Neurosurgery Application

Ethan Jarmush

Presentation:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Q2Xsz4Zjc28t094FJVD6M1K01tzJHam6dzee0RUr-Ks/edit#slide=id.g464d85a162_0_23

Intro

    The product we are proposing is a simulation based VR app made for the HTC Vive that will assist in educating up and coming neurosurgeons specific procedures. It would be as if they were really performing these surgeries but it’s in the virtual world without risk or other constraints. The main people we would sell this to would be both hospitals and universities such as Johns Hopkins. This product allows students entering the field to get a very realistic hands on experience to neurosurgery and teach them much more than they could just by studying what’s written in a book. Not only can new students use this but veteran surgeons could use it to hone their skills or prepare for an upcoming surgery while patients could observe the problem they they have and see how exactly they’re going to fix it, which could put them as ease.

There has been research done on the topic of the uses of VR in neurosurgery. The academic journal by Panayiotis Pelargos titled “Utilizing virtual and augmented reality for educational and clinical enhancements in neurosurgery” talks about how VR could improve the neurosurgery field greatly. It is stated that implemented VR into this area will “lead to greater efficiency, improved patient care, and minimization of technical errors that are inherent to the surgical learning curve” (Pelargos et al.). Another source that talks about this is the stanford.edu website where they state “The surgeons practice the procedure using images of the actual patient, rather than generic anatomy, allowing them to map out the exact path they will take during the surgery, ahead of time.” (“Stanford Neurosurgical Simulation and Virtual Reality Center”)

Learning Outcomes

Evaluate and Practice Procedures*

Incorporate Effective Decision Making in a Semi-Immersive Environment*

Analyze Real-Time Feedback on Procedures*

Develop Reduced Apprehension of Performing Procedures*

Develop Muscle Memory*

Apply Accuracy and Effectiveness on Real Procedures*

Using virtual reality to evolve science, health, and education has and will continue to have an everlasting effect on the quality of life.  Ensuring that one has the most maximized quality of life is important and essential for the human race to thrive.In addition, the people associated in conducting the procedure become more of an asset to society.  There are several educational learning outcomes from using virtual reality that can improve the effectiveness and accuracy of procedures performed. As one outcome neuro-scientists and neurosurgeons, are able to practice on something that is real, but simulated.  “Despite its infancy, attempts to apply AR in surgery have been successful and promising”.( Shuhaiber 1) They can evaluate the choices they made using the app and make changes to how they handle certain situations. Another outcome would be incorporating effective decision making in the semi-immersive app environment. “Marking structures of interest on radiographic images that can be superimposed on live video camera images allows a surgeon to simultaneously visualize the surgical site and the overlaid graphic images, creating a so-called semi-immersive environment.”(Shuhaiber 1)  This would enable you to test yourself without the fear of harming a patient.  Accurate decision making in a time of crisis in the operating room can be the difference between someone living and dying. Analyzing real-time feedback on procedures is crucial in learning from your mistakes and adapting. “Haptic devices, including styli and gloves, continue to evolve in the consumer arena in an effort to improve tactile feedback; although these may not be practical in a sterile intraoperative setting, they show significant promise for preoperative planning and for surgical education.”(Domingo 4).  Understanding what or why you didn’t do something can help increase your accuracy on specific procedures and it gives you understanding and guidance. Developing Reduced Apprehension when performing procedures is another key educational outcome gained from using the application.  Becoming more and more confident in doing something with repetition can insure you don’t make mistakes and you complete a successful procedure. Developing muscle memory in any application can produce better results. Finally, the interaction between surgeons, augmented displays, and robotically actuated instruments shows tremendous promise for faster and safer surgery in multiple disciplines.(Domingo 4) When something comes natural and fluid it puts the patient at ease and makes the operation go smoothly. Using the app will increase the accuracy and effectiveness in which you perform specific procedures.  With greater accuracy you will come out feeling more confident and have a better understanding on what needs to be done and when.  This app will also create a significant difference in the effectiveness in which you perform procedures, you will be able to take cut the operation time in half but still maintain quality of service.

User Experience/Interface

    There are other applications that do surgery in virtual reality but don’t focus on neurosurgery specifically. Osso VR for example portrays a realistic simulation of a knee surgery where you physically perform the surgery but in the virtual world just like we plan to do. Hospitals are now using virtual reality in the neurosurgery field but only visually to plan surgeries ahead of time and to show patients what inside their brains and tell them how they are going to fix it. So we are combining both the physical aspect of the Osso VR and the realistic observable aspect with what hospitals are doing now to create an application that helps everyone involved. It would be using to the HTC Vive and the hand controllers to make sure it’s as immersive as possible since that’s the best on the market right now.

