Multi-Sensory VR Experience of WilliamTalbot Photograph Exhibition

A new dimension that extends the physical space into an experimental virtual world is sweeping into museums and galleries across the UK. 

This autumn Thresholds is restaging Fox Talbot’s first photography exhibition and the riot of 1839.  It uses some of the latest multi-sensory VR technology, enabling participants to wander freely through the room and examine FoxTalbot's early prints.  The Vive headset and backpack enable untethered walking around and objects from the displays can be touched.  This feature is a relatively unexplored aspect of the medium.

I was lucky enough to attend the display this Saturday morning.  It was the first time that I had worn the headset in a gallery experience of this kind.  Once the headset and backpack had been fitted; the experience began by being led up the entrance ramp by a National Trust volunteer.  As soon as I entered the white room the headset visuals and audio commenced.  I was drawn to the warmth and crackle of the fire in the room (which was positioned around a real heater), before walking around the room to admire the prints and artefacts.

As I moved around the room I could see ghosts of other participants and carefully avoided them as I touched the sides of the exhibit cases.  I stopped to look at a portrait and watched a spider crawl across the frame, though forgot to look for the mouse that I had been told would run across the floor.  The ticking of a clock caught my attention and I noted that it showed the correct time. 

As I moved towards the ghostly figure of Fox Talbot, I was distracted by the criesofChartistprotestersoutside.  I turned to look out through a digital window into the street below and watched as the protesters carried lit torches and threw a stone which smashed a window.  The headsets had been calibrated so that people of average height could view the room, therefore I had to stand on my tiptoes to peer out of the window.  This added to the sense of reality. 

         

The headset was comfortable (for the short time I wore it).  The visuals did drop out at one point (possibly as I stretched too far to examine an object); this made me feel momentarily giddy.  The entire experience lasted less than nine minutes (I had been told that that was how long the battery pack lasted), but it was a memorable encounter.  As they say: ‘like stepping back in time.’

BU does not currently have a Vive but has an Oculus Rift which is reasonably comparable.

The Thresholds exhibition is running at Lacock Abbey until the 14 October 2017; and will then be moving to Bradford.  The experience costs £4 on top of the NT admission price.   

You can watch the video by the creator Mat Collishaw using this link:

https://youtu.be/sShZ0CqLHCk

Using Fieldscapes as an authoring tool for creating immersive learning

In order to find out more about Virtual Reality I was invited to attend a demonstration of Fieldscapes.

Dr Liz Falconer, Denyse King (Midwifery Lecturer) and David Hunt met with Nash Mbaya and David Burden from Daden Limited today; to continue their collaborative development of a Virtual Maternity Urinalysis Clinic using ‘Fieldscapes’.

Fieldscapes is a service which lets educators create and share 3D and VR immersive learning exercises. It includes a user generated library of locations and objects, and an editor which lets tutors create their own lessons on any topic.

David Burden explained that in simple terms; the Immersive 3D aspect of Fieldscapes

allows you to become an avatar in a room; for example, using first person mode to work through multiple choice exercises and interact with the environment.  Alternatively, the student can wear a VR headset e.g. Oculus Rift to fully immerse themselves in the environment and interact with patients.

The meeting was part of the Collaborative Alternative Augmented Reality Series (CAARS)- a project that is creating a 3D virtual environment that can be used in other HE and clinical contexts.

Throughout the morning, the team worked together to debug and refine the way in which an avatar carried out a urinalysis test for a maternity patient.  The experience began with the user selecting their own avatar (midwifery student in this case).  The user then made the avatar walk down the corridor to the clinical room; this was brought to life with the addition of sound effects.  Once in the room, the avatar could hear a knock at the door and they opened the door for a maternity patient to enter the room.  They then had to complete a series of MCQs and exercises in order to correctly and safely carry out the urinalysis test. 

Feedback about the students’ performance in terms of how many green, amber and red choices they made was visible throughout.  Teaching input was also included during the training exercise, for example a short animation detailing thorough handwashing procedure. 

