Biosphere – The World of Education

Virtual Reality (VR) is an expanding market with limitless potential. Because the world of VR is so easily adaptable, there are many things that can be done with it. I personally believe that Virtual Reality is the key to a more bright and educated future. While VR has progressed far enough to allow researchers to explore the world in real-time, this sort of experience is mostly for the wealthy, and more educated citizens in our society. My Virtual Reality application seeks to change that, and bring the excitement of learning about our world to a younger audience.

My application is called Biosphere, and is a virtual zoo – without the cages. It will allow elementary and middle school aged children to really interact with animals, and explore their natural surroundings. In the game, the player will take on the role of a researcher, who has been tasked to explore a specific region and document three to four different species within a limit of five minutes. The player will use stimulated motion controls to move around the landscape, and they are able to turn their head to look around. Once the player has found the selected animal, their “field journal” will automatically be updated with factual information about that animal, which includes their zoological species name, and a random assortment of interesting facts that children are likely to find interesting. After the player has found all of the animals, or after the time has run out, the player will be taken back to a standard research lab, where they are then able to view the animals that they’ve observed. The field journal is also accessible from this screen, and players are able to see all of the animals that they’ve collected from this region. This adds a lot of replayability to the game, and is sort of like Pokemon, in the sense that you must “collect them all”.

I’d really like to reiterate the point that this application is designed for children, and is designed to get them interested in learning. Every aspect of this game has been carefully thought over to bring a fun and educational experience to children. Children are the future, quite literally, and if we can form a strong bond to education, we could improve the educational system as a whole and make a brighter future.

 

A New Lab

A New Lab

VR Education

The science lab can be a very dangerous place, especially when used by inexperienced or young learners. The chemicals and experiments done in the lab are usually those that require extreme caution or precision. They are opportunities to learn and experience something that one does not often get the chance to do. My app is designed to provide students and scientists with a safe atmosphere to experiment and learn. By using VR to place students inside a virtual lab we help to limit potential injuries, accidents and errors. I am proposing fully integrated lessons for students to engage in, without the dangers of harmful chemicals or broken instruments. By having a virtual lab, the supervisor has both easier control over the students, and a built in aid for students when they’re performing their experiments. By eliminating any chance of error, injury or broken equipment you overall increase the consistency and impact of the experiment. Every student performs a perfect experiment every time and gets the full effect of the experience. Also this would save money in the long run for schools. This practically cuts the need for any science equipment except for demonstrations by the teacher. There isn’t a need to buy a full set for a whole class. This makes the VR app very helpful to the budget. It can also hold hundreds of different experiments too making it very versatile for any curriculum and can have language translator to for global use. The program would require the installation and download of these simulations and the use of a virtual classroom or lab. This kind of classroom simulator already exists so this isn’t a problem, design in the lab experiments would require scientists or experts to help program the software to react how it would in the real world. All the app would need is the real world physics and attributes of any object or material used in the experiment. With help this project could help improve the experience of many students around the world and engage and inspire them to enjoy science and learning about the world around them.

Pitch

With virtual reality being easily accessible as all you need is a smart phone and a google cardboard like piece, it can be done just about anywhere. That is why for my app I want to create a tutoring app that way the students with busy schedules can have access to a tutor without issue. This app will especially benefit students in high school who play sports or do any other after school activity and work who don’t have any free time during the week. Also, benefits children with parents who can’t make the time to take their child to a tutor or pay for one. By allowing children to be tutored through VR, it prevents them from any distractions as their whole visual plain is covered by the google carboard. This will be helpful as, “With the users being thrust into the subject matter, research and exploration into multi-sensory learning will be key” (HOW VIRTUAL REALITY IS CHANGING EDUCATION, Lynch).  The way the app will work is there are two settings, visual learner and hands-on learner, for the student to choose from. As we know, not all kids learn the same so by allowing two different techniques to be used on the children it lets them learn how they learn best. The visual learner option will take the student through a lesson and demonstrate how the problem is done. They will have the option to pause, rewind, or fast forward as they please to ensure they fully take in the information. And then for the hands-on learner, their teaching will be done by working with the instructor in the app to complete problems and they will guide them at first. Slowly, or however quickly the student feels comfortable, the degree of help from the app can be adjusted so they can work their way into doing the problem on their own. For both methods there will be a little quiz to go over what the student was taught to see if they understand the material that they went over or if they need more help on the subject. My app targets students of all ages and levels that feel they need additional help but don’t have the time or means to work with an actual tutor in person. This allows them to find any time in their day to get extra work in with their classes without having to pay for a real tutor and can do it in the comfort of your own home.

Courtroom Pitch

Good morning everyone of course we watch crime and TV shows and are waiting to hear from the verdict to make a decision which is the most suspenseful moment. In recent studies,they have noticed that using 3D animations in crime scene investigations allows the person to feel the the physicality of the space and stress accuracy when present in the simulations. From a personal stance, I have played many crime scene investigation games on apps which pursued my interests and I have noticed how they all contain the same form with which they are based off of. They all examine, collect and record data and evidence. Implementing virtual in the courtroom allows for an animation an experience to accurately represent the investigation as well as have an high impact and influence. A virtual reality version would allow you to physically stand at the crime scene an pict what has occurred and be in a specific perspective. Instead of observing, you can understand the perpetrator motive an feel what they felt.

