EXTENDING THE MUSEUM EXPERIENCE INTO THE ART CLASSROOM WITH VR

This blog aims to inspire the use of VR in the Art room, and how teachers and students can get started--should this technology be a new concept. This technology is becoming more vital in the current climate of the COVID19 pandemic--as it allows visual art students to visit traditional art galleries, sculptures, or explore digital artwork that is deigned to be experienced in virtual reality--inspiring creativity in the classroom, without leaving it. As the pandemic will eventually subside, the benefits of VR will remain--students will be able to experience most major artworks and exhibitions without having to travel.

VR offers art students the chance to visit major cultural institutions and explore some rare collections. VR has hit the mainstream and is an incredibly useful tool for educators in the current climate. The immersive nature of virtual reality brings dimensionality into classroom content and lesson planning--that engages the senses. It allows for exploration to detail, that would otherwise be difficult to match. VR creates a motivational stimulus for curiosity and authentic learning.

The quality of VR technology has become affordable and backed up by tech conglomerates. Application platforms allow the technology to be easily downloaded and installed. There has been rapid growth within the App industry for mobile and tablet devices--with an extensive selection of VR  experiences.

Figure 3

Le, M. Students. (2017) Students Explore Planets in Virtual Reality Using Google Cardboard at a Station During Google’s I/O Tech Conference. (Photography). [Online Image] Retrieved From: https://mv-voice.com/news/2017/05/19/kids-dive-into-tech-at-googles-developer-conference

Current Contemporary Issue: Coronavirus Pandemic 

Opportunity: Google Cardboard VR

New generations are being raised in a digital era where technology is largely advanced--they often love technology, and at times resist older, non-technological advanced learning methods. Indeed, the use of electronic technology for education is itself becoming conventional. As such, the technology of Virtual Reality (VR) is fitting into what will soon become a “tradition” in pedagogical processes.

Despite the critical importance of the field trip (to museums and art galleries) mode of teaching and the positive impact of Object-based pedagogies, there are now constraints (due to the COVID19 pandemic) that educators need to work around, within the secondary curriculum, especially when it involves learning about artworks, sculptures and installation object. One potential way to counteract this current crisis is to identify how we might construct a ‘virtual’ field trip within the Art room. This blog reflects on the process of Virtual Reality (VR) and presents Google Cardboard VR, as an attempt to bring the VR field into the classroom. 

If you have not yet explored VR in the classroom--this blog aims to guide and facilitate accessible approaches to this style of technology--specifically in the Arts, bringing exhibitions to the classroom. The principal behind this technology is merging virtual perception of the real-world environment and objects with the virtual world--computer generated content.

This blog will focus on Google Cardboard--as it is the most affordable VR technology that can introduced. Google Cardboard VR, is making Virtual Reality a feasible gadget in the Art classroom. Google Cardboard has made VR accessible, with its low-cost and easy assembly.

All the students need is a smartphone, accompanied by the Google Cardboard Headset. This can be purchased online through the google store for $15, or you can DIY. This blog aims to provide an initial analysis of VR interactions and highlight the potential for enabling a truly accessible and affordable experience.

Watch how one teacher took her students for a trip to the Barrier Reef-

Figure 4

Google U.K. (2016). Google Expeditions for the U.K: Take your students around the world in VR (video/video-still). [Video-still][Online Image] Retrieved From: https://youtu.be/n29VQwW-03o 

Google Play Store:

Purchase Google Cardboard Headset

https://arvr.google.com/cardboard/get-cardboard/

Figure 5

Cardboard Store. [Online Image] Retrieved From: https://arvr.google.com/cardboard/get-cardboard/

There are many benefits to bringing this technology into the Art classroom as an educational tool. Some of these benefits include: increased engagement and teamwork--as students are sharing this experience as a group. Teachers and students can also take advantage of the free VR apps. VR can be experienced as an individual (each student with their smartphone and cardboard headset) or electronic whiteboard viewed as a group.

Learning in such situations as a pandemic presents particular challenges. Commonly practiced pedagogies are based on diffusion of information about such artworks, art-form and the concept of space and architecture. Google Cardboard is allowing students to experience, in someway, the realities of life and art in both familiar and unfamiliar environments. Some alternative pedagogies may provide the means where learning objectives can be met at least in part with the transition of VR, allowing teachers to continue to emphasise the value of learning by ‘doing’ and ‘playing’ (Ruben, 1999).

