In July 2018, I had the opportunity to collaborate with LLED361 instructors and their secondary teacher candidates to explore the use of augmented and virtual reality for furthering the development of multiliteracies in high school.
AR/VR have been emerging technologies that are becoming more and more popular in education at all levels*, and these sessions allowed us to explore ways that these tools can be incorporated in meaningful ways to enhance literacy practices and outcomes.**
We began each session with a discussion of Augmented and Virtual Reality, the reasons they are increasingly incorporated into K-12 teaching, and how they relate to the concept of literacy for all of our learners, including ELL students. This discussion was followed by an opportunity for teacher candidates to explore three different stations, each with a different AR/VR tool. We were able to demo the technologies and give teacher candidates to experience these tools as creators.
The three stations utilized the following technologies:
- HP Reveal – an augmented reality app
- Discovery VR and The New York Times VR – apps for 360 and VR videos. At this station we used both Google cardboard and VR goggles to view the videos in VR.
- Google Tour Creator – a desktop app that allows user to create their own 360 tours
Here is an example of how two teachers engaged their students in creating google tours as part of a literature circles assignment.
After exploring each of the technologies, we asked how these and other AR/VR tools might be used to enhance teacher candidates’ lesson plans. Using design thinking, teacher candidates were asked to reflect on a lesson that they had taught in the past and find ways to incorporate AR/VR technologies to add enhance the multiliteracies in their previous lesson.
Slides used during the sessions are available here: LLED361 – Augmented and Virtual Reality_ Exploring Possibilities for Multiliteracies – July 2018
For more ideas about how to incorporate AR/VR into secondary classrooms, take a look at this document co-created during the summer of 2017 with teacher candidates. If you have ideas to share, please add them!
Posted by: Emily Fornwald, Technology Integration Mentor (Summer 2018)
*Notes from Yvonne Dawydiak, Learning Design Manager and Scarfe Sandbox Team Lead: at this time, I do not recommend implementing immersive VR, in particular the use of VR and 360 goggles, with younger learners due to what I see as a lack of research on potential issues including discomfort due to sensory input. I suggest use with Middle School and Secondary – not elementary aged learners.
**Resources used and built upon in this session were developed by the Scarfe Sandbox team with the support of a Teaching Learning Enhancement fund grant in 2015 and 2016.