Implementation Strategy

Everyone has ideas. Ideas of things to believe, things to become, or in many other cases, things to invent. When you add the planning in, now you have to look at the financial nitty-gritty, in terms of advertising, making the most of business funds, etc. etc. In the group put together, we sought out an idea to revolutionize Neurosurgery for the next 10 years. We like to call it NeuroVR.
NeuroVR is a simulation based app for the HTC Vive that enhances your ability to perform surgeries. A marketing target for this app would be mostly college medical students, or maybe new employees out of college. To get that real feeling of performing Neurosurgery. This plans to be implemented by having student go step by step into the entire process of surgery, everything from prepping all your materials, to wrapping the surgery up. Some limitations we thought we might come across would be the level of interaction that the students get with the app. We want them to watch and see how it’s done, but we also want them to try it out on their own.

In terms of getting the actual VR application out there, we plan to contact several major newspapers around the U.S. This includes The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and a few others. We are also working on setting up a beta-testing booth at several conventions or conferences throughout the world within the next year, one of them being the IEEE VR 2019 Conference in Osaka, Japan. Another big yearly conference that could give us good feedback is The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2019, located in Las Vegas. These are just a few to name, but these are large scale media platforms that just put us on the map.

Long Term Vision

Initially, we are keeping this product focused by only focusing on a few neurosurgical procedures such as a Cranioplasty which is a surgical repair of a defect or deformity of a skull and Craniotomy which is the surgical removal of part of the bone from the skull to expose the brain (“Medical Services”). We will also be continuously improving the technology in order to make it as immersive as possible in order to allow the learning outcomes to be as great as possible. We’re focusing small in the beginning so we don’t get too overwhelmed with trying to research and perfect every type of neurosurgical procedure in the book. The next phase of development would be to add new procedures, fix bugs, and improve the technology. Since neurosurgery doesn’t focus solely on the brain and involves any part of the nervous system, we could add other procedures such as a spinal fusion which is a surgical procedure used to correct problems with the small bones in the spine (“Medical Services”) and a peripheral nerve surgery which specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of peripheral nerve disorders (“Peripheral Nerve Surgery”). So once people have mastered the first few procedures, then they can start learning the new operations and continue to learn and gain muscle memory. The 5 year plan would be to get the product out to as many hospitals and universities as possible which will allow us to get more feedback and keep the game up and running for a longer time. The more we add and the more successful the app becomes, the current owners of this product could end up buying more in order to educate more surgeons at once.

 

Bibliography

Domingo,  Guha, Daipayan, et al. “Augmented Reality in Neurosurgery: A Review of Current Concepts and Emerging Applications.” Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien Des Sciences Neurologiques, vol. 44, no. 03, 2017, pp. 235–245., doi:10.1017/cjn.2016.443.   https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-neurological-sciences/article/augmented-reality-in-neurosurgery-a-review-of-current-concepts-and-emerging-applications/F3965DEB46B21277CE7AFF0C7AAE2858/core-reader#

 

“Medical Services.” Barnes-Jewish Hospital, www.barnesjewish.org/Medical-Services/Neurology-Neurosurgery/Neurosurgery-Procedures.

 

Monberg, Jason, and Dale Knauss. “Virtual Reality and Your Product Development Process.” Mind the Product, 9 Nov. 2016, www.mindtheproduct.com/2016/11/virtual-reality-and-your-product-development-process/ .

 

Neurosurgery. “Virtual Reality Lab.” EHR National Symposium, Stanford Medicine, med.stanford.edu/neurosurgery/divisions/vr-lab.html.

 

Panayiotis E. Pelargos et al. Utilizing virtual and augmented reality for educational and clinical enhancements in neurosurgery, Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, Volume 35, 2017, Pages 1-4, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967586816303162

 

“Peripheral Nerve Surgery.” Beta-Blockers for Mitral Valve Prolapse | Michigan Medicine, www.uofmhealth.org/conditions-treatments/surgery/peripheral-nerve-surgery.

