Virtual Reality in the Classroom

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Elizabeth Pace

Guest
The district I work in is getting new technology and planning to buy virtual reality headsets for every school. They say the purpose is to get kids to experience and visualize brand new things. Teachers who have worked with virtual reality in the past (even the little cardboard ones), what was your experience like? Were there any issues that turned you off to them or was it good?

Thanks!
 
We used them in fourth grade in my district. They were great and very motivating. We used Google Expeditions with them. We would do a virtual field trip to support whatever we were studying. One rule is that they have to stay seated the whole time, because they can get dizzy while using them. Also have them take a break every once in a while. We would have them answer questions in a notebook.
 
Personally, they give me headcaches and make me sick. I have a google glass and it takes forever, since i only have 1, we usually have to do groups, and I'm not sure all the planning is worth the reward. The kids do think it's cool, but I think they're more focused on the technology than what they're looking at. If you have enough for 1 on 1, it could be cool, but if there's not enough for everyone, it a lot of stand around and wait.
 
My district hasn't tried this. If they ever do, I'll probably just roll my eyes, ignore it, and wait for it to go away. I really can't imagine this being practical in a classroom outside of a virtual field trip at the end of a particular unit of study.
 
We had enough so the students could use them in pairs.

I would add that if at possible, have another adult in the room who can trouble shoot. Sometimes the Expedition would close or a headset would freeze and it was nice to have another adult look into it so I could still be guiding everyone through the lesson.
 
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