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In my first post about creating virtual reality (VR) learning experience, I talked about a project in which middle school students design a world, introduce a problem to that world then work with lower school students to find solutions to those problems. They then create that world in virtual reality and share it with their lower school collaborators.
After receiving feedback from peers and doing some additional research I updated the project to make it more complete. For example, fellow Michigan State classmate Lindsay Luft said the following:
Based on her comments, I realized I was not considering that someone else might want to use this plan in his or her classroom. Therefore it would be helpful to list the technologies that I used in the learning experience. So I made a note of which equipment I used along with some general recommendations.
I also work in a private school with a very small student to teacher ratio. This project could require quite a bit of guidance if the students do not have coding experience so that ratio is important to make the experience successful. Based on her recommendations I added a note about that to the learning experience description as well.
I was interested in a comment made by Terence Brown, another peer at MSU:
I love the idea of having students build a collaborative world. This could provide for a richer, more connected experience for the entire class and would give them a chance to practice creative collaboration. Perhaps all of the students could work together on a single story to make it more detailed. I used the Cospaces to create my VR experience so I looked through their forum to see if this option exists, but it looks like it does not. This is an aspect I will keep in mind as I evaluate other design software though.
Like many people, I wonder if the use of VR headsets has any effect on our health. Obviously, if you are walking while wearing a VR headset, there is a chance you could run into something and fall or otherwise injure yourself. But what about the effect on the brain? Would vision be affected? The headset consists of two small screens that are very close to the eyes. Is this safe for the eyes?
According to a 2017 study done by Phillips and Turnbull, people who use microscopes in their work can develop myopia (p. 1). The purpose of the study was to see if myopia or other effects on vision could occur with VR use. Various tests such as binocular vision tests and choroidal thickness measurements were taken before, and after exposure to real-world indoor environments, real world outdoor environments and virtual environments but no negative effects were found (p. 2). They were careful to point out that the exposure time used in the tests was 40 minutes and they hypothesized that it might be possible for issues to occur if the headsets were used for longer times (p. 7).
The University of California conducted a study of rats in virtual environments and found that more than half of the neurons associated with spatial learning shut down compared to neurons used in real environments (Gent, 2016). It’s not clear what effect this has on the human brain and the researchers said that more research is needed. But this finding does give me pause and makes me think we should be responsible about our use of VR. Especially with children.
Since the technology is new, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of research on the topic. Stanford behavorial neuroscientist Walter Greenleaf has studied the effect of VR on humans says we “should be very judicious” about its use (Lamotte, 2017). I agree and I modified my learning experience to make a note of this. When I design VR lessons in the future, I’m going to limit the time for headset use to short sessions. This is a topic I’d like to monitor in the future as new research is available.
References
Bucher, J. K. (2018). Storytelling for Virtual Reality : Methods and Principles for Crafting Immersive Narratives. New York and London: Routledge.
Gent, E. (2016). Are Virtual Reality Headsets Safe For Children? Retrieved from
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-virtual-reality-headsets-safe-for-children/
Lamotte, S. (2017). The Very Real Health Dangers of Virtual Reality. Retrieved from
https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/13/health/virtual-reality-vr-dangers-safety/index.html
Phillips, J. & Turnbull, P. (2017). Ocular Effects of Virtual Reality Headset Wear in Young Adults
Brian Durst EdTech 