AR/VR Week 2

For the second week of AR/VR exploration, I decided to go more in-depth with Spatial and Civilisations. As I played around with Spatial more, I felt more comfortable and began to see ways I could use it in the classroom. As an English teacher, discussions about different novels play a large role in our teaching material. I noticed that students can be hesitant to want to speak, whether they are shy or believe their ideas aren't correct. I have found that facilitating "silent" discussions has helped. Instead of needing to speak, student write and respond to each other on the whiteboards around the room, rather than needing to have the pressure of being the sole speaker in a discussion. I found that Spatial could be used in a similar way by taking the emphasis off of the speaker. Students could post sticky notes around the room and have a silent discussion that way. Given covid as well, it is even more useful as Zoom can sometimes be stressful or people may try to talk at the same time. If a scene in the book happens to take play in a formal setting, such as a board room or something similar, we could recreate that in Spatial as well. That would help the students truly visualize and see how the scene would play out in front of them. Since it is online, it may be more engaging for students as well since they are more prone to be interested in technology anyways.

I touched on this a little bit in my last post, but I think the possibilities with Civilisations by BBC are endless. If we have a book set back in time, students can see different artifacts that were from that time or even if there is specific one in a novel, look it up. Artwork from WWII, European paintings, and photos from Japanese-American internment camps can help our students gain a more well-rounded viewpoint on what they are reading about in various works. I remember reading a novel about the World's Fair that happened in Chicago in the 1800s. While I tried to find something through Civilisations on this and couldn't, it is fun to start to think about old books and see if you can find connections through the app. Thinking in terms of schools and budgets, school's could use Civilisations so that their students do not miss out on field trips. They can still view mummies and sculptures that otherwise they may not be able to experience. On the flip side, some students may not feel particularly engaged when going to museums so this may be more beneficial and interactive for them. It was fun to view different artifacts and hear some facts about them while using the app. Even if the students are using the app passively and not looking for something specific, they will still be learning anytime they click on an object. It is beneficial for both active and passive learning.