On our blog you can find:
- Practical tips on using VR in education;
- Output from our research projects;
- Guides to create your own VR content &
- Updates about the VR Learning Lab.
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Immersive Tech Week 2022
This week we are at the Immersive Tech Week, formerly known as the VR Days. This is the first time we have a booth: as our clients are mostly in education, it’s just a little less interesting for us than the NOT or the BETT.
This year, we had two projects we wanted to show and get extra input for. Intern Guido is doing user research for the Brittenburg project (linked page in Dutch) he is working on. Partner 100%FAT joined in and brought a predecessor of the ‘Limescoop’ (/liməˈskoːp/).
Interns Michelle en Stijn showed the (English version of) ‘AR(e) you Ready?’ (linked page in Dutch), our speculative game on the future with AR. Their main goal is to find inspiration for new future scenarios we can use in the game.
We enjoyed experiencing the latest XR hardware, such as Pimax headsets, the Quest Pro and the SenseGlove.
Pimax is developing an interesting all-in-one system that can function as a console, mobile phone and VR headset. We will keep our eyes on it! The Passthrough functionality of the Quest Pro impressed us with its seamlessness. We are purchasing it and we are planning on creating many AR prototypes with it in the future.
The team, including our interns, learned more about the field through visiting the tradeshow, trying out experiences at the Playground and through joining talks and roundtables at the conference.
The amount of attention on more philosophical discussions in the program was noteworthy. Netwerk Mediawijsheid, Rathenau Institute and the city of Rotterdam organized various workshops and presentations covering the future of the metaverse (if you want to use that term). Experts and others interested in this subject discussed how children can explore virtual worlds in a media literate and safe way, how they can learn through immersive media and how we can ensure that the metaverse is designed in a way that respects public values?
I was talking to a visiting employee of Stanford who was impressed by this. To him, it really emphasized how different Europe is from the US. We might not be the fastest to move, but by thinking things through we’re aiming for a future where our values are represented, which might bring us much further.
Although this is very anecdotal evidence, I guess we’re doing something right. We’re proud to contribute to this approach, especially with our speculative game ‘AR(e) you Ready’?
It seems like a very good move to relocate the event to Rotterdam, with lots of initiatives from the city and Hogeschool Rotterdam. I think you will see us here next year as well!
Coding in CoSpaces on smartphone
One problem we had with CoSpaces Edu is that you cannot add code on your smartphone. This is somewhat disappointing as our pool of teachers all have their sets of Android smarthphones with Cardboard-based VR headsets. They mainly use those to let students view the projects they’ve created in Virtual Reality. But it’s also handy to have a few extra devices whenever the school doesn’t have enough laptops/tablets/Chromebooks available.
We organize more and more coding workshops and we needed new sets of smartphones. By coincident, we’ve run into a smartphone model that does allow you to add CoBlocks! The Motorola G9 Play that is. It’s also quite an affordable smartphone at around 150 euros, with a large screen and a 5000 mAh battery.
The large screen size combined with a pretty low resolution is probably why you can do coding with this device in the first place. My guess is that the CoSpaces Edu app looks at the pixel density of the device to determine whether it’s a tablet or a smartphone. The low pixel density of this screen lets CoSpaces think it’s actually a tablet.
We’ve just bought a batch of 8 devices and we’re quite happy with them. I wanted to share this, as I guess more teachers are looking for a solution for this. Hopefully the developers at CoSpaces Edu don’t change the way this is handled.
Want to learn more?
Check out the VR Learning HUB!
Are ‘infospaces’ the new infographics?
This is the first post of a series on creating what we like to call infospaces. Enjoy!
Creating 3D worlds has become much, much easier over the past years. With software like CoSpaces Edu we teach 9 year olds to create their fantasy world with 3D objects and bring them to life with coding blocks.
And the rise of social VR tools like Mozilla Hubs, AltspaceVR and Facebook Horizon are bringing 3D worlds to the professional world. As we’re all are getting tired from pandemic-caused video meetings, we’re looking at new ways to collaborate.
Because of this virtual events are in the lift. But to make really valuable virtual events, we have to learn how to use the space effectively. Meeting each other in a virtual lecture hall or classroom while looking at a PowerPoint presentation is just not using all the possibilities.
Virtual museums
One particular assignment we often give our students who are learning these 3D tools is to create a virtual museum. In our experiences this is a very interesting challenge for the students after they’ve learned the basics of the program. And it’s an assignment that can be easily combined with other school subjects.
It’s interesting to see what students create. They often mimic the musea they’re familiar with. Some also realize they’re not confined by the rules that a real museum has. Their pieces can float in space, and who needs walls? They can add quiz questions, moving objects and interactive information in a way that really isn’t possible in the real world.
