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Is the material of the laboratories synchronized with the school curriculum?
This article will cover five sections addressing various aspects:
- Is VR About More Than Just Games? Educational Content and Content Licensing
- “We’re Afraid of Chaos in the Classroom” vs. Classroom Management Systems for Teachers
- “Where Will We Use VR in Our School?” – Choosing the Room for a Virtual Reality Classroom
- “There Are So Many Different VR Devices. What If We Waste Money on the Wrong Ones?”
- Finally: Installing Your VR Classroom
1. Is VR About More Than Just Games? Educational Content and Content Licensing
Virtual reality has long surpassed its association with just gaming. At XReady Lab, we specialize in creating VR content for biology, physics, and chemistry lessons specifically designed for classroom use. Our primary focus is on developing content that aligns with school curriculums, ensuring our apps are suitable for educational purposes rather than home use or supplementary education. We take into account the optimal length of our virtual labs, include testing features, and provide student performance metrics for teachers.
While we cannot guarantee the suitability of apps developed by others for classroom use, we regularly test external content and curate a list of recommended apps for schools. We encourage our customers to explore and utilize content from other developers, particularly in subjects where we do not specialize, such as history, geography, or language learning. We are always happy to recommend high-quality apps from other developers to enhance the learning experience.
At XReady Lab, we offer an annual renewable license for our simulations. The price varies based on the number of devices and the number of subjects you choose (available subjects: physics, biology, chemistry).
For more information, including a price quote for your school, a list of VR simulations, a free VR/Desktop demo, or any other inquiries, feel free to contact us ⬇️⬇️⬇️
2. “We’re Afraid of Chaos in the Classroom” vs. Classroom Management Systems for Teachers
We understand that school staff may worry about students playing games instead of learning. That’s why we developed VR Class software for the teacher’s computer, which enables teachers to:
- Simultaneously monitor what is happening in all students’ VR headsets
- Control the startup and shutdown of apps on any VR headset
- Collect metrics on each student’s lab completion and provide this data to the teacher
Our VR Class software is also compatible with VR apps from other developers.
3. “Where Will We Use VR in Our School?” – Selecting the Room for a Virtual Reality Classroom
Floor Area
Let’s start by determining the required square footage for your VR classroom. This depends on the number of students per lesson. To ensure safety and prevent students from accidentally hitting each other, allocate 1.5 x 1.5 meters per student.
However, it’s not necessary for all students to wear VR headsets simultaneously. This approach can be costly in terms of purchasing the devices and challenging in terms of room selection. It is perfectly acceptable to have one device for every two students.
Let’s consider a concrete example: if your typical class size is 20 students, you’ll need 10 VR devices. This means 10 students will be using VR simultaneously, each requiring a 1.5 x 1.5 meter space to work comfortably. The recommended total floor area is 1.5 x 1.5 x 10 = 22.5 square meters (or slightly less). The shape of the room isn’t crucial; it can be a long corridor (approximately 15 x 1.5 meters), a more typical rectangular room (around 7.5 x 3 meters), or an almost square room (about 5 x 5 meters).
Room Features
The ideal scenario is having a dedicated room specifically for a virtual reality classroom, like the one shown below.
A classroom designed for virtual reality lessons, with stickers on the floor indicating the boundaries for each student.
If you don’t have a separate room, don’t worry. Many schools conduct virtual reality lessons in classrooms that are also used for regular lessons. In the photo below, you can see a typical physics classroom with tables and chairs pushed to the periphery.
A regular physics classroom with tables and chairs temporarily pushed to the periphery, allowing students to comfortably engage in VR simulations.
The VR classroom should be equipped with adequate electrical outlets for charging VR devices, reliable Wi-Fi, and a designated area for the teacher and their computer to manage the entire class’s VR devices. Optionally, it should include storage space for VR devices, such as a shelf or cabinet.
It’s important to note that direct sunlight can interfere with VR devices. Therefore, especially in cities with bright sunny weather, consider installing blinds or similar shading solutions.
Avoid setting up a VR classroom in unsuitable locations, such as large hallways under glass domes, as this can significantly impact the effectiveness of the setup.
4. “With such a variety of VR devices available, how can we ensure we make the right investment?”
At XREADY LAB, our focus is on developing educational simulations tailored for school education and game development. While we do not manufacture VR devices ourselves, we extensively test various models to determine their suitability for educational environments.
In this introductory review, we will provide recommendations on VR devices that we believe are suitable for schools based on their price-to-features ratio.
Meta Quest 2
Meta Quest 3
Pico Neo 3
Pico 4
When selecting VR devices for educational settings, it’s crucial to consider several key factors to meet the needs of both students and educators. The following devices (Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Pico Neo 3, Pico 4) are well-suited for schools due to the following reasons:
- High Quality and Resolution: These headsets offer excellent display quality and high resolution, ensuring students experience clear and detailed virtual environments. The recommended devices (Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Pico Neo 3, Pico 4) uphold these standards with commendable image quality. Older models may not meet these standards after a few years.
- Extensive Content Library: Meta Store and Pico Store feature vast app collections, including a wide range of educational content. Meta and Pico devices are among the leaders in the VR industry, facilitating access to diverse educational applications.
- Interactivity and Engagement: These headsets support interactive features such as hand tracking and controllers, allowing students to actively engage and participate in virtual environments.
At times, schools might choose economical VR devices lacking controllers, effectively reducing them to 360-degree movies. However, without interactivity, such content offers little differentiation from videos viewed on a computer. The true value of VR lies in its ability to facilitate hands-on experiments in a secure environment. Therefore, we highly recommend opting for VR devices that include controllers. - Classroom Usability: Headsets should be wireless with sufficient battery life and memory capacity.
VR Headset Price
Even if we’re discussing purchasing the devices at retail, the models we recommend typically range in price from $300 to $600 on average. Prices can vary based on factors like memory size and the country of purchase.
VR Headsets We Highly DO NOT RECOMMEND
Apple Vision Pro: The first model of this much-anticipated device, released in February 2024, is primarily targeted at Apple enthusiasts. With a steep price tag of around $3,500 per device, it features imperfect controls and lacks a diverse range of educational content. While this may improve in the future, we currently do not recommend this device for schools, even those with substantial budgets.
Devices from VR Content Producers: Be cautious with VR devices that are designed to install only content from a specific developer. Even if these devices are slightly cheaper, you may eventually be dissatisfied with the quantity or quality of the content, its price, or other factors, and you won’t be able to download alternative content.
5. Finally: Installing Your VR Classroom
Network setup, hardware setup, license activation, and teacher training are all taken care of for you. These are the things you don’t need to worry about.
Feel free to contact us to try a free demo of our VR simulations. If you already have at least one VR device, you can try our VR app for free. If you don’t have VR devices yet, we will provide you with a desktop version.
For a free demo, VR classroom price calculation, or any other questions, please fill out the form on our website, and we’ll be in touch! ⬇️⬇️⬇️