The Potential of Virtual Reality

Many educators, including myself, routinely talk about the need for innovation in education. If we continue to employ the same type of thinking then we will get the same or results. We also run the risk of taking a step backwards and experiencing worse results than anticipated.  Change isn’t coming; it is already on our doorstep! Thus we must begin to embrace new ideas and methodologies.  It can be concluded then that change is necessary in a digital world thanks to the exponential evolution of technology.  

We must begin to explore and implement innovative learning activities beyond isolated pockets of excellence.  Innovation in education can defined as creating, implementing, and sustaining transformative ideas that instill awe to improve learning. Technology not only awes, but it can also empower our learners in amazing ways. It’s time to start asking and focusing on the right questions. It is difficult for many educators, including myself, to keep up with the evolving digital landscape.  Being able to access information is only a start. When you think about it we are drowning in a sea of information. Access only matters if it is turned into new knowledge and action.

Lets now apply the elements of innovation, change, access, and knowledgeable action to the evolving technology of virtual reality.  Just a few years ago this type of technology was financially out of reach for the majority of schools across the world. Now, however, educators can provide access to an artificial world that consists of images and sounds that is affected by the actions of a student who is experiencing. Thanks to innovative products like Google Cardboard virtual experiences can be provided to students with just one smartphone and a $15 cardboard box outfitted with two lenses.  

There are so many educational experiences that students can engage in using Google Cardboard, the world’s most affordable VR headset. Teachers can bring lessons to life with Google Expeditions and take students on interactive, virtual field trips. Below is the description from Google:

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.

To get started and view a complete list of Google Expeditions click HERE. The benefit of VR and Cardboard is not limited to Google Expeditions. There is an array of free and paid apps available.  For a list of some free apps that can be utilized in the classroom click HERE.

The potential of VR lies well beyond just accessing and viewing information on a device such as Google Cardboard.  For an innovative learning activity such as this to have real value the information gleaned from the experience should be transformed into knowledge and action.  Take a look at the video below to see what I mean.

As the mother states, innovation saved her daughter’s life.  The doctors not only used VR and Google Cardboard, but they did these important steps:

• Accessed and collected vital information
• Converted information into new knowledge
• Used new knowledge to develop a solution and act

This example is the epitome of innovative learning.  It is my hope that we will move students well beyond just viewing and accessing information through VR technology and use the simple process above.  Actually, we need to lend a more critical eye to why and how technology is currently being used in education to veer away from surface level integration and substitution. The Rigor Relevance Framework provides great guidance on how to make this happen.

Change Needed Today to Prepare for Tomorrow

There is always a great deal of talk about what schools need to do now. The problem though is that most of the talk is not followed with action. Then there are those who want to act, but do not have the adequate support to do so. Herein lies the issue with all the change talk, rhetoric, and opinions.  Very few people reading this post will deny that the education system has to change now or we run the risk of preparing students for a world that no longer exists. 

Change is needed today to ensure learner success in the modern era, but just as importantly to prepare them for the unique challenges of tomorrow.  The reality though is that change in education becomes a balancing act with pressure from stakeholders on one side demanding increases in achievement as measured by standard metrics such as test scores. On the other side is the need to innovate in order to successfully cultivate the next generation of thinkers, doers, inventors, and creators who will be able to solve some pretty serious global problems in the not so distant future.  We have to stop looking at each side of the balance here and begin to focus on disrupting the system with bold ideas that blend results with meaningful learning.

Hence, I come back to the need to support schools and educators in this endeavor. For over 20 years the Model Schools Conference has provided educators with a learning experience driven by the districts, schools, and educators who have closed the achievement gap.  There is no better way to learn what works in a seemingly endless debate about the needed change in schools than from those who have successfully done it.  As a Senior Fellow with the International Center for Leadership in Education, one of my responsibilities is to help provide practical strategies for accomplishing change in the digital age. As many readers of this blog know, I am a huge proponent of innovative change that leads to actual results in teaching, learning, and leadership.  This has resulted in innovative changes to the Model Schools Conference to provide attendees with the skills, tools, strategies, and mindset to initiate sustainable change. 

Here are some highlights and areas of focus for this year’s event:

• Closing the achievement gap and digital divide – Teams from model districts and schools will present proven pedagogical and leadership strategies on how they accomplished this in challenging times. There will even be a special Future Ready Schools strand.
• Innovative spaces for attendees to learn in – Design empowers learning, which is why we want attendees to experience this firsthand. Connections will then be made to how we can begin to transform spaces in our schools to improve student-learning outcomes. LEGO will also be on hand to lead immersion sessions on the importance of creativity in learning. 
• Making to learn – For the second year straight there will be a working makerspace staffed by local students and outfitted by Table Top Inventing. What better why to see how making impacts learning than through our own students?
• The power of virtual reality – As a result of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s strategic partnership with Google, there will be an immersion experience for attendees using Google Cardboard and Expeditions. Attendees will also be exposed to emerging ways on how virtual reality can support rigorous learning.
• Return on Instruction – A hallmark of the conference will be a focus on the Collaborative Instructional Review (CIR) process, which will be on full display.  This process can help transform every administrator into an instructional leader, capable of unlocking the instructional power of every teacher and, in turn, the learning potential of every student.

In addition to the awesomeness listed above, numerous sessions will be led by some of the most prominent thought leaders and practitioners in education today.  Join us to get the support to initiate the change needed today to prepare for tomorrow. For the latest updates follow along on Twitter using #ModelSchools.