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VR stories of the world around us.

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On June 30, 2021, we deactivated the Expeditions and Tour Creator apps.They'll no longer work on your devices, and tours can't be downloaded again after they're gone. You can find many of the tours from Expeditions at g.co/gacexpeditions.

Find Expeditions tours on Google Arts & Culture

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Expeditions & Tour Creator are no longer available

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On June 30, 2021, we deactivated the Expeditions and Tour Creator apps. They'll no longer work on your devices, and tours can't be downloaded again after they're gone. You can find many of the tours f

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Offline creation for VR environments

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Panoform is browser based and compatible with most mobile phones.

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Unleash the Power of Storytelling With These New AR and VR Tools

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Unleash the Power of Storytelling With These New AR and VR Tools

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Once upon a time, the classrooms had four walls, dusty chalkboards and uncomfortable desks in straight little rows. Students were silent, repeated what they were told and limited by their past experiences.

Thankfully, for many classrooms, those days of rigid learning are long gone. Our lessons can now include unimaginable experiences and interactions through immersive technology.

A compelling use for using immersive technology, like augmented and virtual reality, is learning through storytelling. Stories are a powerful way to deliver meaningful and relevant content. The learning is heightened when paired with a story that penetrates the heart of the student. Let's explore some of the newest and best tools out there and see if we can't get students to create their happily ever after.

Quirious Island

Teachers can bring VR stories into the classroom in many different ways for meaningful learning experiences. Imagine a scavenger hunt where students narrate a story based on what they find. Or consider using objects they see to identify vocabulary words or recognize letters. Students should have purpose in their viewing and it should directly connect to standards.

Starting with virtual reality, stories in apps such as Google Spotlight Stories and YouTube 360 videos have been popular from the start. Similar to the new movie, Ready Player One, they provide an intense experience where the viewer feels like they are in the center of the story. Using a mobile device or tablet, the student can start the story and look around the scene based on their interest, rather than the cameras focus. New apps such as Baobab VR have continued to appear with more interactions and engagement. A headset isn't required, and most of these experiences can also be viewed on a computer by clicking and dragging around on the screen.

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CREATION IDEA (ISTE Standard for Students: Knowledge Constructor)
Do you want your students to create stories using a 360° image? If you don't have access to a 360 camera, capturing a 360 image is easy and free using the Google Street View app. A creative way to have your students create their own virtual stories is using the app Roundme. Upload your 360 image and add directional sound, links and content. Upload portals to walk the viewer into multiple scenes and then easily share the stories by link to the story. Forget the limited book reports to demonstrate knowledge, and embrace 3D expression.

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Newer augmented reality apps that work with ARKit have taken another approach to storytelling. Instead of the stories taking shape around you in an entirely digital experience, the story is placed in your space such as a desk in your classroom or the floor. As the stories are layered through the lens of the device, they provide a more seamless, realistic experience. Some of the new apps include Augmented Stories and My Hungry Caterpillar. The stories are told in 3D, and your students can walk around the desk looking at the scene from every angle. Students have a choice in how they view the story, and it's delivered in their preferred format. Many augmented reality storytelling apps are in development stages, including Qurious, a company that is working on a release blending gaming, making and storytelling in one app.

If you don't have access to a newer device that can power ARKit or ARCore, there are many other storytelling augmented reality apps to try. One app, called Storyfab, turns our students into the directors of the show. Instead of viewing an AR story that's created by a developer, the students create their own own story. Using augmented reality, students add characters, props, emotions and actions to develop the plot of the story. The camera view can see the scene from any angle or position to capture the best part of the story while capturing the experience.

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CREATION IDEA (ISTE Standard for Students: Creative Communication)
In the sixth ISTE student standard, students are expected to become creative communicators. Since students are practically unlimited in their capacity for imagination, they can construct creative stories using AR in Storyfab and then share the video to peers or family members. Imagine the kinds of stories your students can create using their vocabulary words or historical figures. The AR stories can take the place of outdated classroom activities that rely heavily on memorization or following strict procedures.

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SpyQuest

Another obvious way to use augmented reality in storytelling is through books (that is, print books with an AR layer). A new AR book, SpyQuest, has moved the immersive experience a big step forward as it helps define the story by bringing the images to life. Through the camera lens on a device, the stories make students the agents in an adventure into the world of espionage. The augmented reality experiences on the images use the accompanying app to scan the scene and provide further insight into the story.

Using immersive technology, our stories have never seemed so real. We can control where the stories come to life, how the scene is animated and even interact with the characters. Educators continue to look for innovative ways for students to learn and show their knowledge, especially considering our student standards. Don't look back to the past of stories, but look ahead as more resources are released every day.

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Unleash the Power of Storytelling With These New AR and VR Tools - EdSurge News

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Once upon a time, the classrooms had four walls, dusty chalkboards and uncomfortable desks in straight little rows. Students were silent, repeated what they were told and limited by their past experiences. Thankfully, for many classrooms, those days of rigid learning are long gone. Our lessons can now include unimaginable experiences and interactions through immersive technology.