Reference:

VR offers unique advantages for the Art room. It can be used to experience major cultural institutions--like The Met (NY) , MoMa (NY), New Museum (NY), The Guggenheim NY, The Tate Modern (LON), AGNSW (AUS), NGV (AUS) and many more--in an astonishingly realistic manner without setting foot in them.

This digital tool (VR) is especially vital as society navigates the new terrain of living during the Coronavirus Pandemic, and using this tool allows us to stay culturally connected, ensuring students do not miss out on monumental historic and cultural events.

Art organisations are beginning to take advantage of the former, and artists are exploring the latter (as art-form and artwork). Galleries are now programming exhibitions as investments both small and large, to stay connected with the educational system and the public in general. 

Figure 6

VR and Google Cardboard:

Google Cardboard is an affordable immersive image viewer that can be used with compatible smartphone applications, such as YouTube and Google Art and Culture, to explore VR environments. Google Cardboard is a low-key VR cardboard headset which immerses you in video or still images--you can see a 360-degree view of an image or video. This affordable Virtual Reality experience--basic in appearance and environmentally ethical--it makes for a solid inexpensive option for those who are experimenting for the first time with VR. 

Alternatively, students can download the Google Cardboard template. All the student needs is construction cardboard and the downloadable Google Cardboard template as a guide--the students can build the VR headset themselves. Indeed, the purchasing of the equipment for the class is well within the budget of most schools, so it could be handled by the teacher or teachers aide, in much the same that traditional art materials are sourced and organised for class. 

Apps to download for Google Cardboard: All Apps are Compatible with Android and iOS

NOTE: Be sure to access the correct Region to download these apps- Google Play Australia and Apple App Store Australia 

Google Cardboard App 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.samples.apps.cardboarddemo&hl=en_US

Figure 7

Google Play. (2019). Cardboard. (digitally designed app image). [Online Image] Retrieved From: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.samples.apps.cardboarddemo&hl=en_US

Apps to use with Google Cardboard:

Sites in VR

 Virtual tours of landmarks, examining the marvels of Islamic architecture, visit mosques, tombs, palaces of sultans, museums, inns, baths, castles, towers, old houses, squares, parks, nature, religious sites, ancient cities, space and other places with more than a thousand 360 degree panoramic images in high quality.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.ercangigi.sitesin3d&hl=en_US

Figure 8 

Google Play. (2019). Sites in VR. (digitally designed app image). [Online Image] Retrieved From:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.ercangigi.sitesin3d&hl=en_US

Google Arts & Culture VR

View artworks curated by museums from around the world using your Google Cardboard Headset. Step inside a virtual galleries to see works by artists like Van Gogh or Rembrandt. You can zoom in to see every brushstroke, and hear audio guides from expert museum curators.

VR https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.vr.museums&hl=en_US

Figure 9

Google Expeditions

Google Expeditions is an immersive learning and teaching tool that lets you go on VR trips  to explore historical landmarks, go down to the atomic level, get up close and personal. In the classroom or with groups, Google Expeditions allows a teacher acting as a 'guide' to lead classroom-sized groups of 'explorers' through VR tours engaging with objects. Teachers can use a set of tools to point out interesting things along the way. Students can explore in groups or on their own in VR using Google Cardboard.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.vr.expeditions

Figure 10

Google Play. (2017). Google Arts & Culture. (digitally designed app image). [Online Image] Retrieved From: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.vr.expeditions

VR International Art Gallery

Figure 10

Google Play. (2018). VR International Art Gallery. (digitally designed image). [Online Image] Retrieved From: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TheSiliconValleyOneManArmy.VRAPP19

SETTING GOOGLE CARDBOARD UP:

1) Get a viewer

You can order a Cardboard viewer, or learn to build your own.

2 )Find the app

On your Android phone or Apple App, install Cardboard App.

3) Check phone requirements

To see whether your phone will work with a specific viewer, check the viewer's website.

Note: If you get a device incompatible message, you may not have a phone fitted with a gyroscope.

Start to use Cardboard:

On your Android phone and iPhone, open the Cardboard app .

To pair your phone with your viewer, on the right, tap the Right arrow .

