VR

Boston’s world-famous Museum of Science is in the process of redesigning its famed Blue Wing and hosted a dinner Monday night to announce new plans for how they will enhance STEM learning for a broader audience. Among the highlights of the Putting Your Tech Foot Forward event, were distinguished speakers and hands-on stations.

Ready for an adventure though the human bloodstream? Through the White House? To space? VR makes these thrilling adventures possible. In our office, we have both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive and today, I experimented with the Oculus. I had only ever used VR while sitting down before—certainly never standing and with touch controllers.

With part of our founding team hailing from Russia, we jumped at the opportunity to present at the two-day conference and introduce some new technologies to our friends across the ocean. After that, some of us made the somewhat shorter trip to the Bronx, NY to host ‘The State of EdTech in 2017’ in collaboration with Manhattan College.

Tech tools have the ability to engage students and they help catalyze tech skills growth by default. While other factors can help spur some improved student engagement and achievement, the obvious answer in the 21st century is technology. And, whether in a classroom, library, or afterschool makerspace, there is a compatible tech tool for just about everyone.

The MC team is opening its campus to host some up-and-coming teaching products, including virtual reality, 3D printing, and more as some of their faculty members explore their potential for enhancing education. Mark your calendars for Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017 from 3:30-6:30pm at Manhattan College’s Kelly Commons in the Bronx, NY.

To be honest, it’s been quite a while since any one technology has had as much potential in the classroom as virtual reality is wielding right now. In fact, it has monumental potential in all sorts of avenues, like healthcare, military operations, and entertainment, but we’re really interested in its implications on education.

VR can send students to new environments, to landmarks they’ve never seen before, and to sites they’d otherwise never be able to explore. And, that’s just what a basic viewer is capable of doing. Bring the incredible capabilities of the Oculus Rift VR Bundle into the conversation and it becomes a whole new ballgame.

As time goes by, virtual reality is becoming more than an insanely cool way to play video games or watch movies. It’s helping train STEM professionals and prepare people for the workforce and some of the common uses that could soon be a regular part of virtual reality. It’s also an effective instructional tool across K-12.

Virtual reality is coming. And, it’s coming quicker than most of us realize. Even in education, virtual reality is finding its way into the classroom and offering students the chance to explore learning with a technology that’s unlike anything else. With its immersive capabilities and incredibly vivid graphics, VR is poised to disrupt education.

Technology is an invaluable catalyst for deeper learning experiences in the early grades, but, by the time students get into their high school years, it is more of a necessity. The new modern workforce is filled with an increasing number of STEM jobs that require applicants to utilize coding, 3D printing, or some other emerging skill. Here are seven options