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Mostly linked here for a good look at how AR can be applied in the professional world. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ARANZGeo.LeapfrogAspect

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Articles, videos, and resources for #ARVRinEDU from Jaime Donnally, author of "Learning Transported: Augment, Virtual and Mixed Reality for All Classrooms". https://www.arvrinedu.com/

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One of the most exciting arenas for innovation in education with technology is that of augmented reality and virtual reality. I've been a fan of exploring how these types of apps can be used to support and enhance learning for a long time now. One of my first books on iBooks was an exploration of how we can use AR in the classroom. Things have moved on a fair amount in the four years since I published it.

Now with the right hardware (you'll need something pretty pokey), you can buy a HTC Vive or an Oculus Rift and really get into virtual reality and do some great things. One of my favourite apps for VR on a Vive or Oculus is still Google's 'Tilt Brush" in which you can construct some amazing sculptures and pieces of art all within virtual reality.

When it comes to AR and VR on an iPad though things are a bit different. For a start, you can't exactly pop your iPad into a headset, or at least not very easily! That said, you can with an iPhone and there is a tonne of apps available for both iPad and iPhone on iOS that facilitate AR and VR and are well worth a look.

With all of that in mind, I'm very pleased to share with you my latest periodic table of apps which explores the huge array of iOS apps that utilise augmented and virtual reality that can be used in the classroom.

I didn't do it alone this time either. A good friend of mine that I have known for a long time now and worked and collaborated with on a number of projects over the years is Steve Bambury, head of Digital at JESS in Dubai. Alongside a number of different projects, Steve runs virtualiteach.com - a site focusing on all things AR and VR and is well worth a look.

When I was starting to think about compiling a periodic table for iOS AR and VR apps, it made sense to me to collaborate with Steve on this. Together we have compiled 82 apps that reflect some of the best that AR and VR have to offer on iOS, particularly making the most of Apple's built-in ARKit in iOS 11. There were about 20 more apps that we wanted to include but didn't quite make the cut. There have been about 15 other versions of this before we finally decided on the ones we have.

We have broken them down into 8 separate categories:

As you will see when you start looking through each of the different apps, some of them fall into multiple categories. We had to pick one though and so where they lie is where we feel they sit best for their use in education - that isn't to say we are correct but based upon our collective experience, we felt they were the best locations.

Please note that whilst every endeavour has been made to ensure that this collection of apps are suitable for the classroom - across the table we have many apps that carry a 4+ rating but there are others which carry age ratings that are much higher.
It is incumbent upon you to make sure that any apps you choose from the table and use with learners, are appropriate for the age of the learners you are working with.
I tweeted a teaser image on Twitter the other day with all of the apps and app names pixelated. The response has been really good although it would appear that some people thought it was either the 'actual' table or a special 8-bit version which, while interesting, we'd never have made the writing illegible!

I am very excited to launch the new periodic table of iOS apps for #ARVRinEDU next week. @steve_bambury and I have just finished wrapping it together and it's looking FAB. Here's a sneak preview. Can you work out which apps made it on?#AppleEDUchat #elearning #edtech #BETT2018 pic.twitter.com/79TAmErzAy

- Mark Anderson 💬 (@ICTEvangelist) January 18, 2018

I hope you find the table useful. If you'd like to share it on Twitter yourself, please click the link below.

Check out the Periodic Table of iOS Apps for AR and VR! 📱 ✨👏🏻🏆

If you are sharing the table, please respect the creative commons license on my work. You can download a high-quality version of the table here.

For the first time ever, the Periodic Table was made exclusively in Keynote for iPad and Mac. As Steve will testify, whilst this work is possible on an iPad, given the fiddly nature of 3 x 82 elements for each app, alignment and getting it all working is very fiddly on an iPad. It is much simpler to arrange, organise, align and colour, using Keynote for Mac. Something else that was easier on the Mac was masking all of the icons to the shapes where the icons sit for each of the elements. Either way though, being able to collaborate through Keynote was key to us being able to work together.

Every time I've made a periodic table such as this, people have requested an interactive version so that they can easily find the apps shared. To that end, as with the last periodic table of edu-tweeters to follow, I have put the table into ThingLink and linked each of the 82 apps to their respective places on the App Store to aid finding each of the apps. You don't even have to type a thing.

The interactive ThingLink for the new table can be found below:

And finally...

My huge thanks to Steve for all of his efforts on this for working on it with me, it really was a team effort. You can read Steve's write up about the project on his Virtualiteach site here. Thanks too to Ciarán Kelly for his help too. If you are interested in learning more about how AR and VR can work for you in the classroom with your iPads, please do get in touch. or alternatively, catch me at BETT 2018 this week. Thanks for having a look at the table. I really hope you find it useful!

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The Periodic Table of iOS Apps for AR and VR

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One of the most exciting arenas for innovation in education with technology is that of augmented reality and virtual reality. I've been a fan of exploring how these types of apps can be used to support and enhance learning for a long time now.

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YouTube demonstration of the ARKit app, AR Moon.

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The Merge Cube from Merge VR is a real treat! At just $10.99 it opens up augmented reality in a way haven't really seen before and, although it is fairly new there are a handful of fun apps you might enjoy.

