Expeditions uses Google Cardboard (its virtual reality headset) and tablet.
A kit containing all the electronics plus the headsets can be purchased from the electronics retailer, Best Buy. Bundle prices start at $3,999 U.S. which provides a fully-outfitted kit for 10 students plus Geek Squad white glove technical service and support.
Teachers with technical chops can make up their own kits starting with the Expeditions app and purchasing Android tablets running Android 4.4 or higher and smartphones with Android 5.0 or higher. Minimal smartphone specifications include:
In the United Kingdom classrooms are about to gain the benefit of efforts at Open University which is conducting research into the use of Google Expeditions and virtual reality to advance the future of teaching and learning. Led by Professor Shailey Minocha the goal is to introduce the technology to schools throughout the UK as well as integrate it into Open University’s own post-secondary curriculum.
States Minocha, “Our previous research has shown that the high degree of realism now achievable in virtual field trips complement the physical field trip experience…Virtual field trips also make it possible to experience activities and locations that may be impossible, or extremely difficult, to arrange in real life.”
You got to give kudos to Google for making a major investment in 21st century learning. They have put together an online Education Training Center that includes training material for teachers to help them facilitate learning and creativity in students including the use of virtual reality. Teachers access lesson plan modules and reference resources that can be brought into the classroom. The program encourages teachers to contribute original authored material to enhance the use of Google technology for education.
If you haven’t visited the Google Education Training Center you might want to take a look, particularly if you are a teacher or parent. I checked out one of the free activities, a Google Expedition to study Coral Bleaching and Ocean Acidification aimed at Grade 12 marine biology studies. The lesson includes expedition slides illustrating the role carbon dioxide (CO2) in the ocean. Students learn about CO2 as a pollutant and as the primary source of acidifcation and principle cause of coral bleaching.
There are many free and low cost courses offered on the site. Many don’t use virtual reality and the range goes from pre-K to Grade 12. A sampling of a few of the virtual reality curriculum that is free is listed below:
What makes Google Cardboard and Expeditions an attractive option for educators? In the past virtual reality was seen as extremely expensive for classroom use. Headsets and the other gear plus training put the cost out of reach for most school boards. But Google Expedition is changing that. The viewers are cheap and most new smartphone models can work with the headset. And the BestBuy offer works out to less than $400 per student.
Other virtual reality players are not unaware of Google’s effort. Samsung has been offering free Gear virtual reality headsets with pre-orders of its latest Galaxy smartphone models. And Nearpod, a virtual reality headset developer, is offering free kits to school districts in the United States.
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The film is to be out on May 19th along with The New York Times VR app which can be downloaded for free from the Google Play and iOS App Stores. The app supports video streaming. Users can also go to The New York Time YouTube channel and view the video or visit youtube.com/360 for more immersive virtual reality content.
The film follows the journey of the New Horizons spacecraft as it makes its rendezvous with Pluto and its system of moons. Watchers will experience the dwarf planet as never before soaring over its rugged mountains and icy plains. They will even experience landing on the surface where they will be able to view Charon, the system’s largest moon hovering on the horizon.
The use of VR will give viewers a sense of presence not possible through traditional film media. To be one of the 300,000 who received a Google VR Cardboard Viewer you needed to be a digital-only subscriber to the paper. But if you weren’t one of the lucky 300,000 you can buy the viewer from the paper’s website. The headsets are easy to assemble but you need either an Android smartphone or Apple iPhone.
Why pick the Pluto mission to make a VR film?
The NASA New Horizons mission got the public excited again about planetary exploration. Of the original nine, Pluto was the last planet to be visited. When conceived it was still a “planet” but that designation altered to include the word “dwarf” during the time from inception of the mission to the subsequent launch, long flight, and, final rendezvous.
Scientists expected to see an icy primordial remnant of the early Solar System but Pluto surprised them with its complex, diverse and geologically active features. The film will give viewers a ride over icy mountain peaks, nitrogen ice flows, valleys carved from the surface by some viscous icy substance, and dunes bearing a striking resemblance to those seen by the Cassini spacecraft on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Expect the VR experience to be quite the ride.
Some scientists believe that the future of space travel to exotic locales will be one where no human will actually go. Instead it will be robots who visit and we, the humans, will experience these places through VR. Maybe this is the first step on the way to many future encounters.
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Will 2016 be the year of Virtual Reality as many predicted of 2015? While there’s no denying this will be a banner year for virtual reality (VR) hardware and software sales, the true revolution in development is still in the offing. The tech we’re seeing now is certainly more improved and accessible to the layperson. But the real hurdle that the industry has to overcome is convincing people that immersive virtual experiences are worth having.
Tech fans are likely driving the initial high demand for Oculus Rift, which not only comes with a relatively steep price tag but also a need to upgrade to a high-end PC. Some have suggested that the eye-popping price tag on the Oculus Rift and one of its competitors, the HTC Vive, is a barrier to mass market VR adoption. There are, however, a handful of companies working to develop VR headset options not as luxe as the Oculus Rift but certainly capable of delivering much more than Google Cardboard.
Chances are that it will be the low- to mid-priced players in the VR space that drive widespread adoption of the technology and chances are also good that most people will flock toward the mobile experience. An example of this is T-Mobile’s Samsung Galaxy S7 preorders shipped with a free Gear VR headset and six games. And The New York Times recently sent its subscribers free branded Google Cardboard VR kits. It may widespread adoption won’t look like a revolution considering that more than 5 million people already are quietly using mobile VR systems to explore content already out there.
The stockpile of content options will certainly expand dramatically this year because new platforms are guaranteed to drive innovation in the game and app development space. Smart investors are likely to start backing VR applications well beyond the gaming and entertainment space. In 2016 VR won’t be a go-to tool in education, healthcare, design, and communication but it will be the year in which developers produce tools for these industries to begin to explore VR’s full potential.
And in terms of potential, think touch. Up until fairly recently VR has been a purely visual experience, making it less than immersive. That changed with the Oculus Touch and HTC’s hand-tracked controllers for the Vive. These let users not only observe virtual worlds but also interact with them. And that’s just the beginning. Start-up Tesla Studios is developing a full-body haptic suit that could be a game changer.
So think of 2016 as a VR beginning with companies like Samsung are making it an affordable tool for amusement. But there are still plenty of room for improvements in the technology and in applications.
Is 2016 the year of VR? It certainly is on the cusp but as the year unfolds we will know a lot more as new VR headsets and software tools and applications emerge. Expect a lot by the year end with lots of announcements.
