Virtual Reality at the School of Education: from research opportunities to innovative applications
Published: 6 September 2022
VR facilities have been installed at the School of Education from the setup of an Edify pod. Dr Lavinia Hirsu and Dr Gabriella Rodolico organised a 3-day training programme with staff members from the School of Education.
VR facilities have been installed at the School of Education from the setup of an Edify pod, a dedicated VR room that will enable staff and ECRs to explore VR-based technologies, to the organisation of dedicated workshops to develop innovative lessons that draw on the benefits of virtual environments.
To facilitate access and use of the new Edify Pod, Dr Lavinia Hirsu (co-lead of the Digital Society and Economy IRT) and Dr Gabriella Rodolico organised a 3-day training programme with staff members from the School of Education who expressed an interest in using VR for their own teaching and learning contexts. The workshops were funded by the small projects grant and supported by Imants Latkovskis, VR Teaching Lab Manager who provided technical guidance, as well as shared expertise in the use of VR equipment.
The 3-day workshops gave participants the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the VR equipment, consider issues of health and safety when using these technologies, develop their own lessons and consider the pedagogical approaches that would best fit their teaching contexts. The participants had access to a wide range of virtual environments and lessons, ranging from the exploration of mountains and ocean beds to lessons in physics, maths, cultural heritage and picture books. The participants also had the opportunity to design their own classroom spaces and reflect on their own identities as teachers.
The project also included an open day dedicated to PGR and PGT participants. Students and ECRs from across the university were able to drop in at Partick Burgh Hall where a dedicated space offers multiple VR stations to use. The interest from the attendees indicates a growing appetite for these technologies which we are still in the process of learning. The Edify pod in the School of Education is meant to be open to researchers interested in the pedagogical use of these technologies and this project marks the beginning of a series of new initiatives and projects that we will see developing over the next few months.
First published: 6 September 2022