POLLY CARD & SEAN HAUZE
Update (August, 2017): Instructional Technology Services is launching SDSU’s Virtual Immersive Teaching and Learning (VITaL) for Fall 2017 courses. For more information, view our VITaL What We Do information sheet and VITaL Instructional Equipment List.
Ew, look at his back..come and look around the front…I think he’s dead.
– Participant, ITS VR Knowledge Share
Instructional Technology Services recently hosted a practical workshop where faculty and staff experienced some of the cool and innovative ways virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology is being used to enhance learning across the campus.
Wearing head-mounted displays (HMDs), participants had the opportunity to experience first-hand what it is like to treat a patient experiencing anaphylaxis, with a life-sized 3D hologram appearing in the space before them. This was part of a project ITS is working on in collaboration with the School of Nursing, Pearson, and Microsoft to create and test virtual standardized patents (patient actors) using the HoloLens AR device.
Harsimran “Sim” Baweja, director of the Neuromechanics and Neuroplasticity Laboratory, brought his roving lab setup to share with us. Sim gave a gripping demo in which our very own Boun had the fright of his life on a balance simulator.
What does it feel like to be building the future of learning?
– Participant, ITS VR Knowledge Share
We explored other ITS partnerships, such as working with Rick Bizzoco in the Department of Biology using Theta S 360º video to document volcanic steam research, and with Kerianne Quick from the School of Art who shares her fine jewelry metalwork skills with students via Pivothead Wearable Imaging.
Gur Windermere showcased his VR astronomy content to a star-struck audience and told of how his dive into deep (virtual) space happened through a chance encounter at the Faculty Instructional Technology (FIT) center a few weeks previously.
During the event ideas were shared and potential partnerships struck up in the FIT center, Adams Humanities, a space that had recently been redesigned to support such collaborative gatherings.
If you are interested in trying any of these devices and finding out more about how ITS can support you in the brave new world of augmented, virtual and mixed reality, come and visit us the FIT Center (AH 1109) or email ITS Project Manager, Rudy Arias at [email protected]