After the success of our VR Haunted House Project in my Spartan Tech Squad course, I started brainstorming ways that I could incorporate a VR project into our AVID classroom.  For those that are unfamiliar to AVID, AVID is a program whose goal is to “close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society”.  What does that look like in a middle school classroom?  Basically, the AVID elective teachers and tutors provide students support by teaching them organization and critical reading/writing skills, monitoring their grades, facilitating weekly tutorials to assist in their content classes, and introducing them to colleges and universities.  It’s a program in which I have completely and utterly fallen in love.  It’s amazing to see the progress of these students over the two years in middle school.  I love the stories of students who were C and D students who have gained the skills to become A and B students.  More importantly, I love hearing stories from our feeder high school on how these students are doing in high school and where they plan to attend college.  It’s an amazing program.

Recently, I realized that our AVID students had been doing a lot of “work” work.  They had been participating in their weekly tutorials and binder checks, they had completed a research-based college presentation and participated in several in-depth critical reading and writing activities.  Don’t get me wrong – all of that stuff is great.  However, I try to be very cognizant of the fact that AVID is their elective class.  It is their “fun” class and yet they are still choosing to be in a rigorous program.  So, I felt it was time for our students to take a “mini-break” but still focus on something that was relative to the AVID elective class.

Just a few weeks ago, our AVID students had completed their research-based college presentations.  They were good – seriously, so good for 7th grade students.  It was about this time that my Spartan Tech Squad students completed their VR Haunted House projects.  The VR Haunted House Project was such a success with my Spartan Tech Squad class that I wanted to incorporate it into AVID as our “fun” activity and I realized it would work perfectly as a follow up to their presentation.  In addition to this, it also gave me the chance to develop a HyperDoc and take the VR project to a more rigorous and reflective level.

Interested in this project…?  Check it out below!

College Virtual Reality Project

Click HERE to make your own copy.

Objective: Students will create a virtual reality design of a college that they have researched.

Groups: Individual or Small Groups (2-3 Students)

Tasks: Students will:

• Research a college and/or university to find maps, photos, and 360 views of the college.
• Research specific buildings and landmarks within the college/university.
• Create a virtual reality design of the college/university via Cospaces.
• Reflect on the difficulties that were presented when designing their college/university.
• Reflect on what they have learned while designing their college/university.

View the template and a sample below:

College VR HyperDoc Template (Link)

Student Samples (x) (x)

Overall, our AVID students really enjoyed this project.  There were definitely times in which they were frustrated as they learned a new program (Cospaces) but it was an excellent way to teach perseverance.  More importantly, our AVID students continued to learn about the college and/or university in a way that did not feel like work – it was just fun!

Have you done any VR projects in your classroom?  How might you modify this HyperDoc for your classroom?  Share in the comments below!

As a part of our Spartan Tech Squad class, our students recently participated in the Mouse Create October Micro-Project where they were challenged to design their own Virtual Reality Haunted House.  While we have done many projects this year, I believe that our students found this project to be one of the most enjoyable and interesting projects.  The students had no prior knowledge of designing 3D environment but, since it was interesting to them, they were able to learn and master all of the skills to be able to create a creative haunted house.

VR Haunted House: Project Background

(Project information from the Mouse Create Program.)

Outcomes:

• Use CoSpaces to create 3D environments.

Gear:

• Computer or Chromebook with internet access.
• Smartphone (Optional).
• VR Headset (Optional).

Prep:

• Learners will create a 3D environment in this activity that is completely viewable and shareable on a computer with internet access.

VR Viewer Setup:

• Should you decide to view learners’ 3D environment creations on a smartphone, download the CoSpaces app from your device’s App store. Some phones are incompatible with VR programs so check whether the phone you plan to use can fully view user projects in the CoSpaces app gallery before proceeding with students.
• VR headsets are usually designed to fit most cell phones but check that the phone you intend to use pairs with your particular headset. Here is a list of available VR headsets.
• Log into the CoSpaces account that houses your 3D environment on the CoSpaces app with your phone, or send yourself a direct link of your 3D environment so you can open it on your phone.
• Place your phone inside your VR viewer and start each student’s VR experience.
• Select the two icons on the bottom right of the CoSpaces app screen when within a 3D environment to toggle on the 360° view or VR view modes.

Student Samples:

• Example #1 (Grand Prize Winner)
• Example #2
• Example #3
• Example #4

After our students created their VR Haunted Houses, I had them do a “gallery walk” and use the Google Cardboards to view their creations.  (As a side note, the Google Cardboard worked best on Android phones since the iPhone only had the Cospaces EDU app.)  While doing the gallery walk, it was clear that the students had taken their time to explore and learn about the Cospaces app in order to create a complex VR Haunted House.  Many of the students had uploaded pictures, sounds, and music to make their Haunted Houses more realistic and creepy.

Although the project went well, I always try to reflect on what I would like to do next year.  (It’s the only way to grow, right?!)  In the future, I would like to create some sort of activity for students to write about what they were learning through this process.  Since they were completely unfamiliar with this program, I think it could have been an excellent time for them to write about the problems they encountered, the solutions they found, and how they came to these solutions.  Overall, I would like to have more opportunities for students to reflect on what they learned and expand their literacy skills.

Have you used any VR platforms in your classroom?  If so, what programs have you used, activities have you created, and learning outcomes have you observed?  Share in the comments below!