For thousands of years, most teaching and learning took place in physical surroundings: in a classroom, in a book, on a field trip, or working as a apprentice. True, mid-20th century technologies (e.g., filmstrips, movies, radio, TV) stretched those boundaries, but access to cyberspace truly broke down the four walls of the traditional classroom.
This lesson will deal briefly with the concepts of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), in general, but also specifically in regard to teaching language. We will only touch on this very wide field, which is constantly expanding and changing. Please forgive the time-warp if the latest hot issue has not been included. This is a starting point for your future exploration.
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) started as very different technologies. VR transported the user to a different place (technically, in a remote server) and allowed the user to do things normally difficult or impossible - alone or with other users. The user could visit inaccessible locations on earth, explore the Mariana Trench, fly into deep space, or time-travel. On the other hand, AR added additional layers of information on existing objects (real or digital). In recent years these two technologies have been converging.
Here's a link to a really interesting (but optional) "Today Explained" podcast episode from 6 June 2023 about Apple's release of its (mostly) AR goggles. The podcast episode presents an excellent review of why/how such efforts have failed in the past (e.g., Google Glass, MicroSoft's holoLens, the Metaverse) and why Apple's attempt probably won't succeed (for now).
In the early days of the Internet, VR was textual, including MUDs (Multi-User Domains), MOOs (Multi-user Object Oriented domains), and other textual virtual worlds. There was (and still is) a MOO dedicated to ELLs and teachers of ELLs, called "SchMOOze University." Users from all over the world meet in a virtual college campus, "chat" with other users from all over the world, and manipulate textually-presented objects belonging to the virtual world. With some practice, the users learn how to create and share textually-presented objects. In many ways, using MOOs is like jumping into a novel and writing the plot as you go.
With the advent of higher bandwidth, graphical virtual worlds appeared. Now the users could see the virtual world instead of reading a description of it. Probably the most famous of these graphical virtual worlds has been Second Life (SL), which still exists. Users now see others users' avatars, textually chat with them, or use audio to communicate. The British Council created an island in Second Life for ELLs.
A somewhat similar graphical world is the Israeli-made EurekaWorld at https://www.eurekaworld.co.il/. There are others, like MindCraft. The question for teachers of ELLs, of course, is how much English does the student read, hear, process, and write or speak? The abstract of a September 2022 article in Language Learning and Technology reported on research about listening comprehension in immersive VR:
The effects of mobile VR were analyzed based on listening comprehension
post-tests, recalls, and interviews. The results revealed the VR group’s
listening comprehension and recall were significantly better than that of
the video group. The interview data indicated that, for most VR players,
mobile VR-mediated EFL listening was motivating, beneficial, and
convenient. They felt more engaged in the listening tasks. Simulated
real-life scenarios and interactivity, particularly the interaction with
virtual characters, led to a stronger sense of presence and a higher degree
of immersion, which enabled them to listen as a participant rather than
overhearer.
On the dark side, if Mark Zukerberg has his way, humanity's future will be an overwhelmingly immersive and graphical virtual reality called the "Metaverse," in which people routinely work and play inside of virtual reality, rather than merely observe it. Of course, Meta (the new name of the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other Facebook services) would be a dominant provider, organizer, and profit-maker in this new world order.
Although graphical virtual worlds are more attractive than textual virtual worlds, the amount of written language that the user reads, or produces, drastically decreases. If "a picture is worth a thousand words," then the ELLs do not process those thousand words when they see the graphical presentation of objects and other users.
Recently, the use of headsets has made VR even more exciting (although some people have become nauseous using them). Now the users totally immerse themselves in the experience, which actually exists in a distant server. One obvious educational use of immersive VR is offering students the ability to travel to distant locations or move back and forth in time. Students can have experiential learning that was previously too costly, too dangerous, or simply impossible. (Yes, books and earlier forms of VR could offer some of these experiences, but in immersive VR, the experience is astoundingly different.) For ELLs, additional benefit comes from the ability to communicate in English with other users in these immersive virtual worlds.
Here's a short OPTIONAL video, which is slightly older, about using head-sets in VR-aided education.
