This week's Tech Talk focuses on virtual reality or VR. I do not know about you, but I have always associated VR with the 9D cinema found in the mall. I did not understand the creative possibilities it foster in the classroom.
Virtual reality is an emerging technology in the classroom that complements lessons to 'feel' content in subjects and topics. Beyond engagement, VR enables students to explore, experience and immerse themselves in virtual environments.
But how does it inspire creativity?
It allows students to think in a new way and can remove unnoticeable barriers students may place. In China, recent studies have shown that VR enhances creativity and encourages students to try new things by allowing them to "tear down walls" (Wang, Lu, Runco & Hao, 2018). Chang, Kao, and Wang (2022) also concluded that VR enables students to demonstrate "excellent creative performance “as it allows them to improve the creative design process specifically in demanding and planning stage. Also, studies show that using VR increases levels of 'patience' and 'flexibility' and overcame obstacles in a virtual world, increasing a sense of 'concept processing.
Moreover, virtual reality fosters creativity because it enables “impossible” things to occur, allowing students to break geographical boundaries and create something beyond what they were taught; it allows for an immersive environment allowing students to have multi-sensory applications so that they can be free when creating (Milevia, 2020) . One limitation is the price, limiting the number of goggles that can be purchased. However, virtual reality takes this method to the next level and streamlines the creative learning process. It is great for students to create goals as the VR apps use game design elements to engage students in goal-oriented activities. This opens huge possibilities as it encourages creative and critical thinking to reach goals and gives young learners the freedom to create whatever they choose (Milevia, 2020).
I talked about how this new technology encourages creativity, but it also helps us teachers achieve result codes EN3-HANDW-02 and EN3-UARL-01 (NESA, 2023 Year). The descriptors aim for students to be to use digital creative writing techniques to analyse expressions of literary ideas. This leads to creativity because virtual reality allows students to break down any subconscious walls they have when it comes to creating characters and or settings great accessible tool that could be used is CoSpaces and online web base VR creation tool allowing students to take their english creative papers and bring them to life !
That is for this weeks TechTalk tune in next week for something new and exciting !
Works Cited
Chang, Y.-s., Kao, J.-Y., & Wang , Y.-Y. (2022). Influences of virtual reality on design creativity and design thinking. Department of Technology Application and Human Resource Development, National Taiwan Normal University.
CoSpaces team. (2023). CoSpaces education. https://cospaces.io/edu/
Milevia, G. (2020, September ). APPLICATIONVIRTUAL REALITY VR APPS How VR Apps Foster Creativity in Children. Retrieved from Arpost.co: https://arpost.co/2020/09/03/how-vr-apps-foster-creativity-in-children/
NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). (2023). English K–10 Syllabus. NSW Curriculum.
Wang, X. L. (2018). Break the “wall” and become creative: Enacting embodied metaphors in virtual reality. . Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal.
Wang, X., Lu, K., Runco, M., & Hao, N. (2018). Break the “wall” and become creative: Enacting embodied metaphors in virtual reality. Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal, 102–109.
Hi Imijin,
Thank you for briefly addressing what Virtual Reality is before discussing your chosen piece of technology. I would personally have changed “But how does it inspire creativity?” to “But how does it foster creativity?”. It was really good to see some evidence in research as to how VR can foster creativity. I agree that it promotes student learning about overcoming obstacles in the digital world and virtual world. Good use of personal footage, just remember to claim it as your own work underneath e.g. “CC by Imijin Rutherford”. Watching the video was good to see how that piece of technology is used. In saying that, you didn’t explicitly state that you were focussing on goggles for this blog…
Hi Imi,
I really enjoyed your blog! I found the photos and videos you included from our tutorial really helpful when understanding how VR looks to participants. I think this is a great technology to include in the classroom as it is fun and engaging for young students!
Amanda
Mar 14
Wow, what an engaging read! I like that you took on the feedback from your first blog post and included some more videos and pictures! I can see you've really researched into how VR can be used in the classroom in a variety of ways, even providing direct curriculum links to show that it is actually useful in the classroom. Your tone of writing also makes the text easy to read, and engage with the content. I would've loved to have heard about any limitations you see with VR and access to the technology for in the classroom. Great job, I am really enjoying tuning into each Tech Talk! 14/03/2023
Mar 20
Hey Imijin, What a fantastic and engaging blog post. I really enjoyed reading this as I did not know a lot about VR before, and I now understand how one would incorporate this into their class lessons. The way you have talked about how VR fosters creativity and how students can immerse themselves in the environment is great. I also think it is great how you have included the syllabus and its outcome in your post, making it easy for teachers to identify where they would incorporate this in their lesson. For the future it would have been great to identify some limitations, such as the cost and access to resources. Overall, this was an interesting post, and I…