Field Trips Through Tech? Preposterous!

Yeah, I said it. Virtual Field Trips!

            Virtual field trips are becoming more and more common in this day and age. Why? They are much easier to access than physically going. If you’re in Florida and your class is doing a project on Ellis Island it would be really pricey to go there. Now you can actually use the internet for that. It’s convenient and teaches tech skills.

            I personally have some ideas for using virtual field trips in the classroom While my idea may sound like it belonged in my other blog entry, Special Hardware, I thought a separate blog entry would be better. A piece of technology known as the Oculus Rift is being developed to integrate virtual reality into our world and eyes. Now, I know that this tech is being used for video games mostly, but hear me out. The Oculus Rift could be used in the educational field. Virtual field trips that involve video and tours through cameras at the location being looked at could use the Oculus Rift to make the trip more interactive. The Oculus Rift tracks head motion, therefore the wearer would feel more engaged in looking around. No more mouse clicks! The Rift could also be used to go on more computer generated trips, such as a trip into the space with Titans Of Space.

            Currently I’m actually looking at getting an Oculus Rift Developer Kit 2 to test out the possibilities. I want to center my ideas on disabled students. I believe they can benefit the most with this technology. We can liberate them from their disability through Virtual Reality. The biggest way I want to incorporate this is to use a mobile robot with a camera synced to the Rift that can pivot like the viewer’s head. The viewer then could go out on a field trip from the comfort of the classroom. Overall, I can’t wait to try!