Use your phone's camera to scan the QR code on the Cardboard viewer. You might need to remove the cardboard sleeve to find the QR code.

Open the top flap of the viewer.

Lift the flaps toward you and press them against the fasteners on the sides.

Put your phone inside the viewer, and then close the top flap.

Before you look through the viewer, look at an object that’s far away.

Close your eyes as you bring the viewer up to your face.

Follow the instructions on the screen to begin using Cardboard.

NOTE: A TEST RUN IS ESSENTIAL BEFORE EACH LESSON FOR THIS TO BE SUCCESSFUL.

It is a simple setup, that can do done on location. Using various smartphone brands, and as an added bonus, it comes with an NFC chip (when you purchase the Headset for the Google play store)--a method of wireless data transfer (near field communication) that detects and enables technology in close proximity to communicate without the need for an internet connection (Faulkner, 2017).

It automatically launches you official Cardboard App when you place your smartphone into the headset. Google also provides a magnet that, when moved, it acts as if you have pressed your smartphone screen, it uses the magnets in conjunction with your smartphone’s magnetometer, commonly used as the compass function.

YouTube Tutorial:

Demo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxAj2lyX4oU&ab_channel=UnboxTherapy

Setup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkS7SHjlrUQ&t=28s&ab_channel=GeekStreet

Figure 12

Arch Daily. (2015). Want a Virtual Reality Headset? Make one for Almost Nothing With Google Cardboard. (photography). [Online Image] Retrieved From:  https://www.archdaily.com/584444/want-a-vr-headset-make-one-for-almost-nothing-with-google-cardboard

Reference:

This blog post examines the important theme that impacts the educational use of digital technologies--the digital divide. What is the “‘digital divide’? In short, the ‘digital divide’ is the unequal access and utility of internet communications and technologies” (Muschert, Ragnedda, 2013). In light of the Coronavirus pandemic, studies have exposed Australia’s digital divide and how many children go without smartphones, iPads, laptops or even the internet at home. “With over 125,000 students missing out, public schools must be fully resourced to be able to implement learning programmes to support these students” (Haythorpe, 2020). However, in some cases Victorian charities are stepping in, on the pursuit to lessen the digital divide. Victorian-based charity State School Relief (SSR)--and other national charities such as the Smith Family are providing relief to some students (Duffy, 2020). 

BEING CONSCIOUS OF THIS ISSUE AND A SOLUTION:

If a student does not have a smartphone students can collaborate or work in pairs when participating in Google Cardboard activities. This will also enhance and increase participation for shy students. It can promote more questioning, brainstorming, thereby, yielding insightful information, for summative assessment. 

As well as group benefits, there will be less equipment/gadgets and resources needed--again making the particular VR experience even more affordable and environmentally ethical. 

References:

Duffy, C. (2020) Coronavirus opens up Australia’s Digital Divide, with many school students left behind. Retrieved From: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-12/coronavirus-covid19-remote-learning-students-digital-divide/12234454

Haythorpe. (2020) Vulnerable Students, Digital Divide Impacts. Retrieved From: https://www.aeuvic.asn.au/digital-divide-impacts-vulnerable-students

Various technologies are often quoted in literature on education transformation in the 21st Century (i.e twitter, facebook and linkedin), to name a few. The focus of this blog is specifically on smartphone (mobile phone) technology in the Art classroom, at a secondary level, and, how this style of contemporary technology can enhance Art class. Mobile phones can provide inexpensive computing. They are pocket-sized and have endless amounts of features --with this comes the potential to support instructional practices (Thomas and McGee, 2012). 

However, smartphones also enable instant, bottom feeder connections between all consumers. This results in bullying (cyber-bullying) and other forms of offensive transmissions from anyone who feels empowered to bully, and to anyone who appears as a target. The result is that young people and children are susceptible to extreme psychological damage due to their use of the smartphone with increases in self-harm and suicide. (Oshima, Nishida, Shimodera, Tochigi, 2012).

Indeed, the corporate leaders of smartphone and software companies deny their own children unlimited access to the very technology they produce (Akhtar, Ward, 2018) and yet these leaders of corporations are quite prepared to inflict damage on children other than their own, presumably for profit. It seems that capitalism, like the old pagan religions, demands human sacrifice. 