Here's a 9-minute video from September 2022 about a VR platform for learning Spanish. Watch it on the conceptual level: it could be for any language. In addition, try to ignore the sometimes overly-dramatic presentation of the speaker and focus on the tool he presents. This might be one potential future of language learning.
Returning to the concept of social media, please examine the following video for at least three points:
How would your ELLs like communicating with people in other places in the world like this?
How many layers of technology and digital information are simultaneously being presented here?
Wouldn't it be great if Facebook/Meta weren't harvesting your personal data while giving you a good time?
AR places additional layers of information onto existing objects (real-life or digital). Using AR apps, users can obtain additional information (textual, audio, visual) about an object. The Pokemon-Go craze was a game using AR, adding objects onto real-life locations. Tourist apps add additional information to buildings, art work, and other objects for the real-life travelers.
Please watch this video explaining AR and suggesting various uses in education:
Here are two examples of using AR in education. The one on the left demonstrates what is probably a massive waste of time, effort, and money trying to use AR. (But teachers of young learners might disagree.) The one on the right offers a range of uses that seem worth the investment in the technology.
There should be maps in every classroom! Now, with the Internet, you can have almost any map you could imagine! Not only that, many of them are interactive, giving you layers of information (i.e., a form of AR). Just imagine how much language the students can generate while responding to a map that is connected to the content material of a class! Your job will be facilitating and motivating the oral and/or written production of that language. If it is oral, don't worry too much about correcting grammar mistakes. Just get the kids talking! If they are writing, then correct the mistakes selectively. Don't dampen their enthusiasm with a lot of corrections on their papers.
Maps are usually bird's eye representations of reality. Even if you get the satellite version of the location, do you really know what it looks like to walk around the location? With Google Street View, you can click on the little orange man at the bottom right and "drag and drop" him (actually, the "halo" right below his feet) on any street that shows a blue line. The blue lines indicate where the "Google Car" has driven and taken 360-degree photos.
Although you can create a basic map with the MAP option in INSERT menu in the EDIT mode of Google Sites, you can create a much more useful one at the Google Maps tool. In particular, you will probably not be able to create the Street View, which is required in your final project (i.e., your class Website). Go to http://maps.google.com and make sure you are in the same account with which you created your Google Site.
Here is the link to the official Google Help Center for Maps and Street View - Click here.
Here's the Street View of the Google Map, above. Click on the arrows to walk around the location. Then think about places you might want to take your students!
When you want to EMBED your Google Map and its corresponding Street View into the major project of this course, or for future use with your own students; you'll have to put on your Sherlock Holmes hat. Nevertheless, you'll find the way by using the same SHARING logic as in previous tools. Look for the "hamburger" or a three-vertical-dot MORE icon in the upper-left hand corner of the map or view. Click on it and find the SHARING options. There will be choice of a LINK and EMBEDDING CODE. For your web site construction project, you will want the HTML embedding code. COPY that code and put it into your project via the "< > Embed" icon in the INSERT section of the EDIT mode.
Ask someone to access your embedded Map and Street View from a different computer. Make sure that the user can see both the Google Map and the Street View. Make sure that the navigational arrows at the bottom of the Street View are visible and work properly. Keep in mind that "users" can sometimes not see what the "owners" see.
Please note: Late homework will be penalized 20% of the potential grade. Your first post is worth 60% and the second post (a meaningful response to some one else) is worth 40%.
In the Lesson 20 MOODLE discussion forum, please respond to ONE of the following questions:
What has your experience been with Augmented Reality, both in the classroom and outside of the classroom? Do you think your ELLs could benefit from the use of AR? How?
What has your experience been with Virtual Reality, both in the classroom and outside of the classroom? Do you think your ELLs could benefit from the use of VR? How?
What value do Google Maps, and Google Street View have in your teaching? Why? Do you think you might use any of these tools? How?
Read the posts from all the other students and REPLY to at least one with a meaningful response. (Please note: "I agree." or "Great!" is not meaningful without a thoughtful presentation of why.) Perhaps choose the most controversial or most helpful. If you disagree with someone, please do so politely and constructively!