Sandbox 6

QR Codes, Virtual Field Trips, Layered Reality

QR Codes

It seems in the past couple of years QR codes have been popping up everywhere, and now I see why! They are so easy to make! Here is one that I made to my Digital Learning Assignment, Second Graders Stay Safe on the Internet. It took maybe 3 minutes to input the URL and play with customizing the Body Shape, Eye Frame Shape, and Eye Ball Shape. I played with inserting a Logo in the middle as well, but I didn’t really have a logo that represented the content of the presentation, so I left it without. I used QRCode Monkey to make it, and it couldn’t have been more user friendly. 

The possibilities to use QR codes in the classroom or library are endless. Kharbach (2020) suggests creating QR codes to give students access to websites to extend the content of a lesson or have them use a QR code to access an online form to input their information or answers to questions. These seem appropriate for older students, who have access to a phone. For younger students, task cards could be made to connect the child with an online reading of a book. The card could have a picture of the cover of the book and the title. That idea could be extended to have a QR code on a paper with questions and an activity for a child to do after viewing a video of a book read-aloud. This would work for classrooms with iPads or Chromebooks equipped with QR code readers.

Virtual Field Trips

During the year I spent teaching first grade from the guest bedroom of my home due to the pandemic, I found myself looking for ways to take my students “away” to experience something different from our typical schedule. For years, the first grade field trip for our school was to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington DC, and I was so sorry that this class was going to miss that opportunity. So, we had a virtual field trip instead. While we didn’t use a formal “virtual field trip” format, the students and I acted as docent as I shared the webcams with the children. The child who researched the animal that we were watching would share their research with us. The children and I both enjoyed watching the animals live and learning from each other. 

This week, I explored some virtual field trips from Google Arts & Culture. I was particularly drawn to Mount Everest, as I love hiking and have always admired the brave few who are able to make it to the highest point on earth. The field trip took the participants from the bottom of the mountain to the top with stops along the way for panoramic views and explanations of what we were seeing. It then went back and gave more of the story for some points of interest. The information was presented in small bites for easy reading and complimented the graphics.  I enjoyed being able to control the panoramic view, looking 360 degrees around, and up and down as well. 

Layered Reality

Last winter, my son saved up his Christmas money and purchased an Oculus Quest 2 Virtual Reality headset. It comes with the headset and hand tools and transports the user directly to another reality. I was absolutely thrilled to be standing in a rustic resort spa on top of a mountain with sweeping views one minute and then in a futuristic lab learning how to use tools the next minute. The possibilities of how it could be used in the classroom came flooding over me, and I was hooked!  Kids can go on “field trips” to wherever we are studying and feel like they are right there. We could” go” to the habitats that we discuss for life cycles and see the animals and plants up close. We could “go” to a yoga studio to learn relaxation and mindfulness techniques!  Then, the reality of teaching the standards and a classroom full of kids took priority, and I haven’t thought about using it since. 

Reading Young’s article from SLJ re-inspired me when she said that with the introduction of Augmented Reality and Virtual reality to the schools,  “libraries quickly became the home for VR and AR programs” (Young, 2020). Of course! As the school librarian, I will have the opportunity to pull small groups of students or collaborate with a classroom teacher to use this technology. I will also have the infrastructure set up to house the technology and distribute it as requested. As the librarian, I could bring AR and VR experiences to all the students in a school, not just my class as a teacher. Younger classes could benefit from Immersive classrooms, where images are projected on the classroom walls to create the immersive reality, while older students are more capable and could benefit more from Virtual Reality headsets. (Immersion VR, n.d.) In Young’s article, Donally, an AR and VR immersive technology specialist, pointed out that  “AR and VR is something that should be implemented all across the campus, and that librarian could be the resource for [teachers].” (Young, 2020) 

One of the challenges of the school year of 2021-2022 was how to include children in our classroom activities who were at home either quarantined or isolated due to Covid illness or exposure. Students would log in to a Google Meet from home and be able to observe lessons, and we had a camera that would rotate and focus on where there was noise in the room. Well, in a class full of second graders, that camera couldn’t figure out where to look, and we stopped using it after a couple of days. That left me, as the teacher, talking with my class, and then stopping to attend to the children who were logged into the Google Meet to show them our instructional materials or move the camera for them to see the classroom demonstration. It would have been amazing to have had a double robot like the one Sebasticook valley middle school uses for Jasmine to attend school! The double robot changed her life by allowing her to not just watch, but move around, focus where she needed to, and interact with her classmates. (Double Robotics, 2015) It was beautiful to listen to Jasmine explain how she could attend school.

The possibilities for using Layered Reality in the library to enhance the students’ classroom experience is exciting and is something that I look forward to being able to do with a schoolful of children!

References

Double Robotics. (2015). Case study: Sebasticook valley middle school + double robotics. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aln1V0rtCkE

ePublishing Partners and AirPano. (n.d.). Mount Everest . Google. Retrieved July 15, 2022, from https://artsandculture.google.com/story/kAWhL0aq-oU_-Q

Immersion VR. (n.d.) VR for education. https://immersionvr.co.uk/about-360vr/vr-for-education/

Kharbach, M. (2020, June 12). 10 ways to use QR codes in online education. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. https://www.educatorstechnology.com/2020/06/10-ways-to-use-qr-codes-in-online.htmlYoung, L. (2020, April 7). Get the Most from AR/VR Technology Without Breaking the Budget. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/get-the-most-from-ar-vr-technology-without-breaking-budget-library