Recently, we took a leap forward in the use of of VR technology in our teaching program, by having an entire year cohort of 250 students try VR as part of a unit on physics. In this article, I want to share what we did, what worked, what didn’t, and what we learned along the way. I hope this is of some use for other schools looking at larger rollouts of VR or people in the industry for whom schools are their target users.
VR Goals and Objectives
One of our school’s strategic priorities is a systematic delivery of the Australian curriculum, with VR as one tool to make this learning more engaging, especially for students in year 7-9. Our aim is to use VR as an interactive and immersive way to deliver curriculum concepts and skills.
The journey so far
Our VR initiative began at the beginning of 2023. After introducing the technology to students through our regular „VR Club“ and small-scale trails in classes, it was clear that there was potential there for VR as a learning tool. Last year we formed the Virtual Reality Community of Practice (VR COP), which was made up of a core group of teachers . The COP met twice a term to explore the research and examples of VR in schools, as well as plan, carry our and discuss small trails of VR in their classrooms.
This year the focus has been on scaling our VR infrastructure to support 14 devices. We set this as an important milestone as it allows us to have an entire class of students have 20-30 minute session in a lesson. In a previous post, I explained why we chose the Meta Quest headsets as the platform of choice.
The trial
In the final weeks of Term 2, we had every year 7 science class (approximately 250 students across 11 classes) come into the VR hub for a lesson. This was at the end of the assessment period for the term and students had just completed a unit on motion and forces. The focus for this trial was really to answer two questions:
- Can we accommodate a whole year level over a two-week period?
- How do students respond to VR sessions?
These questions were important as we are now incorporating VR into unit planning, so determining our capacity is becoming a priority. We also want to ensure we can deliver the sessions in a way that increases engagement, comfort, enjoyment and learning.
Preparation and Session Setup
Getting everything ready required a lot groundwork. The Quest user experience is really designed for an individual who uses the device continuously, with their own apps and personalised settings. This gives them time to get familiar with the hardware. Obviously this is not possible when every student has only 30 minutes from first putting on a headset (often for the first time) to engaging in a learning experience. Preparing the devices for classroom use has required flexibility, experimentation and a significant investment of setup time. I can go into the details of this is a future post, but all 14 devices are set up to be managed via Arbor XR, a third-party management platform that lets us have a higher level of control over each student’s experience.
App Choice and Learning Impact
We used „Newton’s Room,“ a physics-based, mixed-reality app for this trial. We chose this app because:
- It links well to the year 7 ‚forces and motion‘ unit for this term, with the education content embedded throughout the experience.
- It’s a „Mixed reality“ app, overlaying the experience on top of the physical space. This was attractive as it is less confronting for first-time users of VR headsets. Mixed reality also allows students to share the small space we have available, as they can see each other while still moving around.
- It has simple, intuitive controls and mechanics.
- It’s game-based, with about 26 challenges in 3 „chapters“. The development of difficulty is well designed so students experience early success, with new challenges progressively introduced.
Once the app was installed and devices were almost ready to go, we did some small trials with students from our eSports club and then an entire senior science class. These were invaluable in identifying problems in our room set up and use of Arbor XR.
The sessions: Preparing each student for VR
We started each of the 11 sessions with a PowerPoint presentation. For most students this was the first time they have tried VR, so it was important they felt comfortable and had the chance to ask questions. The presentation introduced the learning goals and included in-game video captures that showed students the process of setting up the VR game space, game mechanics, troubleshooting, and avoiding cybersickness. I also demonstrated how to put on the headset and hold the controllers.
From there we divided the class into two groups. One group used the VR lab with „Newton’s Room“ for about 30 minutes, while the other worked on a OneNote-based worksheet with videos from within the game, and other resources to help students explore the physics concepts.
After 30 minutes, the groups swapped.
Implementation Challenges
During the sessions, we faced a number of challenges.
The most common challenge were related to setting up the „play space“. One of the ongoing weaknesses of VR technology is we cannot see what the students see, so they need to give us the headsets for us to problem solve. Meta has hinted this might be solved by their „Meta For Education“ platform that should be released in some form this year. In 90% of cases we would be able to instruct students to solve issues themselves if there was some way to monitor them. By the end of the trial, these issues were minimised and every students was in the game in about 5 minutes or less.
Time was really the limiting factor. With more time, we could have allowed students more time in the app, and a chance to really engage in the learning, after the ‚wow factor‘ wears off. Lack of time also meant we did not take the time to disinfect the headsets as thoroughly as I would have liked.
We also needed our IT technician’s help for each session. Ultimately, our goal must be to make these sessions teacher-led with minimal IT support.
Key Takeaways and Outcomes
Reflecting on our two problems of practice, we can take some positives from the trial, and some things to work on:
Can we accommodate a whole year level over a two-week period? Yes it is possible with our current setup, which is a big win. Overall, the technology worked well, and both teachers and students responded positively. It was a lot of work for my team and me, so we need to streamline the process.
How do students respond to VR sessions?
The feedback from students was very positive—they loved the tech and the game-based learning, and they were very engaged.
The mixed reality app was great for making efficient use of space and reducing cybersickness.
However, the app didn’t require students to apply their understand Newton’s laws to progress, so there was a feeling from teachers that while the game was fun, a clearer link between understanding of the concepts and success in the game was needed.
Future Plans and Improvements
We will continue to refine our processes managing the sessions, which may including training teachers to handle VR sessions independently. We also need to get teachers onboard to and explore and choose apps that balance engagement with educational outcomes. Our next VR session with these students will be more aligned with learning outcomes. It will be interesting to see if student interest and engagement remain high.
Student engagement was definitely there, but we need to collect data in future sessions to see if it’s leading to better learning outcomes. Also, the activity provided to students who were waiting for or had just completed the VR experience needs to be improved to support the learning from the lab.
In summary, our first full-cohort VR experience was a significant step in integrating VR into our curriculum. We faced some challenges, but the positive feedback and high engagement levels show that we’re on the right track. We’re looking forward to refining our approach and continuing to explore the potential of VR in education.
Quelle:
Foto: Some of the 250 students who used the Mixed Reality app ‚Newton’s Room‘ across two weeks
