Students from Gleeson College, Golden Grove have recently taken part in a virtual reality trial that allowed students to tour the world – virtually!
Gleeson is the first school in South Australia to take part in an exciting trial with The University of Adelaide, Computer Science Education Research Group (CSER), with access to cutting-edge Oculus Quest Virtual Reality (VR) units and Insta 360 One X cameras.
Students used the VR technology to experience countries around the world.
Due to COVID-19, Gleeson’s annual International Study Exchange programme is on hold so connecting virtually is the next best thing.
Year 10 Japanese students created a 360-degree virtual tour of the College showing a day in the life at school from a student perspective, to give a school in Japan a rich experience of being at Gleeson College.
To create the tour, students used the University’s Insta 360 One X cameras to take photos around the school, which were then uploaded to Google Tour Creator. Students then narrated the scenes in Japanese, to create a visually impressive, personalised school tour for students who could not visit themselves as part of the exchange program.
Through YouTube 360-degree videos played on the headsets, students can be a part of real-life scenes and cultures. Italian students experienced Florence, Pisa, Rome and Venice all in one magical day while Japanese students rode around the backstreets of Japan, scaled the Tokyo Tower and were part of an audience watching sumo wrestlers in action; all virtually of course! Senior tourism students even used the VR technology to explore sustainable tourism.
“Our students have benefited in immeasurable ways from the immersive activities and interactive content delivered”, said Melissa O’Loughlin, Laboratory and STEM Assistant at Gleeson College.
“Virtual reality provides a fun way to learn which is highly engaging. The ability to visit any place on the globe during a pandemic was a golden moment for our students. Virtual excursions provided dynamic learning experiences and gave them a sense of a different place and time. Our language students actively toured the globe and thanks to the feeling of presence that virtual reality provides, they learnt by living the experience. The emotional reactions to their experiences helped form strong memories".
“Although virtual reality will never replace real excursions it was used as a powerful tool to allow experiences to happen that would have otherwise been impossible, especially during a pandemic".
Students also created stunning artistic designs using an app called Tilt Brush VR and each headsets vision could be shared by casting the unit to interactive whiteboards for classes to see. Life sized virtual art was produced and the immersive experience allowed the viewer to be part of the art, moving around and within the masterpiece from all angles. A dragon breathing fire curled in space and Van Gogh inspired Starry Nights showed the unique possibilities of virtual art and gave a new dimension for student expression.
“There’s no doubt that virtual reality is a great tool to support education. Student engagement was high and the flexibility of taking part in virtual excursions with no lag time of travel allowed us to increase the number and types of adaptable experiences. We were able to share information in a new way and shift our students from being simply consumers of technology to being the creators. Virtual reality provides an innovative platform of artistic creativity and multi-sensory experiences to compliment the delivery of the curriculum", said Melissa.
This week – as part of Catholic Education Week – we’re celebrating the service of every staff member across Catholic Education South Australia.
