Research Synopsis

Virtual Reality and Online Teaching: My Research Results

Image result for virtual reality in teaching
Fig 1.
Virtual Reality Teaching. February 2017.One News Page. Web. Accessed 29 Sept 2017.

For my research, I was interested in learning more about technology that can be helpful in engaging students in my online courses. I was also curious about online teaching in general, as well as virtual reality in the classroom and how it could be used to bring my students on virtual fieldtrips.

During the course of my research, I found many articles and resources that pertained to my subject. They were definitely not all useful, and many of them only touched on my subject briefly before discussing something else altogether. For example, I found a lot of resources which discussed online teaching and its benefits for medical school and teaching forensics. While interesting, these articles were not useful to my research. I spent a good deal of time sifting through the articles, before I found exactly what I needed. The key words that I chose in my first blog proved useful. I ended up finding some incredibly useful resources that are practical and helpful for online teaching. I have included my top four resources, with brief explanations about why they were chosen below:

Resource #1

Essentials of Online Teaching: A Standards- Based Guide
Link:http://www.tandfebooks.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/doi/view/10.4324/9781315686905
By: Margaret Foley-McCabe

This book is my first selection and the most useful resource for me as an online teacher. I chose to include it in my final selection of resources because the authors cover a wide range of topics that are helpful to someone who is new to teaching online. They discuss course development, technology, communication with students, timelines and many other topics that are important to my understanding of the subject. Essentially, the authors address every topic that concerns my research. This resource will help me understand how to connect with my students and which technologies will help me along the way. I know it is a trustworthy source because it is a published textbook from a reputable publisher (Rutledge), the authors are at the top of their fields and have many years of experience, and I found it through the UBC Library.

Resource #2

Technology in the Classroom: Designing a Virtual Fieldtrip
By: Jan Guidry Lacina
Link: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00094056.2004.10522239?src=recsys

I chose this article because it offers concrete information about how to properly plan and create an online (or virtual) field trip. I found this article to be exceptionally helpful because it discusses how to go about planning your event, and what considerations to have in mind beforehand. The author discusses the key to successfully implementing the fieldtrips and discusses their benefits as well. I also chose it because it comes from a reputable source, The Journal of Childhood Education. Overall, this article offers ideas and suggestions about how to best plan for a virtual field trip, and that is exactly the sort of information I was looking for.

Resource #3

Smartphone Based Virtual Reality Systems in Classroom Teaching — A Study on the Effects of Learning Outcome
By: Ananda Bibek Ray and Deb Suman
Link: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/document/7814797/

This resource was chosen on the basis of its practical uses. The author teaches us the basics of Google Cardboard, how to use it and how to set it up. This was exactly the kind of straight-forward and useful article I was looking for to help me understand the technology and how to use it. I liked that I didn’t need to sift through unnecessary information to get to the material that I really needed. Also, I was looking for precisely this sort of article to teach me about how Google Cardboard works and the benefits of using it in a classroom.

Resource #4:

Lessons from the Virtual Classroom: The Realities of Online Teaching
By: Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt
Link: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ubc/reader.action?docID=861656


I chose to include this source in my final selection because it covers every topic I could hope for about Online teaching and online learning. I am particularly interested in the chapters which discuss student engagement and maximizing the potential of my online students. As an online teacher, it is difficult to keep your students on track of their timelines and assignments. This book will teach me new strategies on the subject, which was at the core of what I wanted to learn about teaching online. This resource was selected on that basis, as well as it being another trustworthy source written by accomplished members of my field.



12 New Ideas Every Teacher Should Try. September 2016. Teach Thought. Web. Accessed 29 Sept 2017.

Reflection
As mentioned above, I was able to find sources which discussed my topic from a wide range of mediums. There were no scholarly articles about Google Cardboard itself, but I found an abundance of resources about online and virtual teaching. What I wasn’t able to find through the UBC library, I found from other articles and videos on the internet.  I honestly was not expecting to find such great resources about my topic, as I assumed it was fairly new. However, it seems that I am late to the game and online learning has been taking place for a long time, which is great, because I can benefit from the experiences of others.
In general, the topic of virtual reality in the classroom was discussed very favourably in the literature I found.  The image pictured below (which I also shared in a previous entry) shows many statistics about teacher’s attitudes and ideas about online teaching. It shows that most teachers favour the idea of virtual reality in the classroom and believe that it will play an important role in introducing students to topics that they would otherwise not have the opportunity to take part in.

Image result for virtual reality in teaching
Fig.3
Samsung.  Virtual Reality in the Classroom. Samsung Newsroom. 2017 Samsung Inc. Web. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.

Throughout my research, the subject of online teaching was also discussed favourably, though it is important to state that all of my sources came from online teachers, who are bound to be biased in its favour.  Technology was discussed as an essential part of the curriculum and a necessary communication tool for online learning in the literature as well. Every resource I found on the subject of online teaching discussed the importance of technology; it seems that the two subjects are intrinsically linked.
When plunging into my subject, the key learning I took away was that as an online teacher, you must be very competent in the technology that you use and the courses that you administer. You cannot expect to lead your students if you cannot master the technology on your own. As such, preparation is key! You need to be very organized if you are planning any online field trips, and you must know the subject matter well.
In general, I’ve found this inquiry project very useful. The blogging was not entirely new to me, as I kept an extensive blog when I went travelling for a year. This process is not altogether different, apart from being much more formal. I enjoyed creating the multi-media aspects, by adding photos and looking up video links. The resources I found were also truly useful towards my professional practice and I can’t wait to read them more thoroughly and implement the ideas into my own online courses. Overall, I would say that I found the process made me more comfortable with blogging and reminded me how to do proper research, as I’ve been out of university for six years. I also think that reflecting and sharing via the blog is a useful way to consider the sources you find and actually contemplate, is this useful to me, and why?
I can conclude by saying that I am pleased by the results of my research. These resources are important learning tools that well give me a great head start to making the connections I strive for with my online students.
                                                               Works Cited

Foley-McCabe, Margaret. Essentials of Online Teaching: A Standards-Based Guide. Routledge, 2017. Web. 24 Sep. 2017.

Lucina, Jan Guidry. “Technology in the Classroom: Designing a Virtual Fieldtrip.” Journal of Childhood Education, vol. 80, no. 4, 25 July 2012, pp. 220–222., www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00094056.2004.10522239?src=recsys. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

Pratt, Keith and Palloff, Rena. Lessons from the Virtual Classroom. Second Edition.  John Wiley & Sons.  May 24th, 2013. Proquest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ubc/reader.action?docID=861656


Ray, Ananda Bibek, and Suman Deb. “Smartphone Based Virtual Reality Systems in Classroom Teaching — A Study on the Effects of Learning Outcome.” 2016 IEEE Eighth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), 2016. UBC Library, doi:10.1109/t4e.2016.022. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

Comments

  1. Aaron MuellerOctober 3, 2017 at 6:27 AM

    Great final post with everything you were asked to do and more. You reflected on the process very well, sharing your growth and your challenges. You also annotated your resources very well, explaining their usefulness. Finally, you had your final list of citations ready. Overall, a very good start to the course.

    ReplyDelete

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