The idea is that the first-year students can practise this training exercise as many times as required without endangering patients.  It will be adapted for 2^nd and 3^rd year students including reducing the time limit available etc.  It is hoped that once set up there will only be minor alterations needed to prepare the exercise for future cohorts; e.g., updating the expiry date on the image of the analysis testing sticks.  The activity can easily be shared with students via the URL.

After lunch the team moved on to explore and improve the immersive use of the VR maternity clinic using Oculus Rift and the 3D experience with google cardboard.  The BU staff were delighted that the Oculus Rift dramatically altered the look and feel of the clinical room, and that the handheld Haptic feedback controls added to the experience (though some initial practise is needed to get used to these).  When using the google cardboard, the buttons were used to move the avatar and select MCQ answers etc.

Midwifery students will be using Fieldscapes this October, with other uses planned for the future.  Watch this Fieldscape!

For more information about the CAARS project see Denyse’s staff page- http://staffprofiles.bournemouth.ac.uk/display/dking

For Fieldscapes info- https://www.fieldscapesvr.com

(Fieldscapes is free to develop your own setting and avatars.  For use with 20 students it costs approximately £300 so it is cheaper than Second Life in that respect).

Kicking the TIM habit

Two things that I am determined to do the very next time I am in my classroom are as follows:

 

Number One

I will show the fantastic Austin’s butterfly video to my new class.  It is something I show every year sometimes more than once.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqh1MRWZjms

 

Showing this video is useful for many reasons: it reminds children to have a “growth mindset” and persevere; it teaches them how to peer/self-assess in a way that is kind, focused and specific and it shows them the power and importance of redrafting work.

 

Number Two

I shared some ideas with the Soton Scitt students this morning about AFL, which included feedback and marking.  I described a couple of ideas about how to save time marking; including using colour coding that leads to pupils copying down their own next step the following morning before redrafting.  I was discussing how I mark pupils’ work in green and then they respond to my feedback and questions using purple pen etc.  Then I said that pupils should then respond to my feedback using more purple pen (I stressed that the colour of pen didn’t matter and that I would only ask pupils to do this if their work had been independent etc- so not after every lesson!).    

 

After the lecture I realised that I haven’t been encouraging my pupils’ independence enough; and that although I had told the Scitt students about @learningspy’s blog and how he advocates pupils taking ownership of the feedback progress, I hadn’t really been doing this myself!  I had been occasionally asking pupils to peer or self-assess their work, particularly in maths and sometimes English.  But by accident I had fallen into the horrific Triple Impact Marking (TIM) trap!  

 

Now I want to try to break my habit so I am going to print these next three steps out and try to make me and my pupils follow them at every opportunity:

 

 

1.     Pupils self asses their work and highlight sections where they feel they have taken a risk or struggled

 

2.     Teacher provides feedback where it has been requested by pupils (and if necessary- feedback about pupils progress towards the original learning objective)

 

3.     Pupils then improve a section of their work using the teacher’s feedback

 

 

Can I kick the habit?  I will let you know!

 

Jumping for Joy- at Primary Scratch Jam Dorset

Yes we had one yr5 boy literally jumping for joy at our recent scratch coding competition. It was literally a yr5/6 computer geeks paradise when boys and girls came to compete in our coding competition. 

The stakes were high as students scored lego bricks in a bid to win Amazon vouchers and other prizes. There were also trophies to award pupils for creativity and teamwork too. 

The secondary teachers present were amazed by the skills of our primary pupils and felt that they could have competed against GCSE level students. 

One of the highlights for me was; during break time, when a boy from my school demonstrated a Python game he has made at home to a pupil from a rival school. 

It was a fantastic day and it was great to meet up with local teachers and pupils; and has inspired me to start digital leaders at our school. 

Watch out for a larger Scratchjam next year hopefully based at Bournemouth Uni; to build upon our links with the animation school there. 

Twitter Inspired CPD

Mine and my colleagues' CPD have recently exploded due to using Twitter. From asking for specific resources or advice, to networking and idea swapping, it has become our main and virtually only method of CPD. 

It was a great means of communication that helped when organising our Teachmeet; and Primary Scratch Jam.  It allowed us to secure sponsorship and funding as well as delegates to attend our events. 

