Nick Hussain • Summer 2017 • ITEC 7445

Emerging Technology: Virtual RealitywithGoogleCardboard

Virtual reality is a computer-generated 3D simulation in which a viewer

can interact with the environment in realistic ways.

Google Cardboard, or just Cardboard, is a

virtual reality platform that consists of a

viewer and a smartphone. The viewer is

often made out of cardboard, hence the

name of the platform.

What is virtual reality?

What is Google Cardboard?

Cardboard supports the CCSD Vision and MissionThe Clarke County School District vision is for all students to graduate as life-long

learners with the knowledge, skills and character to succeed in our community and the

global society.

Cardboard allows students to experience other cultures, contributing to their

citizenship in a global society.

The Clarke County School District mission is to inspire students to achieve at high

academic levels through challenging and innovative learning opportunities that support

the development of students’ individual talents.

Cardboard simulations contribute to a challenging and innovative learning

environment.

Key Benefits● Increase student engagement through engaging and

immersive virtual reality simulations

● Growing content library supports many content standards

● Teachers can choose to direct student’s simulations or allow

them to explore individually (depends on app)

● Low cost for Cardboard viewer ($15 or less)

Cardboard supports standards in almost all classes K-12. Here are some highlights.

Social Studies

Students can travel

virtually to explore new

cultures, countries, and

geographic locations.

Teachers can lead

students on field trips

with the Google

Expeditions app.

ScienceStudents can virtually

explore biomes around

the world, active

volcanoes, inside a

human body, or

experience scientific

phenomena.

ArtStudents can examine

artwork at thousands of

museums through the

Google Arts & Culture

app.

Target Population

Cardboard supports standards in almost all classes K-12. Here are some highlights.

Low SES

Students can travel for

free to locations that

would be impossible or

improbable for them to

visit and experience the

richness of global

cultures.

Visual LearnersStudents are more likely

to retain information

through seeing and

experiencing than

through reading or

hearing.

Students with Language Impairments

Students who have

difficulty with text can

participate fully in virtual

reality simulations.

Target Population

Cardboard equipment consists of a

viewer that holds a smartphone.

Smartphone must contain a gyroscope

and have the following OS

requirements:

● Android 4.1 or higher (all new

Android phones since 2013)

● iOS 8.0 or higher (all new iPhones

since Fall 2014)

Cardboard software consists of free

apps from the Google Play Store or

Apple App Store.

There are over 100 compatible

Cardboard apps. Many of these are

educational apps.

Equipment and Software

The needs for technical support would be determined by the smartphones used.

Student devices or donated devices would require technical support from teachers and

instructional technology staff to install apps. CCSD iPod Touches could be configured at

each school using Apple Configurator.

The Google Cardboard Help Center addresses the most common questions and

problems.

Other issues would be addressed by Clarke County instructional technology staff and

technology support staff.

Technical Support

LimitationsWhile existing apps addresses many content standards, the library is still limited.

Content must be developed specifically for the Cardboard viewer to be compatible. This

precludes teachers from easily developing content.

Some simulations allows for true flexibility in exploration, but many follow a

pre-programmed path from point-to-point.

Cardboard simulations are designed to be experienced individually, so strategies will

have to be developed to encourage collaboration when using Cardboard.

Troubleshooting during a simulation usually requires rebooting the app or device.

Viewers from Google cost $15 each or $25 for a two-pack. Since Google has freely

published the specifications for making viewers, some manufacturers sell them for as

little at $5 each.

While purchasing devices is an option, obtaining them through other means is a more

cost-effective solution that prevents a need to purchase, inventory, and maintain

additional new devices. Smartphones can be students' personal devices, donated from

the community, iPod Touches that have already been purchased by schools, or a

combination.

Cost of the Technology

All Clarke County schools are Title I schools. Title I funding can be spent on technology

that meets the academic goals of the students and is not excessively expensive.

The Clarke County Foundation for Excellence awards over $10,000 every year in grant

money in $200, $500, and $1000 increments. Grant applications are usually due on the

last day of post-planning and awards are announced on the first day of pre-planning.

The Hilsman PTO provides grant money in small quantities every year.

Crowdfunding sites such as donorschoose.org

Potential Funding Sources

Teachers can support their instruction by using Cardboard to give students an

immersive visual experience. Collaborative teachers and ELL teachers can use

Cardboard to support students with language difficulties.

Teachers can take students on over 600 virtual field trips through the Expeditions app

Teachers can show students 360 degree videos using the YouTube VR app.

Teachers can show students the journey of a character from a class novel.

Teachers can use simulations to explain and explore scientific concepts.

How can teachers use Cardboard?

How could Cardboard promote specific learning goals?Cardboard apps exist to address content standards for geography, culture, history, earth science,

life science, physical science, physics, and art. All content areas can use 3D videos from YouTube

and create 3D photographs with the Cardboard Camera app.

Cardboard simulations can be used to support ISTE Standards for Students (Empowered Learner,

Knowledge Constructor, Global Collaborator)

Cardboard simulations can be used to support Common Core literacy standards

● L6-8RST9: Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations,

video or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic.

● L6-8WHST2: Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events,

scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.

How could Cardboard be used to differentiate instruction?Cardboard is especially effective for students with language barriers (students with

disabilities and ELL students). Teachers could use Cardboard in station teaching or with

pullout groups to address the needs of a few students

How could Cardboard promote communication and collaboration?Virtual reality simulations provide individual experiences and apps are not currently

designed to encourage collaboration, so teachers would have to develop the

instructional strategies to encourage students to communicate and collaborate while

using Cardboard.

