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This application has good presentation features with VR, polls, quizzes and much more....

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Nearpod: Foster a love of learning in every student

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Create active learning experiences students can’t wait to be a part of.

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What are some tools teachers can use to create personalized, teacher-led VR tours?

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What are some tools teachers can use to create personalized, teacher-led VR tours?

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EdTech Blog, Tools and Resources for Educators - Class Tech Tips

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Engergize your lessons with classroom technology. Tons of free EdTech resources and tools for educators to use in the classrooom.

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One of my most popular posts this year has been a list of my favorite apps for Google Cardboard ( check it out here). With this super cool and affordable headset, you can easily bring virtual reality into your classroom. Although we can easily get caught up in the wow or gimmick factor of this technology, there are lots of ways to create deeper learning experiences with virtual reality.

6 Ways to Use Google Cardboard in Your Classroom Tomorrow

1. Connect to current events: There are lots of reasons to read a news article with students and Google Cardboard can extend this experience. The New York Times VR app lets users peek into the places around the world. It's a great way to build empathy and deepen a discussion of a topic.

2. Provide background knowledge: Before kicking off a read aloud book, have students visit the setting of the book by taking a virtual trip. Imagine taking students to the foot of the Lincoln Memorial before reading Patricia Polacco's Pink and Say.

3. Set the stage for learning: If you're about to teach a new topic to students a virtual reality experience can help set the stage for learning. Next time you try a KWL with your students, let them first record what they know, then let them take part in a VR experience before asking what they want to know.

4. Energize foreign language practice: Learning how to think on the spot and have a conversation in a foreign language is an important skill students work on in a foreign language classroom. Have students practice explaining what they see in the language they are studying.

5. Take a trip to Mars: Nearpod VR has tons of virtual field trips for students to help them visit places around the world - and around the solar system. Giving students a view of Mars from the ground level can help your students see experience the planets in a completely new way.

6. Build vocabulary: Before students get ready to write about a topic, take a virtual field trip where you ask them to brainstorm a list of words needed to describe a place. This could start as a think-pair-share activity and grow into a class discussion where you gather vocabulary words in a bank for students to use as writers.

Looking to create deeper learning activities with #ScannableTech? Check out the ACES Framework in my new book!

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6 Ways to Use Google Cardboard in Your Classroom Tomorrow - Class Tech Tips

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One of my most popular posts this year has been a list of my favorite apps for Google Cardboard ( check it out here). With this super cool and affordable headset, you can easily bring virtual reality into your classroom.

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Tes provides a range of primary and secondary school teaching resources including lesson plans, worksheets and student activities for all curriculum subjects.

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When people first think of virtual reality (VR), they generally think of video games. Tech demos for new VR headsets often use the latest games, showing how players can be immersed into the experience.

As Virtual Reality tech becomes more affordable and easier to use, exciting innovations are being implemented outside of video games. VR is being used and developed in many areas of our lives.

Here are 10 areas where VR tech is being used now, and could become essential in our future.

What Virtual Reality Is

Virtual Reality is defined as "the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors."

Google Cardboard is an example of a Virtual Reality viewer. When you view VR apps using Google Cardboard, you can look up, down and around 360°, as if you were viewing actual reality.

=> Don't miss, Google Cardboard - A New Way to View Reality!

Virtual Reality Film and Television

Going hand-in-hand with video games is the entertainment industry as a whole. One of the benefits of video games is the level of immersion it brings to a story. Virtual Reality is able to bring that immersion to other mediums.

For example, Virtual Reality films have the capability to place viewers in the middle of the action. No longer are you sitting on your couch watching, you are there, on the space station hurdling out of control through space, or going on a journey of discovery with the main character.

As VR becomes increasingly common, more studios will create movies that will capture our imagination and make us feel part of the movie. At this year's Sundance Film Festival, several VR films in different genres were shown, evidence that filmmakers are excited about the tech.

The next big step for VR in television is sports. Already, the NBA has broadcasted an entire basketball game with VR, placing viewers on the front row of the court.

If interest in the idea were to continue, entire sporting events could be shown allowing viewers to sit in any seat we want at anytime during the game. Sports enthusiasts could be right on the sidelines to watch sweat pour off athletes, or get an aerial view of the game.

If enough people were to buy the tech, even television could use the tech. We could get up close to gruesome crime scenes in police thrillers or be in the middle of an awesome action scene in a superhero show. This would definitely require a lot of interest before it happens though.

