Immersive Technology in the Classroom
Rachel Farrell (UCD SCHOOL OF EDUCATION) & Mark Baldwin (SchooVR)
Imagine science lessons where students can take an in-depth look at the inner workings of the human body, elements of the periodic table, or a trip around the solar system; history lessons that involve time travelling through eras that shaped our present; where student may examine artefacts up close and personal; geography lessons that explore places of interest around the world from the comfort of the classroom, or art lessons that involve visiting world-renowned art galleries and museums, without stepping outside the school.
The introduction of new immersive learning technologies has meant that teachers can use virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), or mixed reality (MR) to create authentic and memorable learning experiences for their students and make this a reality
By making these technologies more accessible to teachers and students, we create the capacity for endless learning opportunities. A task which has become an affordable reality due to the vision and energy of entrepreneurs like Mark Baldwin. Mark is a former, post-primary school teacher who spent seven years teaching history and geography at schools in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2017, he was the recipient of the Bianca Ni Grogáin teaching award, presented by the Computers Association of Ireland (CESI) for innovative teaching and learning. Mark was also a National Finalist in 2018, for Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur competition. Using his hands-on experience in the classroom and passion for education, Mark founded his own educational start-up, SchooVR (pronounced skoover) during 2019.
The idea for https://www.schoovr.com/ came about when Mark was using Microsoft surface tablets and virtual reality goggles with his students. He noticed that students became more immersed and engaged in their learning experience, creating a level of interest which eBooks and textbooks had failed to foster in the past. According to Mark, Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are incredibly powerful learning tools. They help students feel more thoroughly involved in an experience; gripping their imagination and focus, something not possible with traditional textbooks, pictures or videos. Enhancing and extending the learning experience is at the heart of what augmented reality and virtual reality can offer to students.
In 2020 Mark teamed up with Rachel Farrell, Assistant Professor of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Director of the Professional Master of Education (PME) programme at the School of Education in UCD to create a joint project entitled Immersive Technology in Education: A Collaborative Learning Initiative: https://www.ucd.ie/teaching/showcase/immersivetechnologyineducation/
This Learning Enhancement project was funded through the HEA and The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. Mark designed and facilitated an innovative online short course on Immersive Technology in Education (see - https://ucdeducation.schoovr.com/) as part of a co-curricular module on the PME programme.
This initiative was also informed Rachel’s research on partnership in education and from SCoTENS funded research undertaken by Rachel and colleagues in DCU, QUB and Ulster University entitled Virtual Reality in Initial Teacher Education (VRITE): A Model of Professional Learning (See free MOOC available at https://bit.ly/3ATKKLv).
The aim of the course was to foster an appreciation of the emerging role of immersive technology in education, and to provide student teachers, subject methodology lecturers and co-operating teachers with a dynamic and innovative forum, in which to explore the potential for immersive technology to optimise teaching and learning. Part funded by the Ubuntu Network and under the expert guidance of Mark, participants explored the many ways with which immersive technology could be effectively utilised to interrogate Development Education and the Global Goals for Sustainable Development across a range of post-primary subjects and programmes.
Teachers, and their student teachers examined themes such as climate change, deforestation, and water shortages. Some of the experiences created by participants included immersive 360-degree images, curriculum-aligned content, guided audio and higher order thinking questions and classwork activities. The wide range of the student teachers’ innovative resources have demonstrated their capacity for creativity and an ability to acknowledge the importance of using immersive learning resources to enhance teaching and learning with their classes. The planning and development process allowed teachers to reflect on the importance of creating authentic learning experiences for their students while it provided a pathway for teachers to innovate their daily teaching routines.
