Remixing Reality: Reimagining AR/VR Creation in the Classroom

Purpose & objective

The purpose of this interactive session is to connect attendees with the tools, knowledge, and strategies necessary to support students through the AR/VR design process. Participants will be able to engage in immersive learning experiences curated by students across a wide range of subject areas including, but not limited to, ELA, mathematics, history, science, world languages, and engineering. The session will include an introduction to Augmented and Virtual Reality, and discuss the benefits of empowering students to create authentic, interactive AR/VR experiences to communicate complex ideas with others. By participating in this session, the attendee will:
-Discuss the impact of AR/VR on future student learning and its significance in fostering life skills such as creativity, critical-thinking, and problem-solving
-Learn how to teach students to curate AR/VR experiences using CoSpaces EDU to transform students from content consumers to AR/VR content creators
-Gather project ideas through exposure to student created examples such as interactive timelines, reading responses, and resource walls, mathematics models, and collaboratively curated AR study guides
-Explore and participate in guided-exploration of the CoSpaces Gallery, where students can publish and share their creations with a global community
-Gain access to resources and tutorials for CoSpaces that they can utilize to turnkey this experience within their schools

Evidence of success will be determined and measured as the participants share their AR/VR collaborative creations with their fellow attendees and global communities.

Outline

The presentation will include the following components:

1. Rationale for Student Creation of AR/VR in the Classroom (5 minutes): We will review the differences between augmented and virtual realities and then share our experiences of promoting student creation of AR/VR in the classroom as well as the impact that it has had on our students’ personal, academic, and social development. We will then offer a brief discussion of current theories of AR/VR pedagogy in order to provide a theoretical framework to inform practices within the classroom and inspire teachers to transform students from content consumers to creators. Further, we will review research such as Tillan & Smith’s (2018) work on the development of classroom-based AR and supports for successfully incorporating it into classroom instruction. We will distribute an extensive annotated bibliography of AR/VR resources and platforms that we use within our classrooms.

2. Virtual Gallery Walk (10 minutes): During this portion of the presentation, attendees will use their devices to engage in an interactive 360 virtual reality gallery walk where they will explore student designed artifacts from a wide range of subject areas including mathematics, history, language arts, science, and world languages. In addition, they will gain an understanding of students’ experiences in immersive learning environments and how students can embed various hotspots, custom images, videos, and more for users to engage with on their mobile apps or VR headsets. Further, participants will gather project ideas through their exposure to the provided student creations. During the gallery walk, attendees will be able to preview the creation stations that they will be using later in the session.

3. Interactive Attendee Design of AR/VR Experiences (30 minutes): Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in the creation of AR/VR experiences that fit their curriculum and diverse student needs and interests. This will immerse participants in interactive, hands-on learning experiences that parallel those of their students. As attendees work on their respective projects, the presenters will circulate and assist participants in their design processes. Presenters will provide tutorials on how to construct AR/VR experiences using the CoSpaces EDU platform. This portion of the presentation will embrace the structure of a makerspace and therefore attendees will have the opportunity to explore their own interests and become innovative designers with the support and coaching of the presenters.

4. Virtual Sharing and Exploration of Learning Artifacts (10 minutes): After designing the AR/VR experience of their choosing, each participant will generate a QR code to share out their learning artifact. Session participants will have an opportunity to explore one another’s final products and network with one another.

5. Roundtable Question and Answer (5 minutes): We will provide time at the end of our presentation for a roundtable question and answer session where participants can engage in peer-to-peer interaction to discuss how they can encourage students to be content creators of AR/VR in their unique classroom, and use the principles and pedagogy discussed in a manner that suits their curriculum as well as students’ interests and needs. During this time, attendees will receive digital resources that include student project descriptions and timelines that they can adapt for use within their schools.

Supporting research

Adipat, S., Laksana, K., Busayanon, K., Asawasowan, A., & Adipat, B. (2021). Engaging students in the learning process with game-based learning: The fundamental concepts. International Journal of Technology in Education (IJTE), 4(3), 542-552. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijte.169

Brown, A. & Green, T. (2016). Virtual Reality: Low-cost tools and resources for the classroom. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-016-0102-z

Burns, M. (2018). Virtual Reality without a headset? Real classroom strategies for VR. Retrieved from: https://classtechtips.com/2018/02/25/virtual-reality-without-headset

Chen, Y., Chang, Y., & Chuang, M. (2021). Virtual reality application influences cognitive load-mediated creativity components and creative performance in engineering design. Retrieved from :https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12588