More recently I have discovered the fantastic Twitter based forums, including Primary Rocks (Monday night 8-9); amongst others. I have also heard about Staffroom and am keen to start blogging on that site.

I find with Twitter that one find leads to another and thus I have discovered fantastic websites and apps thorough Twitter links; e.g. Literacy and Maths Shed websites. 

I also find out about conferences, including Pedagoos, that I would never have known about otherwise. 

Children love it when a celebrity retweets their work or responds to a tweet!

One of my favourite Twitter advantages is finding other local teachers and organising events for local teachers and staff to meet up and idea swap. 

So get tweeting teachers and spread the word!

Can we all be above average???

Amidst the backdrop of current Education representatives' targets for Britain to raise standards in Maths and English to compete with the best in the world (Japan, China, Singspore and Norway etc); I am left pondering several points.

First of all, how did we get so far behind? How can the English, not be the best at English?

Then there are many cultural and sociological elements to consider. How can we possibly compete with countries where school hours and homework hours are longer? Countries where people think and know that hard work can pay off! I know that some of our schools are teaching pupils about Mindset theory etc but is it all too little too late? 

Do parents and pupils have more respect for teachers in those high ranking countries?  Perhaps, dare I say it, the selection process for teachers is tougher in their countries? Are their teachers trusted and given more freedom? Are their teachers more numerate and literate than ours?

The fact remains, that trying to compare Britain to other countries that are so dissimilar to us might not be helpful. I am not by any means saying that standards shouldn't rise. They should! I believe that parents and teachers need to encourage pupils to learn basic facts and concepts at a younger age: reading, tables, number bonds, sounds and tricky words etc. 

To that end I have been investigating the use of KIRFS and a super website for maths practise www.conkermaths.com , mentioned on Micheal Tidd's blog (courtesy of Jo Harbour). This prompted me to play Numberbonds to 5 Tennis with my 4 year old in the car.  He picked it up right away. It doesn't take much for parents to support children a bit more at home. Helpful sites for parents can be shared on school webpages too, as understandably not all parents have had teacher training!

Perhaps Britain is still trying to find an optimal balance between Victorian style schooling and modern approaches including Independent learning; between  drilling and exploring through play? But maybe that isn't what matters most? 

Societal and cultural influences could count more than we counted on?

Blogging With Year 3

My lesson today all started when I came across Phil Bagge's Spider search lesson (http://code-it.co.uk/internet/howsearchworks_planning.pdf). 

Last week the children role played being spiders trawling the Internet, to find all the glue sticks, pencils etc in the classroom. Then they ranked the best places to find each object in a similar way that search engines do. 

Today I was planning to get them to role play being parts of a school computer network, so they could understand how it works... when they asked me if they could practise using search engines (we hadn't had enough time to do this last week).

So this is the lesson that unfolded: the children used Google to search the Internet for facts about the Egyptians. When they found their facts they posted them onto our class blog (http://blueprintteacher.primaryblogger.co.uk/2015/01/15/year-3-egyptian-fact-explosion/#comment-2087). 

I had some limited time to approve/reply to them during the lesson (whilst trouble shooting-as it was the first time some of them had blogged!) and showed the stream of comments coming through on the IWB. They were very excited to see their comments appear on screen, and it motivated them to find more facts (they went on to comment on other posts on the site too). 

At the end of the lesson we reviewed their comments as a whole class and they were able to spot that many children  had forgotten to include full stops and capital letters. 

Then I linked their blog comments onto my teaching Twitter feed and requested comments from my colleagues to prove we had a real audience! 

They will be thrilled to see that another teacher at our school, Mrs Lucas, has replied to them. 

So to conclude, the lesson ticked many boxes: they really enjoyed working in pairs to use a search engine to find facts (which were linked to their topic). They were all able to comment on the blog during the lesson and were writing for a real online audience. Some children were inspired to add more facts when they got home. Above all they really enjoyed the lesson. We printed off the blog feed and put it up on our Egyptian display. 

Next week we will be role playing a computer network. All thanks to my Twitter CPD finds!