Virtual Reality Vacations

As the price of travel continues to rise, people looking to see the world may use virtual reality as a less expensive option. While VR isn't the same as physically being there, it could be the next best thing

As 360° and VR cameras are becoming more available for the public, more of the world will become accessible in virtual reality. With 360° cameras, people are able to capture an entire environment and share it with others, and VR camcorders can create an explorable tour of an area. 360° cameras like the Ricoh Theta S aren't difficult to use, similar to using a camera on a cell phone, but are able to take 360° photos and videos.

People will be able to share each and every memorable spot and experience on a vacation and companies will be able to create entire experience virtually. Along with sharing vacations, VR could be use to tour different places like museums and landmarks, letting people who can't travel appreciate fine arts and beautiful sites virtually. Companies could even make a business of it, offering full VR tours of exotic locales and experiences.

Medical Applications

Virtual Reality gives the rehabilitation and mental health industries extra tools to help patients on the healing process. For example, VR can be used to help physical therapy patients with their necessary exercises and keep them motivated. VR has been especially useful with victims of spinal cord injuries.

Virtual Reality gear is already being used for improving mental health, especially for soldiers suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). VR helps soldiers handle everyday scenarios and triggers for PTSD, and is currently in use in many military clinics. This idea could be applied to other people who experience symptoms of PTSD or other emotional issues, such as depression and phobias.

Surgeons are even using VR in extremely complex surgeries. VR allows doctors to see issues in context to the rest of the body and explore different options for less invasive surgeries. Using VR, one surgeon was even able to save the life of a baby born missing a lung and half a heart.

Virtual Reality in Education

Getting students engaged in learning can be a challenge for educators. Virtual Reality can be helpful with certain subjects, such as history, geography, and even recreational learning. VR tech can help children who struggle with staying focused and assist visual learners to picture what is being taught.

Reading out of a textbook can seem dull to some students, but living in a Virtual Reality re-creation of the city or of specific events could help engage students. Imagine learning about the US Civil War and watching a battle unfold in front of your eyes, or learning about astronomy while on the surface of Mars.

Learning through VR would be like living The Magic School Bus series at school everyday. VR could help bridge the gap for students between learning and having fun. Projects like Google's Expedition Pioneer Project are already underway, providing students with exciting new ways to learn.

Major universities are getting into VR as well. Arizona State University President Michael Crow has recently stated that ASU is experimenting with VR in basic science courses. Crow has already been recognized as a disruptive force in higher education for his formation of ASU Online, and may be joining other college presidents in a further push towards the utilization of new technologies to enhance learning experience at a higher education level.

Developing VR Products and Training Employees

Alongside having VR in the classroom, Virtual Reality tech can be a big influence in the business world. Currently, engineers at Caterpillar and GM are using VR when designing products to test functionality and identify potential problems. Other STEM careers will adopt VR as the technology progresses and adds additional tools for their work.

VR also can be an important tool to train employees. Militaries around the world are using Virtual Reality rigs and headsets to train soldiers in different tasks and prepare for missions, lowering training costs and making soldiers better prepared.

VR is another asset putting astronauts into space. Even skilled trades like welding and auto repair can use VR to train workers without the costs of supplies.

Social Media

We can expect VR to be a big influence in social media because of Facebook's acquisition of the VR viewer company Oculus. Just as email and Skype both changed how people communicate, so will VR.

For example, Oculus Social lets you watch videos in a virtual room with your friends. The technology is still in development, only showing avatars in place of your friends' bodies. Using this tech you could watch movies with friends and talk with each other, as if you were sitting next to them in an actual room.

Eventually more normal life activities that you do with friends, such as watching movies, going to concerts, or just hanging out, will have VR adaptations. Ideas that were once science fiction, like Virtual Reality chat rooms, aren't that far away.

The Potential Future for Virtual Reality

Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One revolves around how Virtual Reality technology could impact our world, and while the story focuses on video games, other VR uses are woven into the plot. In the novel, people use VR for hanging out with friends, holding business meetings, host customer support interactions and even going to church. All of these applications will be available soon, with even more possibilities in the future.

=> Check out 7 Must-Read Books for Everyone Who Uses Tech

While VR will never be a full replacement for real life, the technology has the potential to change most, if not all, facets of our lives.

Your Thoughts

Which uses of Virtual Reality excite you? Are you planning to get a VR viewer? What would you like to see VR used for in the future?

Let us know in the Comments section below!

