Metaverse Madness

-
Welcome to the world of AR/VR. 
First, an acronym breakdown. AR stands for augmented reality and VR stands for virtual reality. See the infographic below for a breakdown of the differences between the two.
 
(Photo courtesy of: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/augmented-reality-versus-virtual-reality/3844772.html)

In recent years, VR and AR technology has become very popular and has been making its way into education. From the standpoint of an elementary school librarian, I set off to determine whether or not this type of experience was something that would benefit my 4K-5 students. The tool that stood out the most to me from those provided this week was Metaverse. Based on the website it seemed to be user-friendly and popular with other educators. Click the logo below to visit their site. 
Metaverse allows users to use backgrounds, characters, and text to create an AR experience. The simplicity of the program and website allows users to be limited by only their creativity. For my own exploration, I have been using Metaverse to create an AR experience of my library. I would like to embed it in my website as a way for students and parents to tour the library from home in an AR format. It is not complete yet, but I hope to complete it and be able to share it out soon. From this project, I have discovered several important points. First, users can upload their own photos for content or characters. I was able to upload my bitmoji for use in my experience. Secondly, it is important to be prepared to create small steps. As someone who was more experienced with creating videos than creating an augmented reality experience, it took a moment for me to adjust and remember to include smaller steps, rather than trying to dive in all at once. 

The website itself is very easy to use and has a wonderful amount of resources to help newbies such as myself get started. Although I greatly enjoy it, I am not sure that I will be able to use it with my students. Our district is very strict about which websites and programs our students use, and approval takes several steps. The only virtual reality program currently approved is Google Tour Creator, which I will have to familiarize myself with. I have no problem requesting approval for a new program, but I would like to look around a bit more and make sure it is the best fit. However, it is easy to see that a VR/AR program would be a unique and engaging addition to our school. Students and teachers could create standards-based reviews, games, tours, or lessons. My first thought goes to having students create movie trailers but as an AR immersion experience where they could introduce characters and plot in a way that really brings it to life. They could also focus on the technical aspect and broaden their ability to interact with varied websites. Overall, I am excited about this topic I am looking forward to finishing and sharing my project! 

Comments

  1. S SultonNovember 13, 2021 at 9:02 AM

    I explored this tool for my post the week as well. I had never heard of it before but saw all its potential for students and teachers. I love your idea of having students create movie trailers to introduce book characters. I am sure this is something they would enjoy. It is definitely more engaging than writing a character analysis. Good luck with the completion of your project. I would love to see how it turns out.

    Stephanie Sulton

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kristinia DriggersNovember 14, 2021 at 4:20 PM

    I love the infographic you used explaining the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality. I also am excited to explore metaverse. This sounds really neat for teachers to be able to create their own content for an AR experience in the classroom. I also love how you are thinking about students creating their own content instead of just using teacher made content. Good luck on your Virtual Library project, it sounds awesome!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Well Rounded Informational Diet is the New(ish) Frontier

-
Welcome back, readers! Our information in Week 3 of SLIS 761 (Informational Technology in School Library Programming) focused heavily on the relationship between information consumers and the world of information literacy, technology, and media. As access to the internet and social media has grown, consumers of information find themselves spammed with everyone from news outlets to their great-aunt Barb sharing their opinions and interpretations of events as though they are absolute, indisputable facts. As a result, consumers who are cognizant of this shift are finding it more and more necessary to vet sources of information in order to avoid "fake news." Though the term fake news has been around for years, it was brought to light and discussed more openly during the presidency of Donald Trump. As a current library media specialist, I am charged with helping elementary-aged students understand that "we were guaranteed a free press, we were not guaranteed a true press,...
Read more

AASL and ISTE Standards Through the Eyes of a Newbie

-
Image
August 25, 2021   Adjusting to the shift from classroom teacher to library media specialist has proved to be full of new experiences. One such point of growth comes regarding the standards dictating the expectations for my lessons with my elementary learners. As a classroom teacher, all instruction was standards or progression based and worked towards mastery of a specific skill. In the library setting, The American Association of School Librarian's National School Library Standards in conjunction with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards provide a guideline for learners of all levels. Both sets of standards have been developed to help guide the instruction of students to achieve real-world skills.  In all honesty, I have a long way to go before I feel confident implementing either set of standards. Based on my limited understanding of these standards, the AASL National School Library Standards embody an overarching inquiry or project-bas...
Read more

TechTools: Tinkercad

-
Image
Welcome back, readers! Week 4 of SLIS 761 had us diving into technology programs and the leadership roles that librarians play in the world of technology integration. I was excited about this week's blog prompt. Last year I was the only virtual teacher for my school's third-grade team. As a tech-lover, I tried to implement new programs and shared ideas with other virtual teachers when I could, but this was the first time that I have created an official document surrounding a program that I was unfamiliar with. I created a newsletter-type template to share the information with teachers in the event that I want to actually share the information rather than simply completing the assignment. I truly believe that Tinkercad is a program that would benefit our learners, and I am already listing lesson ideas that I could implement in the library this year using it! Fortunately, it is already on the list of approved programs for my district, so I will be able to integrate it into our li...
Read more