 

Shuhaiber, Jeffrey H. “Augmented Reality in Surgery.” Archives of Surgery, vol. 139, no. 2, Jan. 2004, p. 170., doi:10.1001/archsurg.139.2.170.  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/396410

 

 

 

The Virtual Theatre Proposal

Intro/Purpose

 

The virtual reality theatre  is where you can practice your upcoming  production in a virtual environment. In the virtual reality theatre you will be able to wear the costumes needed for certain scenes at a moments notice, have the ability to interact with other actors in both the virtual and the physical environment, and you can check what your lines are by pulling a virtual script from the side of your waist and when you put it back it disappears as if it was never there.

The director will also have the ability to stop the play and remove the virtual audience in order to work with the actors. Once they’ve conveyed what they wanted, the director can bring back the virtual audience.Lastly, one of the greatest benefits of this experience is the ability to practice at home. The need for this product is relevant because of all the opportunities it opens for others. If one was in a play you could act out the actual scene with outfits on and everything so that one could get the full affect. This would not only help the actors roll for practicing but could then help directors figure out who is best fit for the scene. Also this technology could be used for younger children to help them have a more significant imagination.

 

Learning Outcomes

 

The  academic/ learning outcomes of this simulation would be oral communication skills, leadership, self-confidence, concentration, dedication, responsibility, stress related skills management and Technical proficiency. The employability learning objective correlates to skills that are created through the the work of one’s own use of competence. These skills include fundamental cognitive skills such as reading and writing, thinking skills  like problem solving or  planning/organization, interpersonal skills, team work, work ethic attitude and disposition, and  self evaluation for future references. The app will combine these learning objectives to make it more educational and knowledge- based which could applied with content based skills to be applied in the work field environment. The educational features the game will contain  will be public speaking opportunities, learning how to approach situations from different perspectives, and most importantly career field work preparedness. The app will assess how well individuals have accomplished the outcomes by having an open group discussion among the actors/ directors as well based off of performance. In the classroom, teachers will be able to assess the performance based off of an evaluation sheet with 5 major category elements. The elements would be body language, use of time efficiently, design, acting, and audience. For example, in the play Romeo and Juliet while performing a scene Romeo could be presenting himself in a manner not related to the scene therefore telling the director or teacher what needs to be worked on or adjusted. This could be beneficial in education and the classroom by english professors using this to get students to interact with the play in a virtual environment while at the same time learning the background and history.  To get an inside look into the outcomes of how this will affect the theatre world, the group will be interviewing the head of the theatre department at Stevenson University, Ryan Clark. The interview will gain knowledge on how the incorporation of the simulation will change theatre to come.

 

User Experience/ User Interface

 

Currently, there are other apps that put people inside a simulation to allow them to practice speeches and other sorts of presentations. The VirtualSpeech app is designed to put people inside a set of their choice and let them practice whatever they’re doing in that environment. However our product functions differently to this, it is specifically tailored to actors/actresses with tools and functions to help them work on their acting. The other apps are not designed for this exact function and we are targeting theatre specifically with our app. We have different practice tools and settings for them to practice in. A virtual director which can help give tips and pointers and various other functions an actor can use to practice with. We will be using the HTC Vive for our app. This is a top of the line VR headset and equipped with some of the highest quality features available to the public. It has very high resolution and processing speeds along with improved tracking from its counterparts. It uses motion sensors set up around the user to track movements and the built-in headset helps to amplify the effects. The product is equipped with controllers to use any sort of in-game features there are tons of possibilities.

 

Implementation Strategy

 

The Virtual Theater (TVT), a potential barrier is expenses. The HTC Vive cost 799 dollars before taxes. To accommodate all actors and actresses the number of devices will run on the higher end of a budget for potential buyers and longer time periods for actors and actresses to complete a scene if HTC Vive will be shared. However, to reach customers TVT best focal point is to be advertised to any university with a theater department. Many actors and actress gravitate to these places to pursue their passion in the arts. Advertising will be convention, flyers around the university allow students who are not in the theater department gain awareness of the new product which can increase membership, curiosity trial are for people who want to test if this device is for them or not. Many people like to stick to traditional ways of things this curiosity trail will gain self-awareness of whether they like this new product, and social media, social media is a huge role for teenagers which is why many companies put their advertisements on social media and make company accounts. Instagram will be a focal point because it primarily targets images. Next would be twitter, snapchat and a secondary target would be Facebook for our secondary audience which is the professors. Viewers will be allowed to see behind the scenes look and live performance of people who use the TVT, TVT will also be advertised in conventions to allow users to have a one on one interaction with the device.

