Virtual Reality

   A few months back, the New York Times sent me information about a new project. The paper was seeking to reinvent the way it produced video content to accompany online stories.
   To date, many stories online were accompanied by a short video. These were quickly produced and did not in any way introduce viewers to new technology. These videos simply took the place of the photographs that for decades have accompanied stories in newspapers' print versions.
   The new project would produce immersive video content.  These videos would be created with the use of a 360 degree camera. To access these videos, viewers would need a phone, an app and a viewer.
   This new project is an example of virtual reality (VR), defined by Wikipedia as "immersive multimedia or computer-simulated reality, which replicates an environment that simulates a physical presence in places in the real world or an imagined world, allowing the user to interact in that world. Virtual realities artificially create sensory experiences, which can include sight, touch, hearing, and smell." With VR, viewers get the experience of being in an environment even though they are not physically there.
   The Oculus Rift made a big splash by bringing this technology to consumers in the form of personal entertainment. But what about this technology for educational purposes? Is there a future in schools for VR?
    The NY Times project suggests so.  For instance, imagine a history class examining the conditions in Syrian refugee camps. Accounts, pictures and video would offer information, but an immersive video might offer a more visceral understanding of conditions in these camps. These types of 360 degree videos are being produced as supplements to NY Times articles, but there is every reason to expect the technology to migrate to classroom environments.
    Google is another major promoter of VR technology as a learning tool. The Google Expeditions Pioneer Program is specifically designed to deepen students' understanding of world geography and cultures through virtual reality.  The program is in a beta stage as of this writing, but look for the program to gain traction in the months ahead.
   In the video below, there is some brief description about how the technology works and, with the help of a student volunteer, a peek at what the experience is all about.  If you're interested in checking out the technology, just let me know and you can try it for yourself.

 

KnightSite: Changes Ahead

   KnightSite, our password-protected intranet, continues to change and evolve.  I'd like to use this post to give a very brief overview of KnightsSite and mention some upcoming changes.
    A few years back, Gill St. Bernard's made a decision to overhaul our web site. That decision involved considerable deliberation but ultimately the school decided on Whipple Hill as our provider.  Whipple Hill was a company with deep experience building custom web sites for schools.
   Part of that purchase included the construction of an intranet which came to be called KnightSite.  KnightSite, as you know, connects students, families and school personnel in a way that gives users ways to distribute and access information. Because it is password-protected, it affords privacy as well.
   Last year, Whipple Hill was purchased by Blackbaud, a company built on data services.  Blackbaud should be a familiar name; we've used Blackbaud products for years to manage data in admissions, development, academic offices and in our business office.  Because our web sites and databases would all be under one corporate roof, we hoped that services could be more efficiently integrated over time.
   Looking in to the near future, some of those streamlined efficiencies are now on the horizon.  Soon, student schedules that are entered into our academic database (Education Edge) will automatically populate the student's KnightSite account.  Similarly, changes in parents' phone numbers or addresses in our databases will translate to KnightSite changes. These and other similar connections between our existing databases and KnightSite accounts should result in more accurate information across our platforms.
   Blackbaud periodically issues an update report that informs system administrators about changes.  These updates are generally both in text and video form. A recent update included a number of items, but I edited the video to focus on the increased functionality available to faculty beginning February 10th.