Infospaces
The emerging of easy apps to create graphics from data was essential to create the abundance of infographics we now see on the web. Will these new tools bring the same abundance of what we like to call ‘infospaces‘?
For that to happen it has to become even easier to create 3D worlds. We have software tools to help us, which also offer integrated access to databases with 3D models like Sketchfab & Google Poly.
But to make things even easier, we also need design principles and templates. We need easy answers to questions like:
- How do you clearly represent information spatially?
- How do you arrange a room to tell a story?
Those are really new questions for the average communicator. Thus far designing spaces to explain something has been mostly reserved to museum curators and museologists.
With the democratization of designing 3D worlds, we think these questions will become more and more important. We have to learn from architecture, theater, museology and the video game industry.
That’s exactly what we will do in this series of posts on creating infospaces! Don’t want to miss a thing? Or do you want to learn more about Virtual Reality? Become a member of the VR Learning HUB for free!
“We see ourselves as enablers” – Interview with Bruces Pales, CEO of 360 Cities.
On the 21st of July, the first in a series of online interviews with experts in the field of VR, AR, 360°, and other innovative digital technologies took place for VR Learning HUB members and other interested individuals. We had the amazing opportunity to talk to Bruces Pales, CEO of the platform 360 Cities. The platform, which was founded in 2008, has been curating and licensing high quality, fully 360° interactive panoramic photos and videos.
[Read more…] about “We see ourselves as enablers” – Interview with Bruces Pales, CEO of 360 Cities.VR for online events? – 5 tips
During the last few weeks, more and more people have come to us with the question: “can we use Virtual Reality to improve our online event / meeting / education?”
For us it is quite interesting to see how this question has suddenly become so relevant. Most organisations have the remote working conditions under control and are looking to expand and improve them while the Covid-19 restrictions continue. For example for special school events, teambuilding days or creative meetings. These are all situations in which being physically present has an significant advantage.
In this blog we provide five tips on how to implement Virtual Reality in your online event or remote education.
Looking back at year 1 of Augmented Reality & Human-Computer Collaboration
Last November 29th, we organized an event together with Smart 071 and the Honours Academy of Leiden University all about the applications of AR (Augmented Reality) in the workplace.
Students and professionals looked together for meaningful and feasible applications of AR in the participating organizations. This event was part of a new course given by Robin at the Leiden Honors Academy. The Augmented Reality & Human-Computer Collaboration discusses how Augmented Reality will influence our society and the future of work.
This blog post looks back at:
- our event about AR and the future of work
- the prototypes built by the students as their final projects
We’ll also tell you how you can participate as a professional or student next edition!
[Read more…] about Looking back at year 1 of Augmented Reality & Human-Computer CollaborationVR Learning HUB launches April 30th
#PROUD. We’re very happy to announce that registration for the VR Learning HUB is now open. The platform launches April 30th.
In this blog post, you’ll read about:
- the 20% early bird discount we’re currently offering;
- our first online event;
- and why we’ve been working on the VR Learning HUB for more than four years.
The value of VR… in VR
Experience the educational value of VR… in VR!
A few years back two of our interns worked on a 360 experience that explains why Virtual Reality can be interesting for schools. Before, it was only available in our app, but we just uploaded it to YouTube.
Have a look, we love to hear what you think.
[Read more…] about The value of VR… in VRLearning through designing VR experiences
Can you challenge your students to create a VR experience to reach your learning goals?
That’s a question we often ask during our courses for teachers. Why?
- Students can learn so many things from the choices they have to make when designing their experience
- It’s often hard to find polished VR learning material that matches your learning goals and student background precisely
- Creating VR experiences has become so much easier over time. With CoSpaces being our favorite example
- You make your students co-owner of any technical problems.
- Your students practice important skills in our digital society
- And you help students to transcend the role of passive consumers of technology. We often have students whose first VR experience is one they made themselves. In school. How cool is that?
That’s why we pay extra attention on creating VR experiences in the VR Learning HUB. Using CoSpaces Edu, or any of the many virtual tour makers out there.
Interested in learning more?
Perhaps the VR Learning HUB is something for you!
Why I love my job
A while ago I asked my parents what I wanted to become when I was a kid. They couldn’t really think of anything, which matched my own memories. Apparently I never had any specific profession I dreamed of. No obsession with becoming a pro soccer player, movie star or pilot (probably saving me a lot of disappointments). Together we remembered that I did have a fascination for the large office buildings we passed during car or train rides. What happened behind the windows of all those giant anonymous towers; what were people doing there?