Ben Allen lives in Boise, Idaho with his wife and daughter and is passionate about technology. He loves playing with new gadgets and finding ways they can improve people's lives.

You can connect with Ben on Twitter at @allen24ben.

* Virtual Reality image (edited) courtesy of COM SALUD Agencia de comunicación via Flickr and Creative Commons

Voice of America Learning English

If you're a learner of the English Language, check out Carolyn's weekly tech column at Voice of America Learning English. This week's article is Facebook Updates with New Features.

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10 Amazing Uses for Virtual Reality Beyond Gaming

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The Wonder of Tech is honored to welcome Ben Allen as a guest author. When people first think of virtual reality (VR), they generally think of video games. Tech demos for new VR headsets often use the latest games, showing how players can be immersed into the experience.

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[Expeditions] - List of Available Expeditions

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Where do you want to go today?

Pick a subject

Field trips covering different subjects

Explore all the tours

Where do you want to start your adventure?

Make waves

Go underwater and find out what goes on below the surface

Be a globetrotter

See the world without a passport

Search for answers

Trying to answer life's questions through trial, error, invention and discovery

Get back to nature

Get to know the secrets of the world around us

Visit iconic sites

See the sights from the comfort of your chair

The 7 New Wonders of the World

Marvel at masterpieces

The creativity and beauty of art from different cultures around the world

Admire the architecture

Take a look around beautiful buildings from across the ages

Architecture Through Time

From the beginnings of humanity to today

Join the celebrations

Sing and dance along at home

Step into the spotlight

A behind-the-scenes look at performing arts around the world

This is just the beginning

There's so much more to explore

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Arts & Culture Expeditions - Google Arts & Culture

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Go on a virtual field trip with Google Arts & Culture

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Note - The Google Expeditions App will be retired on June 30, 2021 and the content will be moved to Google Arts and Culture.

Google Expeditions contains a growing number of journeys from around the world - but what seemed to be missing was a way to search the available content. So I produced a searchable map and table of the current expeditions:

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Note - The Google Expeditions App will be retired on June 30, 2021 and the content will be moved to Google Arts and Culture. Google Expeditions contains a growing number of journeys from around the world - but what seemed to be missing was a way to search the available content.

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360 Storytelling Presentation :: JLWilliams

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virtual and mixed reality for all classrooms

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international society for technology in education

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education - effect of technological innovations on

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education / standards (incl common core)

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education / standards (incl. common core)

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education / teaching methods & materials / general

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education / teaching methods & materials / science & technology

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teachers' classroom resources & material

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virtual reality; augmented reality; mixed reality; immersive technology; virtual field trips

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education / standards (incl common core)

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education / standards (incl. common core)

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education / teaching methods & materials / general

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education / teaching methods & materials / science & technology

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teachers' classroom resources & material

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Learning Transported: Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality for All Classrooms

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Teachers nationwide are adopting immersive technology devices and software that provide augmented, virtual and mixed reality experiences to enable students to go on virtual field trips, manipulate 3D objects and augment the world around them. Immersive technology resources can be far less costly ...

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I have used the Frida Kahlo (in English and Spanish, parts I and II) Expeditions along with the questions and images embedded in it. 

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I have used the Frida Kahlo (in English and Spanish, parts I and II) Expeditions along with the questions and images embedded in it. 

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Starry Night, Van Gogh @ https://youtu.be/wCbR88NbziY

Dreams of Dali @ https://youtu.be/F1eLeIocAcU

Girl at the window, Dali @ https://youtu.be/Mr0rsYTt-qg

The night café, Van Gogh @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBOL5yakREA&feature=youtu.be

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When discussing locations we use VR to give the student experience with those locations. 

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When discussing locations we use VR to give the student experience with those locations. 

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I use google streets and virtual tours with giving and understanding directions in Spanish. I did this for the first time this year and it was a game changer

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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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Virtual Reality | United States | Aquila Education

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Aquila Education | Search Google Expeditions

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Search for Google Expeditions by grade, subject or location. Includes Expeditions AR and Expeditons VR

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18 Challenges for Teachers in 2018 FREE eBook! Get the FREE eBook: 18 Challenges for Teachers in 2018! Simply fill out this form and we will send you the 83-page PDF ebook. Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

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Virtual Reality in Education - EdTechnocation

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EdTechnocation is an EdTech Resource produced by Michael Fricano II, a Tech Integration Specialist and authorized Google Education Trainer.