Students in simulations can collaborate with students who are not in the simulation by

describing what they see. Students can use what they learn in a simulation to take

notes, which they can compare with other students’ notes. They can use a simulated

setting as the context to write stories or to write a report.

Evaluation of ResearchResearch suggests that students retain much more information when they simulate or

experience content than when they read or hear the same content (Dale, 1969). This

includes virtual reality simulations.

Virtual reality simulations such as those by Google Cardboard offer four main

characteristics that are important to support learning for students with disabilities: 1)

Immersiveness, 2) Interactivity, 3) Customizability, and 4) MultiSensorial platforms

(Pavlik, 2017).

Virtual reality supports the tenets of constructivism since it provides students “with an

immersive synthetic environment where they become learners who can construct

knowledge through the learning-by-doing process” (Lee Steven O., 2017).

Step 1: One Teacher Pilot

Buy one class set of Cardboard viewers. Enlist a volunteer teacher to pilot Cardboard

apps in their classroom. Choose a teacher whose content standards are is directly

addressed, such as social studies teachers in grades 6 or 7. Have an instructional

technology specialist co-plan and co-teach a lesson with the volunteer teacher.

Step 2: Continue

Have the instructional technology specialist and teacher co-plan and co-teach

additional lessons based on their increasing knowledge of the Cardboard apps.

Implementation Plan

Step 3: Expand the Pilot

Expand the pilot to 1-2 other teachers who are interested in co-planning and

co-teaching with the school’s instructional technology specialist. After several weeks of

using Cardboard, have these teachers collaborate on a set of recommendations for use

(logistics, tips).

Step 4: Make a Decision

Based on the advice of pilot teachers and the instructional technology specialist, the

goal would be to purchase 1-2 classroom sets of Cardboard viewers for each Clarke

County School at a cost of $450-$900 per school.

Implementation Plan

Erika Liebel, a middle school teacher in rural Idaho, had her students use virtual reality

simulations to explore careers. The students “were captivated” by the responsibilities

of being a marine biologist such as “learning to operate a submersible and how to

scuba dive with seals and tropical fish off the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador” (Liebel,

2017). Students were equally excited about attending college after virtual tours of

Boise State, Stanford, Northwestern, and other colleges.

Students in a sixth grade social studies class had a “[generally] positive

experience...while using the Google Cardboard, a low-cost VR tool, which means that it

is a valuable opportunity for many educational institutions with a limited budget and

capacity to take advantage of this technology for learning” (Lee Steven O., 2017).

Endorsements by Educators

Endorsements by GoogleAccording to Google, over 10 million Cardboard viewers had shipped and over 160

million Cardboard compatible app downloads had been made by March 2017. The top

30 Cardboard apps each have over 1 million downloads. Over 2 million students have

used the Expeditions app to take virtual field trips.

Virtual reality simulations have been so successful that Google built Cardboard’s basic

app features into Android N, the most recent major release. The improved platform is

called Google Daydream.

ReflectionsWhile I have heard about Google Cardboard and the uses for virtual reality simulations

for the past few years, I had paid little thought to its use in the classroom until I received

a Cardboard viewer as a thank you for presenting at a Google conference in Clarke

County. It is a lot of fun to explore places and be immersed in the environment, turning

around and looking up and down to see everything that is around.

The technology has great potential, and while there are still minor frustrations (ex: some

virtual field trips are comprised of 360 photos instead of 360 video, YouTube VR does not

work on some devices even when Cardboard does, etc), they pale at the engagement that

simulations can provide. My four-year old niece and two-year old nephew had fun

exploring new places.

(continued)

Reflections (continued)While I initially had some ideas how this could be used in my social studies classroom,

looking at some other educators made me excited about the ways other contents could

use it to support learning. In particular, Erika Liebel’s account of her Spanish classroom

resonated with me. Many of her students will be first-generation college students, just

like many of my students, especially the ones I believe could benefit most from the

engaging nature of Google Cardboard.

I anticipate issues using any new technology, but I believe the engagement and visual

learning provided by Google Cardboard, combined with the low cost of use, make this

technology a great addition to the classroom.

ReferencesChang, R. (2017, June 15). MEL Science launches virtual reality chemistry lessons. THE Journal. Retrieved from https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/06/15/mel-science-launches-virtual-reality-chemistry-lessons.aspx

Dale, E. (1969). Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching, 3rd ed. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Liebel, E. (2017, June 21). Idaho teacher leverages virtual reality for Spanish class. IdahoEdNews. Retrieved from https://www.idahoednews.org/voices/idaho-teacher-leverages-virtual-reality-spanish-class/

Google VR. [googlevr]. (2017, Mar 14). @RupBoysDad @erniecline 2 million students have taken virtual field trips with Expeditions so far, and we're working on VR for everyone. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/googlevr/status/841685565149863936

Lee Steven O., Z. (2017). Utilization of Virtual Reality Content in Grade 6 Social Studies Using Affordable Virtual Reality Technology. Asia Pacific Journal Of Multidisciplinary Research, Vol 5, Iss 2.2, Pp 1-10 (2017), (2.2), 1.

Pavlik, J. V. (2017). Experiential Media and Disabilities in Education: Enabling Learning through Immersive, Interactive, Customizable, and Multi-sensorial Digital Platforms. Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal, 10(1), 15-22.

Singh, A. (2017, February 28). More ways to watch and play with AR and VR [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.blog.google/products/google-vr/more-ways-watch-and-play-ar-and-vr/