I have seen Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona
Lisa up close I’ve never been to the
Louvre museum in Paris France
I stood under President Theodore
Roosevelt’s nose at Mount Rushmore I’ve
never been to South Dakota I rode
through Bristol Tennessee and race two
laps on the iconic Bristol Motor
Speedway with Dale Earnhardt jr. I’ve
never met Dale Earnhardt jr. what made
these experiences possible virtual
reality can you imagine being a student
able to go to the ancient Egyptian
pharaoh King Tut’s tomb walk along the
same path archaeologists did when they
first discovered the tomb untouched can
you imagine being a medical student able
to travel through veins and the human
heart seeing the cells in action while
its functions being explained to you in
detail can you imagine being a student
learning a second language being able to
converse with native speakers without
leaving the classroom these are the
opportunities virtual reality gives our
students today why should we care about
virtual reality in the educational
environment why should we care about
this technology when what we’re already
doing in the classroom works well for us
it’s because virtual reality is not the
next best thing it is the same it’s here
technology companies are racing to
incorporate virtual reality into their
current applications Facebook paid 2.3
billion dollars to acquire the virtual
reality company called oculus smartphone
maker HTC moved to mainly focus on the
development of his vive virtual reality
headset Amazon created this virtual
reality developer platform sumerian
virtual reality is changing the way we
work learn and socialize and it will
revolutionize the world of education but
what is virtual reality virtual reality
is a computer-generated environment the
environment can either be completely
man-made or created from real-life
photos or videos it is immersive you
feel like you’re a part of the scene the
user temporarily suspends his or her
beliefs and accepts that they’re part of
the environment we have different types
of devices that can connect us to
virtual reality virtual reality can be
accessed with a headset connected to a
computer a standalone headset a hid
mount for a smartphone or directly from
a smartphone the impact of the immersion
may vary depending on the device used to
access the virtual environment it can be
known as full immersion when you have an
experience that’s almost as real as
actually being there for example when I
experience the Mona Lisa I was able to
view the painting from all angles on the
wall but with a click of a hand
controller I was able to go inside the
painting view the model Mona Lisa as she
was being painted on the opposite end of
the spectrum we have a less immersive
experience in these experiences the user
is able
full view of the environment but is not
able to control or change the
environment for example when I was
riding with Dale Earnhardt jr. I could
see how fast I was going and all of the
surroundings but I couldn’t grab the
steering wheel or Jam my foot on the gas
pedal the biggest market today for
virtual reality are the entertainment
and gaming industries the biggest
potential for virtual reality is the
education sector Stanford University
professor Jeremy bailenson explained
virtual reality is not the same as other
forms of media the mind tends to treat
virtual reality closer to an actual
experience there is an educational
method called
embodied learning this method combines
using abstract concepts and actual
physical experiences it’s a theory that
sensorimotor engagement can lead to
increased learning retention virtual
reality supports this method by bridging
the physical and the technological the
big names in virtual reality oculus and
HTC are working on their uses of the
technology in the classroom as we speak
there are big challenges ahead firstly
the cost of the equipment one HTC vive
headset costs $500 and the high powered
computer used to run the software and
the device is about $1,000
the second is practicality due to the
high price of the equipment it makes it
difficult to scale the
is awareness the latest statistics show
that 51% of Americans are aware of
virtual reality however this does not
translate into true users of the
technology the technology has awareness
but not a strong user base the price of
the equipment is consistently decreasing
and this could lead to greater usage in
and out of the classroom as the
technology gets cheaper the possibility
since we need virtual reality in
education today and the technology
exists is there anything we can do to
expedite its adoption so that students
can begin using it as soon as possible
as Moore’s law predicts computer
processing speed doubles about every two
years technology is developing faster
than we can keep pace
what makes virtual reality different
from artificial intelligence or
blockchain is that the technology exists
now virtual reality is not a movie or
fiction the opportunities that we have
now will only increase as time moves
forward in 2007 Apple came out with the
iPhone which revolutionized the
smartphone world in 2013 this was when
the majority of the u.s. on smartphones
now 70% of internet usage is done with
mobile devices in 2009 uber was found
in less than 10 years the taxi industry
all of the world has been changed in
2014
Facebook acquired the virtual reality
company oculus earlier this year
oculus release is low cost $199 virtual
reality headset the oculus go in
November of this year a company called
red digital cinema will release the
world’s first holographic smartphone
called the hydrogen one how will this
change the smartphone world we don’t
know the future is now virtual reality
is like Netflix before it became the
Netflix we know now we need to take a
student centric approach to virtual
reality this answers why virtual reality
will benefit students it’s a call to
action a call to action for students not
for virtual reality technology educators
and virtuality firms initially I was
skeptical about virtual reality in the
classroom until I actually saw how
practical the technology is today and
what an impact it can make on our
what it can do today which will only
become more efficient and advanced in a
blink of an eye the ones that will lose
are the students every time I saw a
video or TED talk on the subject of
virtual reality
I was skeptical as well until I began
using the technology I have seen
businesses use virtual reality
technology to replace job functions we
live in a world where technology is
advancing and changing faster than we
can adapt it can be overwhelming how can
we manage when I began researching and
learning virtual reality it became
overwhelming I’m not a technology expert
or a computer programmer I’m an
accounting professor but current
technology as we know it is less than a
decade old and there are so many nuanced
areas of use cases hardware and software
I could not keep up overwhelmed or not
one thing is more than apparent that
virtual reality offers our students an
extraordinary ability to learn and
experience in ways that were not
possible before but are possible now our
role as educators is twofold
on one hand we prepare our students for
the future world when they graduate on
the other hand
we need to offer our students the
opportunities that exist now thank you [Applause]
