In a way, it’s similar to Google Expeditions, but with a much stronger emphasis on lesson plan structure surrounding the content.Īn example of how that works in practice: One French teacher recently used the VR feature to create a scavenger hunt when he took his class to a field-trip at a local museum. Those lessons transport students to locations ranging from the Egyptian pyramids to Easter Island caves and the marine biomes of the Great Barrier Reef.
Nearpod has introduced millions of K12 students to the Virtual Reality experience Click To Tweet The lessons take longer to put together than the actual VR content, because there’s a lot of pedagogy and planning involved. “Research shows that student engagement drives better learning outcomes, but it has to be meaningful engagement, relevant to what you’re learning at that moment. The Virtual Reality experience doesn’t actually replace a teacher’s traditional lesson plan it adds visual elements to it at the right moments to increase engagement and drive up comprehension and learning,” he explains. Which is impressive, especially considering they only launched the VR feature just over six months ago. Over 3 million kids log into our platform every month, and about 60% of those have accessed VR content, Guido Kovalskys, Co-founder and CEO of Nearpod tells me. But I’m actually sitting in the San Francisco offices of Nearpod, an EdTech company that has already introduced millions of K12 students to this type of experience. This particular VR journey starts with a look around a spacecraft hangar and eventually takes me to the surface of the red planet itself. You’re on your way to Mars – says my Virtual Reality lesson prompt. Virtual Reality Technology doesn’t have to be disruptive, and teachers are already using it to bring lessons to life