 

Long-term Vision

 

In order to keep the project focused and manageable, we will be limiting what actions and selections there will be in the prototype. In our prototype, we will only be using the play of Romeo and Juliet. This way, we can focus on putting forth a project with confidence of completion with the hopes of further development later on down the road. Yet that is just the limitations of within the virtual environment, we’ve also considered how it should be limited in the physical reality as well. We will work up to a virtual reality stage gear, in which a physical stage will be affixed with sensors and VR headsets. That will be apart of the next phase in development, but for now we will be using the standard five-by-five space that is required for most VR applications. By doing this we can focus our attention on the quality of the experience. Moving on towards the next phase development, there’ll be work. As mentioned before, we will work on implementing VR stage gear. We will also add more scripts, plays, costumes, and settings to the application. Five years from now there will be at least 15 plays to choose from, the application will be used within at least 150 school districts across the nation, and the application will have been translated into Spanish, French, German, and Japanese. The first six months will be focused on the prototype, while the other half will greatly focus on marketing while having maintenance for the application and introducing another play. The second and third year will be making more plays. By the second half of the third year there should be at least one language translated version in order to begin marketing to schools of different languages in possible locations such as Mexico and Canada as a start. In the fourth year of production, at least 10 school districts each in Canada and Mexico will be using the application and two more translated versions of the application will have been made. And within the US there will be at least 50 school districts that will use the product. The average play production should be three per year at a minimum, with bimonthly maintenance.

 

Notes:

Add how it’s being implemented into the stage (Nooks and crannies)

Make mention of how to spread to japan to spread further

 

Works Cited

 

Fool, The Motley. “Virtual Reality Is Too Expensive for Most People – but That’s about to Change.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 8 Sept. 2016, www.businessinsider.com/why-is-virtual-reality-so-expensive-2016-9.

 

Robson, Sarah. “What Is Theatre in Education and How It Supports Education.” Gibber, 19 Jan. 2018, www.wearegibber.com/blog/what-is-theatre-in-education/).

 

Kokkali, Areti A. Can Drama Courses Contribute to Developing Employability Skills? . 2 July 2012, https://dspace.lib.uom.gr/bitstream/2159/15109/3/KokkaliAretiMsc2012.pdf .

Story Board Link

https://www.storyboardthat.com/portal/storyboards/ryan53113/classroom-public/virtual-theatre

Google Slide

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ShrINZPwLB00xaEP6zhkGJiCTtaITiDnmDUjTKCo03U/edit?usp=sharing

React to Reality

Introduction
Emergency situations can happen any moment, at anytime during the day and there is not much that is taught on how to handle these situations. Children are taught to call 9-1-1 when there is an emergency, but most likely never actually practice acting in such situations. Some common emergency situations that children should be aware of are a house fire, someone choking, stranger danger, car accidents, and house break-ins. React to Reality is the newest state of the art educational virtual reality program. The goal of this program is to teach children the correct way to react to common emergency situations. Our product will be a program that can be downloaded onto PC’s and is run with an oculus rift virtual reality device. The goal is to provide the students with a life-like visual of emergency situations, allowing them to work their way through the steps of dealing with each situation, to help prepare for real life scenarios. This product is for elementary school children to be used in a classroom setting with a teacher. The product will be sold to school districts and individual schools in a classroom size set of oculus rift virtual reality devices and a PC that will run the program. Schools will need this new technology to replace the old and outdated curriculum that is already in place. The only curriculum in place is a packet from the Federal Emergency Management Agency which is given to schools. This program is just a 30 page packet that has various educational activities like matching and short quizzes. FEMA describes this program as, “This standards-based, cross-curricular program is designed to provide students in grades 1 and 2 with the knowledge, awareness, and life-saving skills needed to prepare for a variety of emergencies and disasters.” (Youth Emergency Preparedness Curriculum-Grades 1-2, 1). The program will be advertised to school boards as this product will not only replace old curriculum, but fill the void with a fun, interactive virtual reality simulation. Our main audience is students K-5 as the program will be made for children to learn what to do in emergency situations, which older students should already be aware of. We market to this young age because these are the children who would be less experienced with the situations and the ones who wouldn’t already know what to do. This new technology will have ground breaking visuals as it will show emergency situations that could either contain kid-friendly animations or life-like graphics. Our first simulation will be on fire safety where there will be a simple stove fire, then it will ask the student using the device what the next step would be. All the simulations will be interactive, so students will be forced to analyze the situation and pick what step would be best to take.

