by Shannon C.
Virtual reality (VR) is an advancing technology that is now readily available to the public. Essentially, VR is a immersive experience that includes the users senses of sight, hearing and touch (Pope, 5). To ignore it’s potential impact on education would be a mistake, as technology evolves and educational programs become more sophisticated and abundant, educators and school librarians should consider how to integrate it into the curriculum. VR is only going to become more popular and today’s students should be familiar with it as a tool for deeper learning considering they may be utilizing this technology in their future academic and professional careers.
Since the technology is less cost prohibitive than it used to be, school libraries should consider purchasing VR devices. There are a number of VR applications geared toward education including Star Chart, an exploration of constellations (Pope, 15). More apps geared toward learning include, Land of the Dinosaurs, a virtual experience exploring the dinosaurs, and Unimersiv suite of virtual reality apps, which include virtual experiences like exploring the Titanic and the International Space Station (Pope, 19). Another way to utilize this technology would be in “virtual field trips”. The VR Museum of Fine Art would allow students to experience famous artworks, and Google Earth VR gives the user the benefit of traveling anywhere in the world right from the library (Pope, 5).
Overall, the VR technology would give educators and students more options to enhance their learning and should be seriously considered as a part of the school library experience and as a tool for research.
Watch the video below to see how VR technology is utilized in a "Metaverse school" to support learning outcomes:
While this is obviously more immersive than a regular school library would offer, you can see how the VR technology could be used to enhance learning.
I understand that this type of technology would not be in the budget for some school libraries, and financial resources are allocated to meet school and library needs. For those schools, this is just something to keep on their radar as it becomes more readily available and less cost prohibitive.
Pope, Hannah. “Virtual and Augmented Reality in Libraries.”
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