ExCEL Fest Live: Empowering Students in Geographical Investigation through Virtual Reality Technology (A Sharing by Theophilia Yong / Teck Whye Sec)
Sharing a series of screengrabs from the presenter's sharing, just to give an idea of how the GI was constructed.
CoSpaces allows students to upload 360 environment photos and then drag and drop characters/elements to create 'scenes'.
What have I learnt from this sharing session?
The greatest takeaway from the sharing is the introduction of the apps Google Tour Creator and CoSpaces EDU.
Google Tour Creator allows the students to create their own 360 photos (though presenter did warn that stable and patient camera skills are paramount to getting a good 360 view), while CoSpaces EDU allows the kids to upload 360 photos to create their own virtual 'scenes', before making use of their creativity to modify these scenes using character/item templates and annotations of their own.
The use of these 2 apps definitely provides a valuable opportunity for students to enliven their presentation beyond traditional report writing or ppt slides.
According to the speaker, learners will also be able to collaboratively work on a scene in real time (just like Google Docs, real time editing together as a group). Thereafter, the use of VR goggles allow them to share the findings/presentation through a more immersive view.
This will bring our final stage of GI a step closer to our ideal state, empowering students to become active advocators for the environments they live in. The use of immersive VR experiences (including creating their own) will encourage the students to be engaged even further.
Beyond GI/HI, I think that 1NT SS Performance Task on improving communal spaces can also befit from some of these applications. The use of alternative assessment modes will also help facilitate weaker students' expression beyond formal use of written language.
Will definitely want to try creating my own 360 photos and CoSpaces to try them out!

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