Learning Outcomes
Our application is educational because it is allowing children to learn what to do in situational emergencies. It allows for children who are in kindergarten up to fifth grade to learn how to react when an emergency situation arises. It will be a tool first used by school boards to train their faculty to implement lessons where the virtual reality application will be used. It then becomes the teachers job to instruct their classes on how to use the simulation and relate it to the real world. Our application will be available for students to be right in the middle of an emergency simulation so they can experience an emergency and have the chance to make mistakes so that if there was ever a real-life situation where 9-1-1 needed to be called, they would be properly prepared to make the right decisions in the heat of the moment.
Outcomes will be assessed by allowing for the application to be available in school systems. Meetings will be held with school boards and school faculty to train them in how they can use the application in their curriculum. The application will reach to young students in efforts to allow for the reaction time to emergency situations to increase and to feel more comfortable in knowing what to do. This virtual experience will provide emergency simulations for students to ensure their ability to do the right thing without hesitation and with ease. A sample question would be what would you do if you were in one of the certain virtual simulations, and there would be 3-4 answers to choose from before you can continue in the simulation. If a student fails then they will see a red x across the screen and it will say that you had failed. The user would then have two other chances to complete that level and choose the right outcome. The teacher would be able to see what the students are doing within the application. If the student gets x’s then after the simulation the teacher will have a set of directions to help the student understand the outcomes.

User Interface

There are several virtual reality interfaces out there all ready. There are the HTC Vive, PS Sony VR, Oculus Rift, and google cardboard. For our program we decided to use the HTC vive. We chose this specific headset due to its versatility with the laptop instead of needing a gaming console or a cellular device. Most of these programs are not designed to educate children in emergency preparedness. React to Reality is designed to help young, grade level students throughout the school system. Our program was specifically designed to not just make it known that 9-1-1 is who you call in an emergency, but actually place them in these situations where they are guided through what steps to take and what decisions to make. Children begin learning what an emergency is when they are around 5 years old, which is when they are entering kindergarten. React to Reality shows the user, each student, an emergency scenario and they must make a decision on what to do in that particular stage of the situation. The only materials and technology needed are the computers and graphic designers to finish designing the program and building the virtual world. Each simulation is based on the specific scenario such as the emergency kitchen fire. The kitchen fire scenario takes place in the kitchen so the program places you in the house which is where the emergency begins. Soon after the fire starts you are given multiple choice questions which each have one right answer.One of these questions include what do you do next with the answers stay and cry, call 911, or put out the fire.If the child gets it wrong a large red “X” appears and tells the user to try again. The simulation takes place from when the fire begins to when firefighters have arrived and the child in the simulation is safe. Upon completion they earn a gold star and a thumbs up.

Implementation Strategy
Since the urge to educate children on what to do in emergency situations is so important, implementing React to Reality should not be a challenge. In order to properly use React to Reality a set of five HTC Vive’s needs to be purchased. These are the devices that connect the program to Virtual Reality. Each headset can be plugged into a PC or computer which will run the React to Reality program. Purchasing five computers and five HTC Vive’s allows the class to work in small groups or take turns going through each simulation. When finished, each classroom can pass around the set of devices. Best Buy and Amazon are currently marketing the HTC Vive at $499.95. This comes with the headset which includes an earpiece for sound and two handheld controllers that act as your own hands. According to Technology Intelligence, “with a recent price cut the Vive is looking more affordable at under £600” (Technology Intelligence 2018). This helps with cost efficiency. An alternative headset, the Oculus Rift is sold at a cheaper price but each device needs a gaming PC to plug into as well as an Iphone, which not all elementary students have access too. Using the Oculus Rift for React to Reality would be more challenging to get school boards to purchase because the whole system is way more expensive and requires more technology. So purchasing five HTC Vive’s for $500 adds up to $2500. The MSI GP62M Leopard Pro-406 laptop has a very advanced processor and a large amount of storage for gaming purposes. These laptops run for $1200 so if five are needed this brings the total to $8500. React to Reality only needs to be purchased once per school building since it is a one time buy. Selling at $99.99, this adds to the total to make it $8600. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “In 2014–15, public schools spent $11,734 per student on current expenditures” (National Center for Education Statistics). So that means the whole React to Reality program, including all technology needed, costs less than the average amount spent on one student.
In order to get the word out about React to Reality, advertising must catch the attention of potential customers. Our primary customers are school boards across the United States. Our marketing strategy will be to present our ideas during the National School Board Association Annual Conference. This allows a variety of school boards to hear about React to Reality and learn where and how to buy the program for their elementary schools. If interested, we can come directly to their schools and give another presentation during a faculty meeting with only the teachers from that school. This further gets the word out about React to Reality which will begin to spark interest. Also, adding an advertisement to an education catalog allows administrators to see the program when browsing through the catalog to purchase supplies at the beginning of each year. Scholastic Magazine is a very popular resource for purchasing school supplies and materials. Teachers are able to filter the catalog to a specific grade and subject. React to Reality will be filtered for teachers in Kindergarten through fifth grade to focus the prototype to a particular audience. Along with advertising comes a catchy motto. Our motto for React to Reality is “It Can Be Fun To Learn About 9-1-1!”

