The concept of virtual reality dates as far back as 1938 when Antonin Artaud, a French director, and actor, referred to theater objects and characters as “la réalité virtuelle” in his essay collection called “Le Théâtre et son double”.  The English translation of this book, published in 1958 as The Theater and its Double, is the earliest published use of the term “virtual reality” (Artaud,1958).

Using Existing Content

Think about the use of existing virtual reality content in education.  Limitless possibilities await Instructional Designers/Developers.  The opportunities are there.  Instructional Designers/Developers can create learning solutions based around exploration type content that already exists. Much of this content is available free.  Imagine designing/developing learning solutions based around exploring the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, DC.  Virtual museum tours already exist such as the tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. These tours can be viewed using a mobile device or computer.

Let’s dive deeper and talk about tools and devices that allow users to totally immerse themselves in a 360-degree virtual reality experience.

Designing, Developing and Deploying Virtual Reality Learning Solutions Using Adobe Captivate 2019

With Adobe Captivate 2019’s built-in interactive features designing, developing and deploying realistic virtual reality situations and scenarios is a cinch.  Adobe Captivate 2019’s virtual reality capabilities can also increase productivity by decreasing the amount of time it takes to complete a VR project.  Interactive elements such as hotspots can add to learner engagement.  For more information on how to use Adobe Captivate 2019’s virtual reality features view the article “Adobe Captivate (2019 release) and Immersive learning with VR experiences” by Pooja Jaisingh (Senior Learning Evangelist) it is a helpful and insightful resource.

Popular Virtual Reality Devices for Content Playback

There are several devices on the market today that will allow playback of virtual content.  We will touch on a couple of these devices below.

Samsung’s Gear VR with Controller

In today’s world of technology, virtual reality is most recognized with products such as Samsung’s Gear VR with Controller which has a consumer cost at around $129.99 at Samsung.  When Gear VR is paired with a Smartphone such as the Galaxy S9+, Galaxy S9, Galaxy Note8 and more, the experience is awesome.  The user is immersed in a 360-degree world.  Also, the current Gear VR model weighs 0.76 lbs (without the Smartphone).  The Samsung Gear VR with Controller has been identified as a product for playing games and viewing movies.  This tool would be great to use in an exploration type learning solution as well.  There does not seem to be an educational type of package offered in any way for the Gear VR with Controller.  Google on the other hand does, so we now will take a look at Google Cardboard.

Google Cardboard

Google Cardboard is the most economical way to provide learners with that great virtual reality immersive experience.  Build your own viewer using everyday items (download the kit) or take advantage of one of Google’s certified viewers.  Just pair it with your smartphone.  Also, choose from a variety of low-cost Google viewers.  However, keep in mind that purchasing kit bundles such as Google’s Expeditions kits come at a high price.  The kits are priced according to the number of registered students. For example, at Best Buy kits range in prices between $4,750.99 and $10,499.99.  Also, there is the Google Daydream View Headset which we will not go into the details of in this article.

References and Resources:

Antonin Artaud (1958), The Theatre and its Double Trans., Mary Caroline Richards. (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1958).

Google Cardboard, Get your Cardboard. Retrieved from https://vr.google.com/cardboard/get-cardboard/

Pooja Jaisingh (2018), Adobe Captivate (2019 release) and Immersive learning with VR experiences, Published August 22, 2018.  Article retrieved from https://elearning.adobe.com/2018/08/adobe-captivate-2019-release-and-immersive-learning-with-vr-experiences/?sdid=LLVYTFD5&mv=display

Samsung, Samsung’s Gear VR with Controller, Information retrieved from https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/virtual-reality/gear-vr/gear-vr-with-controller–galaxy-note8-edition–sm-r325nzvaxar/

Smithsonian Museum, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Tour, Retrieved from http://naturalhistory.si.edu/VT3/

Smithsonian Museums in Washington, DC, Retrieved from https://washington.org/smithsonian-institution-museums?gclid=CMPC3viYnM4CFUFbhgodZ50Bhg

Photo:

Article Photo by Bradley Hook from Pexels, Retrieved from Pexels.com at https://www.pexels.com/photo/sea-landscape-nature-sky-123318/

Wikipedia, Antonin Artaud., Article retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonin_Artaud