Project planning begins with aligning the VR project with relevant grade level Standard Course of Study, the Digital Learning Standards for Students and the Digital Learning Competencies for Teachers. The beauty of virtual reality is that it more than a series of pictures and links; it's an experience and part of the planning process is creating the story that the virtual reality project is going to tell. It can be as simple as telling the story of the history of the location. But, it is important for educators and students to understand the purpose of their project before they head to the field to collect photos.

Educators may travel to an off-site location to collect digital artifacts or use photos curated by DTL from a repository of 360 resources taken by educators during previous workshops. Important resources include 360 photographs, video, regular photos, audio clips, interviews and other artifacts from the location. Educators are given a field checklist to use to make sure they've collected everything they need before leaving their site and a VR Planner to help design their project.

Before you can create a great project you have to become adept with the tools. As part of the workshop, educators take a deep dive into both the VR design process and the technology needed to create a meaningful VR experience. While expensive devices are not necessary, it is important to understand how to collect good quality digital 360 photographs using a variety of devices and the features of the digital tools that are available.

Back on site, educators upload their digital artifacts and begin creating their virtual reality tours with the assistance of the DTL team. Some of the tech tools we use currently include a variety of cell phones, iPads, 360 cameras (Ricoh Theta and GoPro) , Streetview (to collect 360 panorama photographs), Thinglink (to create and host the VR projects), voice recorder apps, and Canva (to create additional graphics).

Sharing and amplifying the work is embedded in every step of this work. Throughout each professional learning there are opportunities for the group to share their progress and receives feedback. This ensures that every participant is able to create a successful project by the end of the course.

Next, each NC VR Adventure is curated and cloned (copied) into the DTL account and shared on this website for access by educators across the state. A copy is made to protect the limited number of views in the account of the original teacher.

The ultimate goal is to share each project with the wider community via GoOpenNC to create a network of virtual reality resources across the state.