We have filtered through the different apps, both 3rd party and branded, to give you the best of the bunch.
Don't have a Merge Cube yet? Here's where you can buy one!
Tiltball

Do you remember the game that came preloaded on the HTC phones of yesteryear called Teeter? It helped show off the "The Wonder of Gyroscopes" in the devices by tilting a ball along a maze to reach the goal.

Well, Tiltball is Teeter squared. Using the Merge Cube to create a truly 3D tilt machine you have to navigate your little green ball across traps and over bridges to get it to the next castle. The controls for Tiltball are simple, just tilt the cube. No pressing the screen or anything fiddly. This means kids and adults can enjoy the game equally.

The game feels smooth most of the time but does slow slightly if you move too quickly. make sure your hands don't cover too much of the cube at the same time while you are playing though, If they do the cube will return to its mundane view but the game will pause, which some others don't.

All around this game is a great starting point for anyone who has recently bought the Merge Cube. It's a game we are all familiar with and is an excellent game to play with or without a headset.
Find TiltBall on Google Play
Defused!

If any of you have ever played Bop It! You will be familiar with the concept of Defused! The aim is simple, to disable the bomb before it explodes using the combinations of tasks given to you by the game.

For example, in round one, you may be asked to activate all the number 7 switches. You will be given a time limit to turn the Cube on all 3 axis to find the faces with number 7 switches and tap on the screen or press the VR button to activate them. If you do it, great! You get a harder challenge. Fail and the cube explodes and you have to restart.

Defused! Is one of those frustratingly fun games that cause you to laugh and scream all at the same time. The replay factor is high as the situations change all the time and there is room for the game to expand. I personally would love to see a multiplayer aspect where multiple people have to move the cube between them to help defuse the bomb. As I have said earlier this technology is very new so I expect to see improvements as we move forward.

Elemental Order
Find Defused! on Google Play
Elemental Order is another memory game using the Merge Cube. It has the look of a Tron style Holocron cube that flashes the different colors on each side in sequence. All you have to do is turn the cube to the correct side and touch the screen/press the Headset button, in the right order. As you play they increasingly complicated so expect to be frustrated by the end of the day.

One thing Elemental Order did that is frustrating is to play the game horizontally when in Phone mode. The merge cube comes with a really handy stand to put your phone in when you don't have a Headset but it requires the phone to play in portrait, so you can use two hands to play. Without the stand, I was forced to play by holding the phone in one hand and the cube in the other, not too much of an issue for this game but for the next one it was a real barrier.

CyberCube
Find Elemental Order on Google Play
Cybercube is a fast paced puzzle game with a fun timed mechanic. Your system is being taken over by malicious code and you have to use your cube to input the right symbols to keep the code at bay. You do this by matching the three symbols on the screen to the sides of the cube and letting the cube scan the side, once all three have been scanned the code encroaching on your screen reduces and you get to try again. Everything speeds up as you get later through the levels so speed is important.

This game would work far better with the Headset than without, as spinning the cube and holding the phone is problematic. However, the scanning system works a lot better than needing to tap the phone as well. IT's fun, simple game that can get the heart racing as you try to stop the code covering your screen.

AR Kitten
Find CyberCube on Google Play
Ok so this might be stretching the term "Best App" but still, it's so cute! It's essentially a tamagotchi cat that sits on your Merge cube that you have to pet and feed to keep alive. You get to use the merge cube in slightly different ways too though which is nice to see, using the cube as a box of kitty treats you have to shake or making it your hand to stroke the cat is something a little strange but unique.

The game also has a minigame section to collect gems which you can spend to dress up your little kitty silly outfits and they really are the best bit if the app. The use of the cube in physical space is super responsive and good fun. I wish there was more games that used the cube in that way but hopefully they will come soon.

Honorable Mention: HoloCube
Download: AR Kitten
Holocube is one of the first 3rd party Apps I have seen for the Merge Cube. The App centers around our little blue marble called Earth. It shows the Earth in different states that you can manipulate and add detail to, such as longitude and latitude lines and even current flows of the water. What makes Holocube stand out is it is all happening in real time. The App is updating cloud cover as it spins the ball in your hand giving an ever changing Earth to play with.

Holocube is in Early Access right now so it isn't finished, but it is definitely one to look out for.

Do you have a favorite?

Merge Cube is still adding great new games for you to try, and these are a few of our favorites. Have you checked out games for Merge Cube? Is there a game that ought be on our list? Let us know about it in the comments below!
Find the Merge VR Headset at Best Buy

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The Merge Cube from Merge VR is a real treat! At just $10.99 it opens up augmented reality in a way haven't really seen before and, although it is fairly new there are a handful of fun apps you might enjoy.

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The 10 Best VR Apps for Classrooms Using Merge VR’s New Merge Cube - EdSurge News

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Recently, the world of virtual reality was shaken up when the popular Merge Cube by Merge VR dropped in price from $15 to just a dollar at many Walmart ...

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List of apps in the Play or App store with tutorials, lessons, and activities.
https://engagetheirminds.com/augmented-reality/