The Modern Day Librarian: Introducing AR and VR reality in an Elementary School Library Setting
I must admit that prior to this week’s discussion about Augmented and Virtual Reality, I never realized the educational benefits that they provide. Honestly, it looks as if they are just cool new electronics
for kid and adult entertainment. However, after exploring this week’s resources, it’s evident
that these are both great gadgets that can be implemented in a classroom or
library setting. Virtual reality strives to completely simulate an immersive
sensory experience indistinguishable from the real […] often using technologies
like headsets that attempt to completely deprive human sensory organs like the
eyes from any stimuli outside of that which is artificially generated by the VR
technology. Augmented Reality strives to overlay additional layers of useful
(e.g. actionable, descriptive, informative, directional) media onto the real
without replacing it (Zoladz, 2015).n According to Bruce Massis’s article, “The
mission of teachers in today’s classroom is to create the proper conditions to
determine the shift from the static transmission of knowledge to the
student-centered learning. Students are now active participants in the learning
process. In order to be successful and to ensure the engagement of students,
teachers must use adequate methods common to the current generation of “digital
natives” (Nanu et al., 2013). Therefore,
it is our job as librarians to find ways to incorporate this wonderful idea
into the library and introduce it. In
the article entitled, “Virtually There: Kids are using VR to explore worlds and
create new ones”, it states, “Educators are embracing virtual reality as a new
tool for student engagement, collaboration, and content creation (Meyer, 2017)”. Also in the article, it discussed how students
used VR to create a film on social anxiety. This is definitely something that
could be done in a library setting but I would focus on a different topic but
use the same concept. A wonderful virtual
reality app that I hope to implement in my own library is called, “Virtual Reality Lessons by Thinglink.”
“VR Lessons by ThingLink is a collection of
interactive images and videos on a variety of topics including science,
language, and arts. The lessons are designed for elementary-aged students and
are available as a stand-alone app on Apple Store. VR lessons can be viewed
with iPhones using a virtual reality headset such as Google Cardboard” (Ergurel,
2016) .
Most importantly, the app also caters to parents and teachers. The district would be required to purchase the -educators' plan for
$1,000 a year, which in my opinion, would be very reasonable for all the features the app offers for students, teachers, and parents.
Also, luckily, the
virtual headsets aren’t as expensive either. I believe this is something that would fit
into the library’s budget and would be very beneficial for students. This app
would work exceptionally well for my particular library setting being that it
is compatible to apple products and we have a 1:1 student-to-ipad ratio. During
library activity time, I could use the app as a maker-space activity. It would reinforce lessons that were
already taught in the classrooms during library time. I would also love to use
this app to create a lesson on library usage, and possibly have a virtual tour
of the library. This would definitely keep my students engaged and interactive
in the library. In order to engage the students more, I would
turn this into a project by asking my upper level students to form groups and
create their own virtual films on different topics. This would give students something
different to look forward to besides the traditional monthly advisement sessions that we
normally have. Overall, virtual reality and augmented reality are both
expanding at our fingertips. This is the perfect time to introduce this type of
technology in order to prep our students for the real world where VR/AR will
eventually be used in middle/high school, college, and on their jobs. So it is
best that we expose to it now. Feel free
to view the links below for more information on Virtual and Augmented Reality as well as the "ThingLink" app.
Exploring the ThingLink Application
Ergurel, D. (2016, 05 10). 10+ virtual reality
apps transforming Education. Retrieved from Haptical:
https://haptic.al/10-virtual-reality-apps-transforming-education-dc7586badb9a
Zoladz, D. (2015), personal communication, 7 August.
Comments
Post a Comment