November 20th

Answer the following questions on your blog based on the information on the links and the files that you have downloaded:

1. What is the value to me and my students for using virtual reality?
The value to me is that I can be more of a facilitator rather than the person who stands at the front of the class and lectures the whole time. Providing a hands on approach for my students would be ideal especially because Deaf and Hard of Hearing students are for the most part very visual learners. They would benefit from a hands on approach to teaching. Virtual reality would facilitate active learning as well as balance active learning with concrete ideas/information.

2. What types of VR (virtual reality) would be appropriate for my student population?

I think the types of VR that would be appropriate for my student population are Non-Immersive/Desk top and maybe Total Immersion. To me, non-immersive would be ideal because information is presented on a computer screen and students can use a mouse, keyboard, wand, joy stick, or a touch screen to use this form of technology. This allows students to explore and manipulate computer generated 3-D multimedia environments while also providing text on the screen so students can understand directions. My main concern about total immersion virtual reality is that students are required to rely on not only their visual perception but their hearing perception as well. This would be fantastic for my Hard of Hearing students because it will require them to work on their auditory skills. The research that we looked at today suggests that total immersion virtual reality is a multisensory experience that provides both visual and auditory stimuli. However, not all of my students are Hard of Hearing. If I had to chose only one type of virtual reality to have in my classroom, it would have to be the desktop type.

3. How can VR provide my students enhanced access to: (pick one)

a. functioning in the community

b. the curriculum

c. communication with peers

VR can provide my students enhanced access to the curriculum. Since I teach 3rd-5th grade curriculum and my students are academically one year behind the grade they are in, VR would be a fantastic way to teach the curriculum. Recently we have adopted a new social studies curriculum that provides many tips and ideas on how to present the material in a more palatable manner to students. This is very helpful, however, I find the curriculum to be dry and really lengthy for my class. If my students were to learn directly from textbooks, a good majority of what they were asked to read would be extremely difficult for them to process. VR would allow students to go back in time and see how the states were formed as well as experience parts of American history that are taught in 5th grade. By allowing students to learn by doing rather than reading out of a textbook, my class would have a better understanding of the social studies curriculum.