could be led on a virtual tour of the Smithsonian, or even the Louvre!  Now, instead of flat, still images, students are able to appreciate the various art pieces with the context of their setting; the lighting of the rooms, the architecture, the spacing of piecing- all of this additional information allows for a radical expansion of the initial lesson, making it far more realistic and engaging than before.  This, I'd argue, is an example of "Modification"; the basic skeleton of the task is the same, but the way in which it's explored is radically more immersive.

For our second example, we'll imagine a 10th grade French class is learning about common words associated with Cafes and Restaurants.  In a standard lesson, the teacher would pair pictures with definitions, running down the list until all the required words were covered.  With the power of VR, however, the assignment could be completely reimagined.  Instead, students could sit own with a virtual host at a Parisian cafe, who could walk them through each step of ordering a coffee, croissant, and pastry.  A waiter could walk over mid-conversation and ask questions.  Their host could point out a passerby on the street with an unusual hat.  From rote memorization and recitation could come an entire interactive skit, allowing students to roleplay a realistic conversation with a native speaker.  This would be an example of "Redefinition" under SAMR- a completely new type of lesson, heretofore impossible (or, at least, highly impractical) in a classroom setting.

While these are just two examples, there are countless other ways that such technologies might be implemented in the classroom.  The important piece, however, is the potential for transformation- the ability not merely to substitute one format for another, but to use the boundary-breaking power of immersive technology to redefine learning altogether.

For the final portion of this post, I present two sources which would be of great use to anyone looking to implement VR in their classrooms:

This resource from American University's School of Education in D.C. covers some of the benefits of using VR in education, as well as providing tips for implementation.

This, on the other hand, is ClassVR, a software tool which allows for the management of VR devices in a classroom setting, while also providing a plethora of premade resources suited for meeting classroom standards.