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Getting Started with Google Expeditions and Virtual Reality

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getting started with virtual reality and google expeditionsBring Google Expeditions and Virtual Reality into Your Classroom – Part 1

*This post is sponsored by Samsung. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
You’ve heard the hype, but are you ready to bring virtual reality or VR to your classroom? Getting started with Google Expeditions and virtual reality can sound complicated, so I’ve decided to break it down for you in this article. Let’s cover the basics so that you can prepare to bring virtual reality into your classroom. This post is part one is a new series to help you learn more about virtual reality and how to bring Google Expeditions into your classroom.
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What is Virtual Reality?

Just in case you are still trying to figure out what VR is, let’s define it. Merriam-Webster defines virtual reality as “an artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli (as sights and sounds) provided by a computer and in which one’s actions partially determine what happens in the environment”…eh? So what does that mean? Basically, virtual reality uses a computing device to simulate and immerse you in a virtual environment. Virtual reality is NOT the same as augmented reality, but we can talk about that one later. Watch the video below get a better understanding of virtual reality, or what is often referred to now as VR.
 

Is Virtual Reality Ready for the Classroom?

In a post on the Samsung Insights blog, you will find the infographic below: Is Virtual Reality Ready for the Classroom? This infographic displays the results of a survey commissioned by Samsung to see if teachers were ready and receptive to virtual reality in the classroom.

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Is virtual reality ready for the classroom?

credit: Samsung Insights Blog

What do you think? Do you agree with the survey results? Are you ready to embrace virtual reality? Please feel free to leave your comments below this post.

What is Google Expeditions?

Google Expeditions is a unique initiative from Google designed to bring educational virtual reality experiences into the K12 classrooms. “Google Expeditions enable teachers to bring students on virtual trips to places like museums, underwater, and outer space. Expeditions are collections of linked virtual reality (VR) content and supporting materials that can be used alongside existing curriculum. These trips are collections of virtual reality panoramas — 360° panoramas and 3D images — annotated with details, points of interest, and questions that make them easy to integrate into curriculum already used in schools. Google is working with a number of partners, including: WNET, PBS, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the American Museum of Natural History, the Planetary Society, David Attenborough with production company Alchemy VR and many of the Google Cultural Institute museum partners to create custom educational content that spans the universe.”
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To learn more about getting started with Google Expeditions, visit the Google Support Center and this step-by-step guide: https://support.google.com/edu/expeditions/answer/6335093?hl=en.

Get the Google Expeditions App

What is Google Cardboard?

Google Cardboard is a virtual reality viewer, made of cardboard to make it affordable and accessible. To get a taste of Google Cardboard and virtual reality, try the Google Cardboard app.

 

Google Cardboard is just one option when it comes to virtual reality viewers. I will go more in-depth on viewers in another post, but below are a few options to get you started:
This post is part one is a new series to help you learn more about virtual reality and how to bring Google Expeditions into your classroom.

ISTE 2015

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Comments

  1. I’m interested in the fact that it says VR with kids under 13 may harm visual development. Is there data on that? I was thinking about having my middle/upper elementary kids build their own Cardboard viewers, but now I’m hesitant.

  2. Google Expeditions recommends not using the VR headset with students under the age of 7. For older students, its probably a good idea to give them frequent breaks while exploring in VR. And even then, some people (including students) are more susceptible to dizziness, strained eye sight, and headaches during and after using VR. In those cases, and with students that have had concussions, prone to sea sickness, etc., I let them explore in 2D mode while holding the device further out in front of them, rather than using a VR headset.