In this series, Nicky Hockly explains aspects of technology which some people may be embarrassed to confess that they don’t really understand. In this article, she explains virtual reality, and considers how it relates to language learning and teaching.
1. What is virtual reality?
You’re sitting on a beach on a tropical island. You watch the waves rolling onto the shore in front of you, and you listen to the hiss of the surf. Behind you is a cool green jungle. As you turn your head to the left, you look down miles of palm-fringed beach receding into the distance. You look to your right, and you see an inviting beachfront shack, offering ice-cold drinks. You get up and walk towards the shack, already imagining the sound of ice tinkling in a glass … You stop. You take off your helmet, and find yourself back in your own living room. You have just experienced virtual reality.
Virtual reality is an environment created by hardware (the helmet) and software-generated images (the beach), giving you the feeling that you are actually physically present in an artificial world. Virtual reality (VR) combines sight and sound – if your headset includes speakers – and, in some cases, it allows you to interact with virtual objects. For example, if you are wearing special haptic sensors, you could actually pick up that virtual cold drink, although you wouldn’t be able to drink it! In other words, VR creates an immersive 3-D space which you can physically ‘inhabit’.
2. Are augmented reality and virtual reality the same thing?
Not really. Augmented reality (see ETp Issue 91) allows computer-generated information or images to be overlaid on reality. The game Pokemon Go (see http://goo.gl/1Yz1rT) is a good example of augmented reality because you are clearly still very much present in the real world. Virtual reality creates a completely separate virtual space and, when it is done well, it can make you feel that you are really there.
3. Is virtual reality expensive?
When VR first appeared in the late 1980s, it was very expensive indeed, because of the massive amounts of computing power needed to render the graphics of a virtual world. However, with advances in computing, and lots of investment in VR over the last decade or so, costs for VR headsets are decreasing. Although an Oculus Rift VR headset (www.oculus.com) will still set you back about $600, you can buy a Google Cardboard VR headset for around $15. (Or download the plans from the internet, and make your own cardboard headset out of an old shoe box – really!) Google Cardboard allows you to insert your mobile phone into the headset, and you can then view VR worlds via free apps on your smartphone.
4. What has virtual reality got to do with education?
VR has been used for training in fields such as law enforcement, psychology and medicine for a number of years. It has also been used in schools. For example, primary school students in Ireland visited a local historical site and built their own replica of it in a virtual world, which they then explored with Oculus Rift headsets. Google Expeditions enables primary-school-aged students to take VR trips to over 200 places by using Google Cardboard with a smartphone, and it has had over a million users to date.
5. What has virtual reality got to do with language teaching and learning?
Some teachers are starting to experiment with VR in their ELT classes. For example, see an account by Raquel Gonzaga about how she used Google Cardboard with two different classes at http://goo.gl/8QuL4b. See also Neil Jarrett’s blog post, suggesting ten ways to use Google Cardboard in the classroom at http://goo.gl/80VI1u
However, as with any new technology, we should be wary of the hype, and question whether VR really does support our students’ language learning. It would appear that VR can create interesting and immersive experiences for students, and if this increases their motivation, it is clearly no bad thing. On the other hand, as it is so new, research into the effects of VR on language learning is thin on the ground. As classroom teachers, we are perhaps well-placed to contribute to this research if we decide to use VR with our own students …
References
See http://goo.gl/Pi4Lsx for an account of this project.
See https://youtu.be/3MQ9yG_QfDA for a video showing school children using Google Expeditions with Google Cardboard headsets.
