This week we were able to do our blog post on any Ed-tech topic that we wanted to read about. This week I wanted to look at the topic of Virtual Reality. When I first heard about the concept of VR it was my brother who told me about it. I didn’t really understand the whole point of it because I thought it was just for video games. I soon learned that it was not the case. My dad, kept telling me about the VR room they have in the school he works at. I finally got to experience it for myself last semester and I really understood the benefit. One article that I found called Virtual reality in the classroom it gives the example of a history teacher who could let their students see ancient buildings in Greece. When I used the VR room for myself I used a solar system one and I couldn’t stop thinking how it would be awesome for students for students to learn about the solar system by actually seeing the planets and feeling like you could touch them.
In another article that I found called Cultivating New Levels of Student Engagement through Virtual Reality it mentioned how VR may help students to be more become more engaged in their learning. This article mentioned how a teacher who had students that didn’t often participate in class were more apt to participate while using the VR technology.
Another article that I found called How our school is using Virtual Reality to prepare pupils for a future dominated by technology did talk about how VR technology is expensive and that it is better having multiple devices to be effective. This article also mentioned how students are able to have first hand experience with what they are learning as well. One last article that I found called Virtual Reality is Hitting the Books: VR in Education discussed that VR caters to many different learning styles and how it can help students better work together.
Rebecca Roney's Blog 
VR is something I really want to try, especially after reading this blog post and exploring the articles that you shared. It is awesome that you got to experience this very edge EdTech tool in a classroom. Many times with VR I think I only see or consider the online world of play and games, except looking at the many ways it can be used in a classroom is super interesting. What subjects do you think VR could be really beneficial in? Did you get the opportunity to ever use this in a classroom or as a student, other than your solar system?
I love that you brought the idea of price and how this type of tool may be pricey and unavailable for some schools. As teachers who want to implement technology into our classrooms, I think this is a constant problem that we may run into.
Thanks for sharing this idea!
Cassidy
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I definitely think that VR can be useful in many different subject areas such as history, science, Phys.ed, etc. I sadly never got to experience it in school just the one time when I went to the school my dad works at. It really can be a good teaching tool it’s just the fact that its expensive and not all students are able to experience it.
Rebecca
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