Virtual Field Trip Kits Get a Makeover
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 12/07/20
An
education robotics company has updated its virtual field trip
offerings. RobotLAB
will be working with Encyclopedia
Britannica
on VR
Expeditions 2.0.
The
announcement came shortly after Google said it would be shifting its
Expeditions
virtual reality content to its Arts & Culture service and
eliminating the stand-alone Expeditions app for Android and iOS as of
June 30, 2021. RobotLAB was a partner in the Expeditions program,
selling VR classroom kits that included content and VR headsets.
According
to the company, with VR Expeditions 2.0, teachers can choose online
field trips from "hundreds" that are available, save them
locally, provide student handouts curated by Encyclopedia Britannica,
broadcast different scenes to the students and manage classroom
usage. All of the 360-degrees photos and videos used are high
definition with 4k resolution.
RobotLAB
has three
pre-configured kits:
-
Standard
Expeditions 2.0, which includes sets of three to 45 student headsets
with VR content only;
-
AR/VR
Expeditions 2.0, with both VR and augmented reality content; and
-
Advanced
Expeditions 2.0, with VR content and higher quality headsets.
The
new release is also backward-compatible. Schools with existing
hardware can retrofit their existing kits to run VR Expeditions 2.0,
the company said in a press release.
"We
live in a wonderful, beautiful, magnificent world. It is history- and
culture-rich, diverse and awe-inspiring. And teachers love bringing
it all to their classrooms, and take students places, lead their way
and excite their discovery and path-finding," said Elad Inbar,
company CEO. "Especially nowadays, when everything around us
looks so grim, and the reality isn't a fun place to be in, going on
high-definition virtual field trips can infuse new excitement to an
every-day lesson."
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.