Long-term Vision
To limit our prototype and to stay focused and while keeping everything manageable, we will start off with one simulation and then as time moves on, create more. There are many situations that can happen in real life, and we want to have the situations be put into the VR system and used for the education of elementary kids. Right now, we are selling it to schools because it is for teachers to use to show the importance of being ready for scary situations if children happen to be faced with such emergencies. We are keeping the age group for our first situation K-5, and then as the program and the world progresses, the scenarios will progress with situations occurring throughout the world. In an article we read it says that “The Brown Box, that was used as a gaming system started out just a normal system with all different games. Then as time went on, special attachments and different weapons were added on” (Chikhani The History of Gaming: An Evolving Community). In the same idea, with our program, having only one simulation right now will eventually lead to more situations with more features added.
Our next phase of development will be to put the word out for our VR. In addition, we would try to get the ad for our product into a catalog. Teachers all around the world read catalogs, specifically Scholastic, when looking to purchase new materials and resources for their classrooms. As soon as React to Reality is noticed in those catalogs, business will take off. Lastly, there will be presentations to the school boards. We would do surveys with the school board and get feedback from them to see what we can improve and what can be added. See what teachers and faculty think and see what they see could work as best for the kids and make as most educational. These schools need to know what this can do for their students. They can learn numerous lessons and skills that will get them ready for actual emergencies that may occur. Parents will be impressed with what their children know and will see their children’s confidence in these situations progress over the years.
Our five-year plan is bound to include many more emergency simulations for young students as well as simulations for an older audience. For examples, students at the middle school and high school level can be prepared with what to do in the case of a school shooting. Even teachers will be able to begin using the program for what to do in scenarios such as a school shooting. Also, a CPR simulation will be designed for a more mature audience such as adults, babysitters, and lifeguards. Using VR for all different types of emergency situations can ultimately impact any age group from kindergarten up to adulthood. Preparing society with the proper knowledge for emergency situations will lead to a safer and smarter community.

Work Cited

Reporters, Telegraph. “The Best Virtual Reality Headsets You Can Buy.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 5 Mar. 2018, www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/best-virtual-reality-headsets-can-buy/

Nguyen, Tuan, and Tyler Wilde. “The Best VR Headset.” Pcgamer, PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES, 10 Aug. 2018, www.pcgamer.com/best-vr-headset/

“Public Schools Expenditures.” National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a Part of the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Apr. 2018, nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmb.asp

“Youth Emergency Preparedness Curriculum-Ready Kids.” Emergency Support Function Annexes | FEMA.gov, 14 July 2014, www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/34411

“Scholastic.” By Marilyn Burns, 2018, shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/grade/2nd-grade.html

Author, Guest. “Best Laptops for HTC Vive: 5 Top Picks with GTX 1060 or Better.” Pick Notebook, 27 May 2018, picknotebook.com/blog/best-laptops-for-htc-vive

Storyboard
https://www.storyboardthat.com/portal/storyboards2/paige15089

Google Slide

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YuPhWXWxZhyPplvWEBWE9spQ84p8UZrK3LzHzH5gICw/edit#slide=id.g4649b37f69_0_0

