6 VR Trends to Watch in Education

By Sri Ravipati  05/16/17

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/05/16/6-vr-trends-to-watch-in-education.aspx

VR devices are expected to increase 85 percent by 2020, with gaming and educational applications driving most of that growth.

Maya Georgieva, an ed tech strategist, author and speaker with more than 15 years of experience in higher education and global education. Georgieva is co-founder of Digital Bodies, a consulting group that provides news and analysis of VR, AR and wearables in education

Emory Craig,  currently the director of e-learning at the College of New Rochelle,

six areas with promising developments for educators.

1) More Affordable Headsets

the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, which I really like, you’re talking close to $2,000 per setup. the 2017 SXSWedu conference,

Microsoft has been collaborating with its partners, such as HP, Acer, Dell and Lenovo, to develop VR headsets that will work with lower-end desktops. Later this year, the companies will debut headsets for $299, “which is much more affordable compared to HoloLens

many Kickstarter crowdfunding efforts are bound to make high-end headsets more accessible for teaching.

the NOLO project. The NOLO system is meant for mobile VR headsets and gives users that “6 degrees of freedom” (or 6 DoF) motion tracking that is currently only found in high-end headsets.

2) Hand Controllers That Will Bring Increased Interactivity

Google Daydream  Samsung has also implemented its own hand controller for Gear VR

Microsoft  new motion controllers at Microsoft Build

zSpace, with their stylus and AR glasses, continue to develop their immersive applications

3) Easy-to-Use Content Creation Platforms

Game engines like Unity and Unreal are often a starting point for creating simulations.

Labster, which creates virtual chemistry labs — will become important in specialized subjects

ThingLink, for example, recently introduced a school-specific editor for creating 360-degree and VR content. Lifeliqe, Aurasma and Adobe are also working on more interactive tools.

5) 360-Degree Cameras

6) Social VR Spaces

AltspaceVR h uses avatars and supports multiplayer sessions that allow for socialization and user interaction.

Facebook has been continuing to develop its own VR platform, Facebook Spaces, which is in beta and will be out later this year. LectureVR is a similar platform on the horizon.

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more on augmented reality in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=augmented