Photograph: By Evelyn Chan.
While Virtual Reality ('VR') has long been recognised in the 19th Century, it was not until the 21st Century that educators recognised the potential of VR to enhance student learning and the implementation of Immersive Virtual Reality ('IVR') to foster creativity. Unlike VR, which involves the virtual environment being displayed on a tablet or smartphone, IVR utilises a head-mounted display to immerse users into the actual virtual environment and allow them to interact with the virtual world (Southgate, 2018) (See below video).
Video: Renae Cunningham experiencing IVR. By Evelyn Chan.
For this reason, it is recognised that IVR can offer great advantages for student creativity since it allows students to experience a diverse range of environments that are often out of their reach. For example, students can be transported back in time to experience what it was like during Ancient Egypt or be placed in a fantasy world with dragons and knights. By offering students the experience to encounter a world that is beyond likely in the physical reality, it can dramatically expand their human experiences, as well as their creative potential (Slater & Sanchex-Vives, 2016).
There are different forms of IVR which allow for different degrees of user agency and experience. For example, there is an IVR 360° experience where the user has limited interaction with the environment and can only move around in a 360° manner. There is also a higher form of IVR which involves body-tracking systems and controller devices which allow users to actively interact and manipulate the virtual environment. This form of IVR not only offers navigation and interaction opportunities but also provides users the opportunity to be creators of the environment (Southgate, 2018).
While offering the opportunity for students to immerse themselves in IVR nurtures student creativity, getting students to create their own IVR could also be just as effective in fostering divergent thinking. By offering the students the freedom to create their own IVR world and freely manipulate objects and environment, it supports students to think outside-the-box and to transform 'abstract ideas into perceptible representations' (Southgate, 2018, p. 6).
Screen recording: Creating a VR space via CoSpaces. By Evelyn Chan.
However, despite the benefits of utilising IVR to foster creativity, it is noted that IVR has its own limitations in the classroom. First and foremost, are the cost and the resources necessary to ensure that there are appropriate spaces within the classroom to operate IVR. Furthermore, it was found in Boyles' study (2017), that IVR systems were often difficult to use and that it was inconvenient for users to wear bulky headsets which affected their immersion.
Reference List
Boyles, B. (2017). Virtual reality and augmented reality in education. [Master’s thesis, United States Military Academy]. West Point. https://www.westpoint.edu/sites/default/files/inline-images/centers_research/center_for_teching_excellence/PDFs/mtp_project_papers/Boyles_17.pdf
Slater, M., & Sanchez-Vives, M. V. (2016). Enhancing our lives with immersive virtual reality. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 3(74). https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2016.00074
Southgate, E. (2018). Immersive virtual reality, children, and school education: A literature review for teachers (Report No. 6). Newcastle DICE Research. https://ericasouthgateonline.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/southgate_2018_immersive_vr_literature_review_for_teachers.pdf
Hi Evelyn,
You have produced a good blog about Virtual Reality. I agree to most of your ideas/ points. One that stands out to me would be, 'getting students to create their own IVR could also be just as effective in fostering divergent thinking'. Students's creating their own IVR shows their own perspective of the topic being learnt.
I enjoyed viewing your CoSpace work sample. It has a good concept and if you were to extend and keep adding to your CoSpace, most possibly it would be a cool interaction.
Well done! you've inspired me to provide IVR experiences in my future teaching.
Regards,
Shekane
Hi Evelyn,
I found your post on virtual reality to be very engaging, however, I feel that there were limited examples of how this promotes creativity in a classroom. The general examples provided discuss the abilities of different VR technologies, and the points made are very clear. The discussion of the creation and interaction with VR worlds was limited however, particularly with the inclusion of a CoSpaces world, with no reference to CoSpaces in the example.
I feel that more focus on the classroom would have helped in the presentation of these points. Overall, very good!
Tyler England (3/4/23)
Hi Evelyn,
Your post on virtual reality technologies was a really engaging read. I really agree with comment you made that virtual reality allows students to engage with environments that they normally do not have access to. I believe that this is a really important part of the educational aspect of VR as it allows students to travel to different locations or potentially time periods depending on the technology, allowing them to gain firsthand experiences.
I also really liked how your CoSpaces video was based around the history of Egypt. This was a really engaging way to introduce uses of this technology, as viewers can see how you would implement this technology in a class such as History.
I was…