Today we will be seeing how we can expand our knowledge of virtual reality even further from education to the courtroom specifically.  Courtroom evidence can either be through video or through pictures given. As you may know evidence is crucial to figuring out who the verdict is in a decision. In the virtual reality space, the courtroom would present a video on the screen and the video would display a virtual reality space of the incident. An example of this would include a video playing of individuals in the virtual reality space committing the crime therefore giving the juror both a physical and emotional element to a testimony. The virtual reality space would allow you the creator to alter or change any evidence present. Different scenarios you could see are murder, shootings, robberies/burglary and many more. This would be geared toward mainly adults in the field or college students.  Previous apps have included crime scenes but don’t show how the evidence gets presented to therefore make the charges in a case.
This app will help education by allowing students in the criminal justice field such as myself or law majors to be able to examine the evidence more clearly and apply it to the given circumstances.

William Barry’s Abstract, The Virtual Theatre

Good morning everyone, my name is William Barry. Now how many people in here are aspiring film or theatre majors? Well for those of that are, I bring you a revolutionary opportunity. I call it the Virtual Theatre, the Virtual Theatre is unique, in that you can practice your upcoming  production in a virtual environment. Imagine this, let’s say you are an actor in the upcoming Romeo and Juliet play, with the Virtual Theatre you can practice as if it was the night of the play in front of a virtual audience.

You’ll 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. As it is with most virtual environments, the Virtual Theatre has a cloud. With this people can practice the production from home by themselves or with others.

In an article from the well known magazine Popular Mechanics, this blend of the virtual and physical world was achieved last year in 2017 by Disney. As David Grossman, the author of the article, describes “The potential uses for such a system are myriad” and its use in “Athletic training is also a possibility: a baseball player could practice pitching while surrounded with stats or practice ignoring distractions”(Grossman “You Can Now Play Real Catch in Virtual Reality”).

There have been no studies or tests conducted in this use of virtual reality before, making this a grand opportunity to test the effectiveness of the product in a cinematic/theatrical environment.

 

Neurosurgery VR Application

As I was researching for the essay about VR and education, I stumbled across an academic journal about the uses for VR in the field of neurosurgery. Right now, VR is being used for neurosurgery but only visually to look inside the patient’s mind so the surgeon can mentally plan ahead. But my idea would not only allow you to see visually inside the mind but also perform the surgery itself like you would in real life. This would allow veteran surgeons to practice for an upcoming surgery or to hone their skills while a student can use this to learn the basics and to know to know what to expect. The article titled “Utilizing virtual and augmented reality for educational and clinical enhancements in neurosurgery” by Panayiotis Pelargos

States that integrating VR into the neurosurgery field will “lead to greater efficiency, improved patient care, and minimization of technical errors that are inherent to the surgical learning curve” (Pelargos et al.). You could assess the user’s performance based on the amount of time it takes to perform an operation which most of the time in the operating room, time is of the essence and could be a life or death scenario. Also, you would clearly check for mistakes in the operating procedure since making mistakes in the operating room is one of the main things they worry about, practicing in VR will help alleviate those problems. Lastly, you can assess how well the user knows the steps of the procedure and because neurosurgery includes parts all over the body, you can incorporate many different types of procedure like discectomy, foraminotomy, laminectomy, and spinal instrumentation and fusion. Each procedure involved different parts of the body and different tools, so you can test how well they know each area and what to use. The people that would want to use this application would be hospitals or establishments where they specialize in neurosurgery due to all the benefits that it would bring to the patients and surgeons. Universities such as Johns Hopkins would also buy and use this technology to teach students going into the neurosurgery the basics and get a hands on experience that otherwise they would not be able to get.

VR in Healthcare and Education

Virtual and augmented reality can and are helping chart a new vision of healthcare.  The technology has the ability to make huge changes in patient care for everything from pain management to helping addicts combat cravings to help quell the opioid epidemic. The VR and AR healthcare market will reach five and a half billion by 2025 and show no signs of slowing down.  While the tech has made huge changes in patient care, it’s also massively changing the other side of the industry, as a training tool for doctors, nurses and students. “Learners do best by having experience, whether it’s learning how to play a sport, a musical instrument or, in my case, do cardiac surgery,” says Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “The more experience, the more practice, the more hands on opportunities we get the better off we are to deliver high quality, safe, effective and patient-centered care. This center will achieve all of those goals and continue to bring Nebraska to the epicenter of the learning world.”

In 2015, Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, opened its J and K Virtual Reality Learning Center, becoming the first school in the country for aspiring medical professionals to access medical curriculum using VR technologies. Adding courses that allow students to take tours through the human body via headsets like Oculus Rift, as well as similar devices that contribute to the study of function and motion, has made a huge impact.  “Incorporating experiential learning into the curriculum is important,” said UNMC student Cindy Chou, who will graduate in May with both a Doctor of Medicine and doctorate degree. “Studies have shown that with traditional lectures, there is about a 5 percent retention rate of knowledge, whereas if you have hands on practice or immediate application, it increases the rate up to 90 percent. The hope for the new VR and AR technologies is that they will augment traditional teaching techniques by allowing students to more effectively visualize procedures as well as gain hands on experience alongside more traditional teaching techniques, such as lectures.