Final Reflection

In Authentic Learning in the Digital Age: Engaging Students Through Inquiry, Larissa Pahomov writes, “For student reflection to be meaningful, it must be metacognitive, applicable, and shared with others,” and defines metacognitive reflection as taking the process of reflection “to the next level because it is concerned not with assessment, but with self-improvement: Could this be better? How? What steps should you take?” (read full article here). In light of this assertion, I would like you to write a metacognitive reflection letter on the final project. This reflection should be addressed to me in letter format, with full paragraphs, and aim to identify how you could improve your work. Here are some guiding questions:

  1. Describe your contributions to the final project in detail. What writing/research/design/management responsibilities did you take on in order to complete this project? How did you complete your individual contributions to the group? What steps did you take? What tools did you use? Did you meet your deadlines (why or why not)?
  2. Did you feel like your contributions had a positive impact on the final project? Did you feel the other group members valued your contributions? Did the reactions of your group members (revisions, suggestions, critiques) help you develop your materials in a constructive way?
  3. How do you feel you worked as a team? How did you facilitate communication and collaboration between the group members? What tools did you use? Can you suggest improvements for this process? What did you learn that would help you in future group work situations?
  4. What did you learn through the process of creating and presenting this project? How did this project help you synthesize and apply the topics we covered throughout the semester? Do you have suggestions to improve this assignment?
  5. And finally, what readings, activities, assignments, and discussions did you find particularly helpful, informative, and engaging in this class this semester? What would you suggest be changed to improve this course next time it is offered?

You may expand or add to these guidelines in any way you wish. This is your opportunity to speak directly to me about what you learned in this course.

This will be submitted as a Google Doc or Word Doc (file name: finalreflection_yoursection_yourlastname for example finalreflection_151ON1_licastro) that you share with me upon completion at alicastro@stevenson.edu or amanda.licastro@gmail.com. For Google Docs, you must invite me as an editor (with privileges to edit, not just read or comment) to amanda.licastro@gmail.com. You will complete this after our final presentations on the day of our scheduled final exam.

Also, please include this statement at the bottom of the document and fill in your name and response:

I ____________ (do/ do not) give Dr. Amanda Licastro permission to use my final project as an example in scholarly presentations and publications.

Final Project

For your final project you will use all of the readings and discussions we have had throughout this semester to inspire your own creation: a virtual reality experience that focuses on the education system. You may draw from your own personal experience, the readings we have done, and outside research to design a short VR application intended to educate your audience. Consider using the NYTimes VR, InMind, and HTC Vive applications as inspiration ans models for your work. You will design this simulation as an entry to the competition being held by Mosaic Learning:

http://www.mosaiclearning.com/

  • Each proposal should include the following elements:
    • Intro/Purpose – a thorough description of your application, your inspiration, and your intended audience. In this section describe how this application will be educational.
    • Learning Outcomes – what will your audience learn and how can this learning be assessed?
    • User Experience/ User Interface – how will your audience use this application? Explain what device (Google Cardboard, HTC Vive, Oculus Go) you intend this to be for and why, describe the interactive elements of the application, and demonstrate the visual appeal of this experience. This is where your storyboard and script should appear in your final proposal.  
    • Implementation Strategy – who will you market this toward and how will you reach them? Consider what your logo, motto, and or/tagline might be. How will this be implemented by teachers into classrooms? How will educators measure the impact of this experience?
    • Long-term Vision – how can this be expanded into a series of applications? Can there be more chapters? New editions? New features? Can you expand this to new (secondary) audiences? How can you reach new markets with this application?

     

To accomplish this task, the project will be broken down into steps.

  1. Individual pitches: each student will conceptualize and present their idea for a project in 3 minutes. The class will vote on the top 4  projects.
  2. Group contracts: in small groups of 3-4, students will outline their plan for this project and assign roles and responsibilities for each student to accomplish. A timeline and due dates will be established.
  3. Formal proposals: each group will compose a 5-7 page proposal for their project meeting the criteria of the competition. The proposal will include outside research, citations, and a bibliography.
  4. Storyboard: each group will create a demo of the simulation by making script and storyboard for their prototype.
    Storyboard (Hints and Tips)

  5. Final presentation: this is your mock presentation to the U.S. Department of Education. You will present all of your research and your prototype using: PowerPoint, Google Slides, Prezi, Emaze, Adobe Spark, Canva, handouts, poster, etc. You have 12 minutes plus 3 for questions.
    The final presentations are during our final exam period. Feel free to bring food/drinks to share! You will post your final proposals to our course blog using the category and tag “Final” the day before our final exam period.
    Have fun! Be creative! Be inspired!