Lisa up close I’ve never been to the
Louvre museum in Paris France
I stood under President Theodore
Roosevelt’s nose at Mount Rushmore I’ve
never been to South Dakota I rode
through Bristol Tennessee and race two
laps on the iconic Bristol Motor
Speedway with Dale Earnhardt jr. I’ve
never met Dale Earnhardt jr. what made
these experiences possible virtual
reality can you imagine being a student
able to go to the ancient Egyptian
pharaoh King Tut’s tomb walk along the
same path archaeologists did when they
first discovered the tomb untouched can
you imagine being a medical student able
to travel through veins and the human
heart seeing the cells in action while
its functions being explained to you in
detail can you imagine being a student
learning a second language being able to
converse with native speakers without
leaving the classroom these are the
opportunities virtual reality gives our
students today why should we care about
virtual reality in the educational
environment why should we care about
this technology when what we’re already
doing in the classroom works well for us
it’s because virtual reality is not the
next best thing it is the same it’s here
technology companies are racing to
incorporate virtual reality into their
current applications Facebook paid 2.3
billion dollars to acquire the virtual
reality company called oculus smartphone
maker HTC moved to mainly focus on the
development of his vive virtual reality
headset Amazon created this virtual
reality developer platform sumerian
virtual reality is changing the way we
work learn and socialize and it will
revolutionize the world of education but
what is virtual reality virtual reality
is a computer-generated environment the
environment can either be completely
man-made or created from real-life
photos or videos it is immersive you
feel like you’re a part of the scene the
user temporarily suspends his or her
beliefs and accepts that they’re part of
the environment we have different types
of devices that can connect us to
virtual reality virtual reality can be
accessed with a headset connected to a
computer a standalone headset a hid
mount for a smartphone or directly from
a smartphone the impact of the immersion
may vary depending on the device used to
access the virtual environment it can be
known as full immersion when you have an
experience that’s almost as real as
actually being there for example when I
experience the Mona Lisa I was able to
view the painting from all angles on the
wall but with a click of a hand
controller I was able to go inside the
painting view the model Mona Lisa as she
was being painted on the opposite end of
the spectrum we have a less immersive
experience in these experiences the user
is able
full view of the environment but is not
able to control or change the
environment for example when I was
riding with Dale Earnhardt jr. I could
see how fast I was going and all of the
surroundings but I couldn’t grab the
steering wheel or Jam my foot on the gas
pedal the biggest market today for
virtual reality are the entertainment
and gaming industries the biggest
potential for virtual reality is the
education sector Stanford University
professor Jeremy bailenson explained
virtual reality is not the same as other
forms of media the mind tends to treat
virtual reality closer to an actual
experience there is an educational
method called
embodied learning this method combines
using abstract concepts and actual
physical experiences it’s a theory that
sensorimotor engagement can lead to
increased learning retention virtual
reality supports this method by bridging
the physical and the technological the
big names in virtual reality oculus and
HTC are working on their uses of the
technology in the classroom as we speak
there are big challenges ahead firstly
the cost of the equipment one HTC vive
headset costs $500 and the high powered
computer used to run the software and
the device is about $1,000
the second is practicality due to the
high price of the equipment it makes it
difficult to scale the
is awareness the latest statistics show
that 51% of Americans are aware of
virtual reality however this does not
translate into true users of the
technology the technology has awareness
but not a strong user base the price of
the equipment is consistently decreasing
and this could lead to greater usage in
and out of the classroom as the
technology gets cheaper the possibility
since we need virtual reality in
education today and the technology
exists is there anything we can do to
expedite its adoption so that students
can begin using it as soon as possible
as Moore’s law predicts computer
processing speed doubles about every two
years technology is developing faster
than we can keep pace
what makes virtual reality different
from artificial intelligence or
blockchain is that the technology exists
now virtual reality is not a movie or
fiction the opportunities that we have
now will only increase as time moves
forward in 2007 Apple came out with the
iPhone which revolutionized the
smartphone world in 2013 this was when
the majority of the u.s. on smartphones
now 70% of internet usage is done with
mobile devices in 2009 uber was found
in less than 10 years the taxi industry
all of the world has been changed in
2014
Facebook acquired the virtual reality
company oculus earlier this year
oculus release is low cost $199 virtual
reality headset the oculus go in
November of this year a company called
red digital cinema will release the
world’s first holographic smartphone
called the hydrogen one how will this
change the smartphone world we don’t
know the future is now virtual reality
is like Netflix before it became the
Netflix we know now we need to take a
student centric approach to virtual
reality this answers why virtual reality
will benefit students it’s a call to
action a call to action for students not
for virtual reality technology educators
and virtuality firms initially I was
skeptical about virtual reality in the
classroom until I actually saw how
practical the technology is today and
what an impact it can make on our
what it can do today which will only
become more efficient and advanced in a
blink of an eye the ones that will lose
are the students every time I saw a
video or TED talk on the subject of
virtual reality
I was skeptical as well until I began
using the technology I have seen
businesses use virtual reality
technology to replace job functions we
live in a world where technology is
advancing and changing faster than we
can adapt it can be overwhelming how can
we manage when I began researching and
learning virtual reality it became
overwhelming I’m not a technology expert
or a computer programmer I’m an
accounting professor but current
technology as we know it is less than a
decade old and there are so many nuanced
areas of use cases hardware and software
I could not keep up overwhelmed or not
one thing is more than apparent that
virtual reality offers our students an
extraordinary ability to learn and
experience in ways that were not
possible before but are possible now our
role as educators is twofold
on one hand we prepare our students for
the future world when they graduate on
the other hand
we need to offer our students the
opportunities that exist now thank you [Applause]
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