 

 

Pitch:Football

Virtual Reality (VR) has become a rising technological device in our generation over the past years. As we look around today, we use video games and play in our activities such as sports to develop as human beings (Isidori, Sandor, & Fazio, 146). VR and sport games together can shape our way of thinking when it comes to motor skills and our cognitive thinking. I plan on reaching people between the ages of 16 to 35 because those are the people who have a wider span of athleticism and are more inclined to be into video game type simulations. I plan on projecting this outlet trough ads on social media outlets such as
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and television advertisements on sport channels, shows that target teens and middle-aged adults, and advertisement channels. You may be thinking how this idea could be something to learn from, let me tell you how. When a college football player steps foot on a field on a given Saturday it requires for them to go through a great deal of practice that involves remembering and going over plays, footwork, and play calling in order to translate that into game play which uses cognitive and motor skills(Isidori, Sandor, Fazio, 148). A player uses what he learned from practice to translate that into game situations which allows for a football player to use cognitive skills to a high degree as you must recall plays that are said to you and execute them on the swift to the highest level possible. The motor skill aspect is so you can take attributes such as foot work and correct form from the VR and translate that into real life actions such as running or lifting weights. You are guaranteed to have learned some basic motor skills such as form and technique in the way we run or assess other actions in our physical or daily lives. You will also be able to choose the experience level you may have in the field of football which will determine the difficulty of the skills you may learn. One thing for sure is that you will complete this VR experience with a new outlook on the way your thinking is and how you move physically.

Jason Kahan- VR pitch

Emergency situations can happen any moment, at anytime during the day and there is not much that is taught how to handle these situations. Children are of course taught to call 911, put are most likely never put into that situation, or seen what that emergency situation would look. Some common emergency situations that could happen normally could be, a fire in the house, someone choking or passing out, or someone trying to break into your house. All common emergencies that children or adults may not be prepared for if not been in that situation. With a new educational virtual reality students could be shown emergency situations through the VR goggles and assess the situation to figure what the first step to take.

This new technology will be marketed to elementary schools for younger children to use in the classroom. You would only need to sell a classroom size set as the lesson being taught through the VR would only about an hour which would be about the time for a lesson. You would sell to a school district through salesmen that would teach the school district how to use the technology and show the administrator’s what situations can be shown.

This new technology will have ground breaking visuals as it will show emergency situations that could either be in a kid friendly animation or life-like graphics. When you start up the lesson the teacher will show the whole class a simulation. During the simulation it would pause and a question will pop up and ask what the next action you should take. This will be a step above what is being taught now. There is no current country wide mandated curriculum being used to taught emergency situations. FEMA the Federal Emergency Management Agency does offer curriculum from first to twelve grade, but it outdated as being published in 2013. This program is just a 30 page packet that has various learning 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). This new VR simulation will provide students with a more life-like look at emergency situations to replace the outdated packets being used now.

 

VR Behind Bars

America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. With that said, there is also a high recidivism rate. A major part of this is because prisons are currently aiming to punish rather than rehabilitate. Therefore, prisoners are not properly equipped to be released back into society when the time comes. There is rehabilitation to a certain extent but due to having so many inmates, rehab is not available for everyone. In an online article Sean Smith states, “A 2012 report was indicated that overcrowding of jails and prisons was a leading factor as to why inmates with drug dependency problems were not enrolled in these programs. The overcrowding of jails leads to an increase in the length of the waiting lists to enter drug treatment programs. In addition to overcrowding, staff shortages and limited resources are part of the issue of low enrollment in drug treatment programs” (Smith Drug Treatment Programs of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Exist, but Need More Availability). I have a way to make it possible for every inmate to receive rehabilitation and that is with Virtual Reality (VR). VR requires no staff and is not limited to a certain number of people. If prisons began using VR as a means of drug rehabilitation there would be way more availability and could be done from right side the prisoners cell. VR rehabilitation would typically be used in minimum security prisons to inmates struggling with drug addiction. They would go through the common didactic treatment virtually which would also require them to focus, preventing any distractions or multitasking that occur when rehab is given to a large group. Also, mocking an interactive circle where everyone shares stories and offers support, the VR would allow inmates to tell their stories to the circle of people they see on the screen (even though no can hear them it makes them feel like people are listening), and then they would be able to hear other people stories. There will also be an option to hear success stories from people who have completed treatment.  So both didactic and interactive treatment will be available. 

 

Smith, Sean. “Drug Treatment Programs of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Exist, but Need More Availability.” American Legislative Exchange Council, American Legislative Exchange Council, 2 June 2017, www.alec.org/article/drug-treatment-programs-of-the-federal-bureau-of-prisons-exist-but-need-more-availability/