As an attempt to minimize Cyber-bullying Australian schools have strict policies in place. However, there are special circumstances within each states policies. 

New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory High Schools have policies that outline the same requirements --in regards to mobile phone use during school hours. As a general policy for all, students must have their phones switched off and securely stored during school hours, however, there are exceptions for specific educational purposes.

“Exceptions to the policy may be applied if certain conditions are met. Exceptions can be granted by the principal, or by a teacher and these exceptions must be documented”

Below are links to mobile phone State policies:

- NSW 

https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/strategies-and-reports/our-reports-and-reviews/mobile-devices-in-schools/review-into-the-non-educational-use-of-mobile-devices-in-nsw-schools

- VIC

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/students-using-mobile-phones/policy

-WA 

https://www.education.wa.edu.au/mobile-phones

-NT

https://education.nt.gov.au/policies/mobile-phones-and-electronic-devices-in-the-school-environment

-TAS

https://www.education.tas.gov.au/2019/11/mobile-phone-ban-in-schools/#:~:text=Mobile%20phones%20will%20be%20banned,student%20interaction%20in%20the%20schoolyard.&text=The%20ban%20will%20be%20implemented,be%20undertaken%20after%20twelve%20months

Under these policies, for New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmanian High Schools--using smartphones in collaboration with virtual reality headsets (VR) in acceptable.

References: 

Oshima,N. Nishida, A. Shimodera, S. Tochigi, M. (2012) Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Volume 37. Retrieved From:  https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jss072

Thomas, K, M. McGee , C. D. The Only Thing We Have is Fear...120 Characters. Retrieved From: https://www.academia.edu/17365331/The_Only_Thing_We_Have_to_Fear_is_120_Characters

For the last half of the 21st Century and the early part of the 21st Century, video games have been the main use of VR. However, there is now a greater slew of opportunity in other industries. “video games, live events, video entertainment, healthcare, real estate, retail, engineering, and military” (Sachs, 2016). They have also stated in their research that $3.5 billion has been invested into the industry for growth. 

In regards to creative ventures, cultural institutions such as the New Museum, MoMa, The Tate Modern and many more have have created apps for virtual reality artworks and exhibition experiences, which are free to download. There are also YouTube and Vimeo videos which are free and you don’t need an app, and with your VR googles you can experience VR in your own home and classroom--or anywhere in general. 

VR is becoming increasingly simpler to use and access in all genres--whether it be entertainment, art or just day-to-day. This trend will continue to expand at a rapid pace over the coming years--as the work has changed in a dramatic way (due to the coronavirus pandemic). Although the current situation is bleak, there are exciting times ahead for virtual and augmented reality, and it is best to be prepared, especially within the education realm. 

References:

This section of the blog will touch on Lacan’s paper Ecrits published in 1949, The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function as Revealed in the Psychoanalytic Experience. It will relate Lacan’s work to Virtual Reality, the computer and the impact on one’s personal identity, and how the role of playing a “different persona” within the virtual world creates an experience of change in self-identity. 

Lacan’s theory of the ‘Mirror Stage’ (Lacan, 1949) is a theoretical explanation of self-identification takes place in early childhood. In short, Lacan’s idea is that a child sees itself in a mirror and thereby understands itself as a thing apart from the world. The child thereby completes a process that begins with a gradual separation from the “mother”, creating a self-image with a defined boundary; the body’s surface. Thus, a child’s psyche is a result formed according to their mirror image. Lacan’s theory is what is called a gestalt theory where an image images functions as an analogue of the ego completion. 

So what does VR do in regards to the mirror phase? Rather than providing a visual image for the gestalt completion of the ego, VR dislocates that image and relocates it in virtual space. The body is disconnected from the scene with the vision being addressed directly to the mind as if it were reality. As such, while the mirror reflects reality, VR reflects non-reality or virtual reality. In short again, the viewing subject becomes a disembodied point of view in a virtual space, no longer a real body in real space. So, can Lacan’s theory be used to explain the presence of the disembodied ego forming point of view in virtual space?

References:

Julien, P (1995) Jaques Lacan;s Return from Freud: The Real, the Symbolic, and the Imaginary. NYU Press, 1995.

Lacan, J. (1949). The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis. London : Taylor and Francis