Using VR 360 Video as a Teaching Tool

We’ve talked before about the power of 360 video. There’s a huge potential for polished, high production pieces to fully immerse people in another world. But there’s also a lot of potential for the DIY crowd these days, using (relatively) inexpensive cameras and a little video editing software. So we decided to take a look at what we could put together in a weekend in Central Park.

Video by Gil Shefler

Pretty cool, right? (If you’ve got access to Google Cardboard and want to take a little vacation in Central Park yourself, it’s worth checking out.) And it’s not actually that hard. It’s the kind of thing a faculty member or an employee with just a little technological know-how can put together without needing much in the way of technical or AV support. What are some of the ways 360 videos could make a big impact without a big budget?

Using VR 360 for Education

VR 360 is the ultimate virtual field trip. It’s a fantastic way to immerse a class in another world. It might be to help a far-flung online education class come together for one experience. It might also be a way to bring a traditional in-person class to a locale that’s too distant, expensive, crowded, or even dangerous to send a classful of students. Here’s just a couple places using VR 360 might make for a practical solution:

• Architecture tour. Cover an entire city’s worth of architecture (including roofs, basements, and anywhere else you don’t want to bring 20 undergrads), in just a few minutes instead of dragging everyone up and down streets and elevators for hours.
• Operating theater. Bring the entire medical class literally into the middle of a complex operation and let them watch close up how the entire surgical team works together.
• Whether biologists tagging primates in Africa, anthropologists interviewing farmers in the Andes, or geologists walking on active lava flows, accompany researchers around the world without paying airfare or getting in the way.

Using VR 360 for Enterprise

Businesses have a vested interest in recording experiences in the field as well. From sales teams in the exploration phase to teaching operators about complex machinery, being able to show colleagues what situations are really like can be invaluable to passing on detailed knowledge. Here’s a few examples of where a 360 video can make a big difference:

• Training field workers. Show your team exactly what their work environment is going to be like, so when they get into the field, they already know exactly what to do.
• Talking with the home office. Make it easier for field teams to communicate the full situation with the folks back in the office.
• A demo you can believe in. Create marketing and sales tools that truly help potential customers envision what they’ll be getting.

VR 360 is a great way to give people a better of what it’s really like to be in a place. Plus, as you can see—it’s fun!

Interested in learning more about VR 360 video as a teaching tool? Watch the webinar “VR and the Future of Video.”