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The Infinity Store: Viveport in Schools

The Infinity Store: Viveport in Schools

Last week HTC Vive launched their much-heralded Viveport Infinity subscription service. Dubbed “The Netflix of VR”, Infinity removes Viveport’s previous subscription limit of 5 apps per month and instead allows users to download as many of the 600+ titles available whenever they want. Working out at $99 a year, Infinity offers a convenient “all you can eat” option for schools looking to use VR. By way of comparison further down the page you will find my top 10 educational pic

90 VR Education Apps for Vive, Rift and WMR

90 VR Education Apps for Vive, Rift and WMR

When it comes to locating educational content for a PC-powered VR headset like a Vive, Rift or WMR, it can be a little tricky for three main reasons: 1. There are multiple app stores to find content and some of the content can only be found in certain app stores. 2. Not all the stores have an easy to find Education section. 3. Some content which would be great in the classroom isn’t actually tagged as educational. As such I decided to scour the three main stores – Steam, Vive

Can you feel empathy for a tree in VR?

Can you feel empathy for a tree in VR?

Back in 2017 I connected with David Romero from HTC Vive. David is involved with Vive’s VR for Impact programme which provides grants for VR apps that support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. David introduced me to the programme and even joined me for a #CPDinVR panel discussion about Empathy and VR. During that panel discussion, David spoke about the original three apps which had been named as a part of the VR for Impact programme. One of these was an experience calle

Step inside Artwork in Virtual Reality

Step inside Artwork in Virtual Reality

My monthly column for the brilliant VR Focus continued in January with an article looking at a special subset of VR art apps that allow you to actually step inside works of art. The piece includes a video from my newly refurbished YouTube channel showing three such apps in action as well as some details about other apps of this kind. To read the full article on the VR Focus site, click here. To access the archive of my articles for VR Focus click here. #VR #Vive #Art

The Top 10 VR Edu Apps of 2018

The Top 10 VR Edu Apps of 2018

My December column for VR Focus was a top ten list of educational VR apps for 2018. As opposed to my list from 2017 (which you can read here) I chose not to just focus on Steam-based apps this year and threw in a couple of VR apps from other platforms. To read the article on the VR Focus website, click on the logo below. To access the archives of all my articles for VR Focus, click here. #VR #VRFocus #Vive #WMR

When is a Desert an Art Gallery?

When is a Desert an Art Gallery?

I’ve been working on a follow-up piece to my article looking at the potential for the Vive Focus in education in the last week and in the process I came to realise that some new apps have launched for HTC’s standalone VR headset. One of these is the remarkable Kremer Collection VR Museum which I actually included in my Top 10 VR Education Apps of 2018 piece for VR Focus. This virtual gallery collates more than seventy works of art from Dutch masters like Rembrandt and was fan

Practical ways to integrate high-end VR

Practical ways to integrate high-end VR

September sees the launch of a series of guest articles I am writing for VR Focus. I'll be writing one article a month for them and the content will be fresh features not found here on VirtualiTeach. As such I'll add a link to each one so that regular readers here don't miss out! October's article is the second part of my two-part feature looking at high-end VR integration in schools. This part explores practical ways to integrate limited numbers of headsets in ways that can

10 More Tips for using the HTC Vive

10 More Tips for using the HTC Vive

One of the very first articles I wrote for this site was entitled “5 tips for using the HTC Vive in your classroom” It covered five basics of Vive setup and orientation that I found myself being asked by educators at conferences and on social media. You can read the original post here but the topics covered were: 1. PC power – what sort of desktop/laptop you need to run a Vive 2. Room scale space requirements and setup 3. Using the Vive with multiple students and the consider

Taking a Journey to Mars

Taking a Journey to Mars

Two weeks ago I returned to GESS Dubai for my seventh year and delivered a set of presentations on the theme of VR in education. In the lead up to the event I heard that a local company called Alef Education would be showcasing a virtual reality Journey to Mars experience. I’ll admit to being somewhat skeptical as to the format and quality of the experience as I had already been hands-on with excellent Mars themed apps like Mars Walk VR on iOS and the webVR Access Mars projec

The #CPDinVR First Anniversary Event

The #CPDinVR First Anniversary Event

In June 2017 I decided to try something new, something that hadn’t been done before in education – to host a professional development session inside virtual reality. I chose the Engage platform from Immersive VR Education as it was the best tool for this job and with the help of Immersive’s founder and CEO David Whelan and Engage’s lead developer Mike Armstrong, I set about coordinating what would be the very first #CPDinVR event. The image you can see below is actually one I

