During the project our group was tasked with implementing virtual reality into two different lectures from two completely different fields of studies, our goal was to provide the students with new ways of learning through the immersiveness of VR. My experience during the project was positive and I am satisfied with our achievements in such a short period of time and limited knowledge of VR in the beginning of the project. We had the opportunity to sit down with two teachers from their respective field and think about goals we could set for the project. The goals were ambitious but in the end we managed to achieve our goals and get valuable feedback from the teachers and students. We learned that students are willing to implement new ways of learning, however VR at its current state is not yet ready to be used effectively.
My official assignment was “learning designer”, but our project didn’t really have a need for one, since all we had to do was showcase VR for students. Mainly during the workshops I was the one taking notes of everything people said and their thoughts on VR. We did not experience conflicts and teamwork was very smooth. Even though one of our group members was all the way in Shanghai, it did not stop us from working as a team and them from doing just as much (perhaps even more) than the rest of us. I am not sure how to evaluate my team member’s efforts, I feel like all of us did the most we could to our capabilities.
I learned that not everyone is immediately on board with new, exciting technology. In our workshops, I expected students to be far more enthusiastic than they really were (teachers had to encourage them to participate). At times during these workshops it was very difficult to get people to participate, but at the end of our political philosophy workshop, students were far more enthusiastic to try it out. In the future, I would look for more varied VR experiences that are more realistic.
The project overall was good, but I feel like our job to just showcase VR experiences was a bit lackluster. Perhaps we could have done a more creative project with VR, but I understand that creating VR software from scratch is very hard work and definitely cannot be done in the span of 6 months. For the future I suggest to look more carefully into what subjects are handed to VR. Political philosophy proved to be really difficult.
My job was to make PowerPoints and to search for scientific articles. Introducing Virtual Reality (VR) to students went differently than I had anticipated. To my surprise many students already had experience with VR and shared their joys and problems. I learned that teachers don’t use VR not only because they don’t know how to or because it's expensive. VR is still viewed as a game by many, there are not enough study materials (wrong language, subject etc) and rapid development of technology makes developing relevant games difficult. We achieved project goals - conduct two classes introducing VR to vocational education and political science students and lecturers. I learned to work with people around the world and involve them in project successfully. It was not an experience I had hoped for - it was much more valuable!
This project was full of learning for me. Trying to bring VR into Political Philosophy and Vocational education provided in some ways easier than I expected, and other ways harder than I could have hoped. At first we thought we would have to develop our own VR games in the little time we had, but thankfully not. But finding suitable Virtual Reality experiences in the extreme niche of Political Philosophy took a lot of effort. I also leveled up my social skills, the fall of this year was very unpredictable, so to plan and hold the 2 seminars, we had to be constantly connected to the lecturers. Thankfully we were able to hold both of the seminars physically with the students, not over the air. Our goal was to expand the teaching methods of the 2 lecturers with Virtual reality, and I really think that we achieved it. They not only saw how they could implement VR in education, but also the shortfalls of it, and how these could be remedied, either by technology getting better. or utilizing it a different way. Overall I'm really happy with how the project went, and thankful for my team, who was really active, helping us achieve everything we set up to do.
The most I will take away from this LIFE project is the great team-work experience I had. It was exceptional to see people from around the world be brought together and work for a common purpose. Project goals were achieved. Due to the nature of one lecturer’s subject, political science, I believe VR won’t find usage in that subject. But I am seeing great possibilities in the other lecturer’s class – presenting virtual reality simulators to vocational teachers would be rational in the future.
First thx to my teammates,because l am remote,with their help l can catch up with the course,they help a lot.l learn more knowledge about VR in this process.My job was to create the media coverage.So l use the pictures and videos assets which Thomas and Killus take to edit the videos.The process of editing viedo is fun, through this process,l know it is very easily to make your own Virtual character stands for you in the video using currently knowledge.l also use keynotes to make some parts of the video.l find keynote can turn your slides very easily to the video formats.This course is a team work,so l also learn a lot from my teammates.When l make some slides for introducing the Vr technology,Johan give me many useful suggestions so the final version is close to target users and topics.Because l use the viedeos assetsThomas take to edit the videos,l find when he take the videos,he will try different shooting methods.Nata and Killu give useful suggestion on how to improve viedeo.And Siims give many feedbacks for the final portfolio websites.