The project also afforded teachers and their student teachers a time and space to engage in ongoing professional development and opportunities for creating and engaging in communities of practice, along with in-school support by Mark and access to https://www.schoovr.com/ for retrieving immersive learning content aligned with the Irish curriculum. Participants of the project were also supported to develop resources and had the opportunity to showcase these at the Teaching Council Féilte event in 2021 – see https://vimeo.com/595252952
Immersive Technology and Minecraft Post-Primary Subjects
UCD School of Education is currently developing another exciting immersive technology initiative in partnership with MS Education Ireland and SchooVR, to work with 10 teachers across a range of post-primary subjects in each of the school types in the greater Dublin and Leinster area. The aim of the project is to develop student generated Minecraft projects/artefacts dedicated to learning, across the subjects CSPE, Geography, History, English, Maths, and Science and to showcase these projects at a shared learning day in the Dreamspace in MS Education Ireland in December 2022.
During this project the UCD/MS/SchooVR team intend to work with teachers and students to develop a variety of student generated artefacts using Minecraft. The platform is browser agnostic, and its experience-building tools will allow teachers and students to be able to upload their creations onto SchooVR. Teachers will be able to add curriculum-aligned, and purposeful content on top of the experience, and then launch the experience. Students can then join using a unique pin code. This experience will work on any smart device or virtual reality headset. Furthermore, SchooVR will build a library of curriculum-aligned educational experiences using Minecraft creations which can be launched at any time.
An examples of students’ Minecraft creations from St. Andrew’s College Dublin can be viewed at the link below:
Mark and Rachel are working with five schools in Laois Offaly area associated with Laois Education Support Centre on a two-year Creative Cluster initiative, involving the creative use of immersive technology for engagement in learning across the primary and post-primary curriculums.
Each school has been provided with a class VR/AR kit to enhance the teaching and learning of the curriculum, whereby they decide how best to use this kit depending on their own school’s needs and demographic. All participants in the project are starting with a different level of experience and this will determine which category they wish to take on for year one of the Creative Cluster project.
Those less familiar with AR & VR will most likely choose the path of Exploring and Learning in year one and those schools that are more familiar with AR & VR will begin the process of Creating and Sharing in year one as outlined below.
Exploring and Learning Opportunities for students to discover all areas of the curriculum through a digital lens.
Science: Taking an in-depth look at the inner workings of the human body, elements of the periodic table and a trip around the solar system.
History: Time travelling through eras that shaped our present and examining artefacts up close.
Geography: Exploring places of interest around the world from the comfort of the classroom.
Art: Visiting world renowned art galleries and museums.
Creating and Sharing
Opportunity for students to create VR tours and stories to share with school and the wider community.
Creating Virtual Social Stories and sharing them with students with additional needs, including Autism.
Creating Virtual Tours of local landmarks and sharing them with other schools in the locality.
Creating Virtual tours of school to share with prospective students and to aid students with additional needs including EAL.
Creating VR tours to enhance the teaching and learning of Gaeilge and MFL to share with all class levels.
Creating Virtual Art Galleries of students’ art to share with the school and the wider community.
Creating Virtual Career Investigations.
The overarching focus within the cluster is the creative employment of immersive technologies to enhance teaching and learning for all students. This Creative Cluster *will afford participant schools prolonged access to immersive technology education and to the in-school support of Philosophy for Children expert Marelle Rice who will exploit the potential of VR to enable and enrich critical and creative thinking.
Employing immersive technologies across curricular areas in both primary and post-primary contexts will provide a richer multisensory learning experience for students through the blending of a robust educational design framework (UDL) with the creation of immersive learning experiences. Schools involved in the Laois Education Support Centre Creative Cluster on the Creative use of Immersive Technology in Education supported by Tralee Education Centre on behalf of the Department of Education.
Scoil Mhuire,Kilcruttin, Tullamore, Co. Offaly (Lead School)
St. Colmans, Mucklagh, Tullamore, Co. Offaly
Tobar an Léinn, Raheen, Mountrath, Co. Laois
Ballyadams National School, Athy Rd., Ballyadams, Ballylynan, Co. Laois
Killina Presentation Secondary School, Co. Offaly