The Ramadan VR Project

The Ramadan VR Project

The 2017-18 academic year has just finished for me and it’s been a huge one for VR at JESS Dubai with countless projects taking place with students from pretty much every teaching stage. There was one very special project towards the end of the year though, the biggest and most ambitious project I’ve coordinated at JESS – Ramadan VR. Living in a Muslim country like the UAE means that the Holy Month of Ramadan has special significance. It’s a time of celebration as much as a t

The Vive Focus in Education

The Vive Focus in Education

UPDATED 25/5/18: This article has been updated below with additional information 2018 marks the next step in the evolution of VR with the launch of the first standalone headsets. The Oculus Go has just released to great fanfare and though I am yet to try it myself, I do already have a standalone VR headset. In fact I was lucky enough to get my hands on the world’s first standalone VR headset – the HTC Vive Focus. Currently only available in China but set to launch worldwide l

The #VRclassroom Experiment

The #VRclassroom Experiment

Guest post by Chris Long. “Hey Steve… I’ve got an idea.” Most people know to shut their ears and run for the hills when I say I have an idea. When I approached Steve Bambury and suggested I host a class in the UK and have him port in via virtual reality, he quickly pointed out all the technical challenges, but didn’t say no… It should only be 10 minutes, sandwiched between other events. It’ll be easy! It all started because I had been speaking to Dave Haynes of HTC. Dav

Exploring Human Anatomy with YOU

Exploring Human Anatomy with YOU

I love the way new realities have the ability to transform medical education and thus, at an earlier stage, biology classes. I’ve tested a whole range of content in this field, including both AR and VR experiences. Some are very good but often they can be pricier than other apps (likely because they are simultaneously being pitched as tools for doctoral students in medical colleges) which can make educators more hesitant to look into them. To be fair you get what you pay for

Top 10 #ViveEDU apps of 2017

Top 10 #ViveEDU apps of 2017

It’s that time of year when people share their Best of the Year retrospectives and since this year has been so dominated by all things VR for me, it seemed appropriate to add my own selection to the mix. Now I considered doing something that incorporated mini-lists of mobile VR apps, AR apps, 360s etc but to be honest, a lot of the content in these categories that I’ve utilized this year was released before 2017. As such I decided to focus solely on Steam VR apps that I’ve us

Into The Deep: Operation Apex

Into The Deep: Operation Apex

I’ve always had an interest in aquatic life, likely born from my dad being a keen fisherman and my uncle owning a tackle shop when I was young. These days I have a large aquarium in my house full of Amazon Discus fish. I’ve also enjoyed swimming with Turtles here in the UAE (read a blog about that on iPad Educators here) and hand feeding Stingrays (that one is here.) My fascination in the underwater world has been well-catered for in virtual reality, with the obvious experien

The #CPDinVR Panel - December 2017

The #CPDinVR Panel - December 2017

After a month off due to a combination of illness, moving house and a bunch of other commitments, I hosted the final #CPDinVR event of 2017 last night. This session was a panel discussion about AR and VR in education and joining me were Steven Sato from the USA, Alex Johnson who is based in India and special guest Hervé Fontaine - European VP of HTC Vive. We also welcomed one of our biggest crowds yet with educators from the UK, USA, China, the UAE and many more in the audie

Meaningful, multi-platform VR integration

Meaningful, multi-platform VR integration

As many of you will know, I work as Head of Digital Learning and Innovation across JESS Dubai. JESS is a group of three schools – two primary schools and a secondary. In the primary schools we have a bank of Viewmaster headsets and iPod Touch devices to use in them. In the Secondary we have a bank of Bobo VR Z4 headsets and students use their own phones in them. We also have a BYOD iPad scheme in the KS2 years of each primary school and banks of iPads in KS1 and EYFS. In Seco

Welcome to the Jungle: Amazon Odyssey

Welcome to the Jungle: Amazon Odyssey

One place that has always fascinated me is the Amazon Rainforest. It also makes for a wonderful topic of study in schools and our Year 5 students have enjoyed learning all about this amazing place for a number of years now. In 2014 I wrote an article about using apps to gamify learning about the Rainforest. More recently VR has proven an absolutely amazing tool for immersing students in the deepest depths of the Amazon. There's actually a brilliant range of Rainforest themed

VR for Empathy panel discussion

VR for Empathy panel discussion

On September 15th I held the most recent #CPDinVR session inside Engage. This was a special panel discussion about the power of VR to elicit empathy in users. I was joined by David Romero (Technical Specialist for HTC Vive), Dominic Eskofier (Head of VR EMEIA for NVIDIA ) and Sean Gilroy (Head of Cognitive Design at The BBC) as well as an audience of around 30 other people from all corners of the globe. Whilst Engage is still in Alpha, exporting recordings when I am hosting t