US University Launches First Full Class in Virtual Reality
2021-12-16
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1California's Stanford University has launched its first class taught fully with virtual reality, or VR, technology.
2Virtual reality involves the creation of digital environments that can be entered and controlled by humans.
3People use a headset that permits them to see virtual settings and objects, along with electronic controllers, to experience VR environments.
4The new class, or course, is called "Virtual People."
5It is taught by Jeremy Bailenson, a professor of communication.
6Bailenson came up with the idea after teaching students about VR for nearly 20 years.
7During that time, he saw the technology continue to develop and decided the best way to demonstrate its abilities was to create a full course experience with VR.
8The class covers the expanding influence of VR in many different fields,
9 "including popular culture, engineering, behavioral science and communication," the official course description reads.
10Each week the course centers on different areas where VR can be used in the real world.
11The course includes times when students have individual VR experiences,
12as well as times when the whole class enters a VR environment at the same time.
13"In Virtual People, the students don't just get to try VR a handful of times.
14VR becomes the medium they rely on," professor Bailenson said in a statement.
15He added: "To the best of my knowledge, nobody has networked hundreds of students (with) VR headsets for months at a time in the history of virtual reality, or even in the history of teaching."
16Each student received an Oculus Quest 2 headset to use throughout the course.
17Facebook's parent company Meta created the Quest device.
18Meta has said such headsets will play a big part in a future "metaverse" it plans to build with other companies.
19The university says that during 2021, two courses permitted 263 students to spend nearly 3,500 shared hours together in VR environments.
20The course description says students can virtually take field trips,
21hold group discussions and even take part in live music events and other performances.
22In addition to the headsets, the course also needed software to connect the students and teachers.
23For this, Bailenson said the university decided to use the ENGAGE virtual communication system.
24ENGAGE is used by major companies and educational organizations to hold virtual meetings and events.
25Cyan DeVeaux is a doctoral student at Stanford who serves as a teaching assistant for the class.
26She told The Stanford Daily that VR permits people to "imagine the impossible."
27Among class exercises was "a guided meditation in outer space," DeVeaux said.
28Students were also able to create performances with different avatars and build unusual settings on their own.
29Allison Lettiere took the class before graduating in the field of computer science.
30She said that in the past, she mostly thought of VR as being linked to video games.
31But she said the course taught her valuable information about the technology that she might be able to use in her career.
32Lettiere said one exercise was particularly helpful.
33It permitted students to virtually walk in someone else's shoes.
34She said this could help her better understand the needs some people have with accessibility in technology.
35Sophie Marie Wallace is a student majoring in science, technology and society.
36She said the class helped her connect to virtual experiences that led her to discover a new area of interest,
37 "...using VR to improve sports performance in both land and (water) sports."
38The course is part of a study being carried out by Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab.
39The study is looking at how virtual technologies can be effectively used in educational settings.
40Bailenson and DeVeaux plan to use data from the class to examine differences in behavior in virtual environments.
41They hope the data can be used to help understand these differences and lead to an expansion of VR technologies in education.
42I'm Bryan Lynn.
1California's Stanford University has launched its first class taught fully with virtual reality, or VR, technology. 2Virtual reality involves the creation of digital environments that can be entered and controlled by humans. People use a headset that permits them to see virtual settings and objects, along with electronic controllers, to experience VR environments. 3The new class, or course, is called "Virtual People." It is taught by Jeremy Bailenson, a professor of communication. 4Bailenson came up with the idea after teaching students about VR for nearly 20 years. During that time, he saw the technology continue to develop and decided the best way to demonstrate its abilities was to create a full course experience with VR. 5The class covers the expanding influence of VR in many different fields, "including popular culture, engineering, behavioral science and communication," the official course description reads. 6Each week the course centers on different areas where VR can be used in the real world. The course includes times when students have individual VR experiences, as well as times when the whole class enters a VR environment at the same time. 7"In Virtual People, the students don't just get to try VR a handful of times. VR becomes the medium they rely on," professor Bailenson said in a statement. He added: "To the best of my knowledge, nobody has networked hundreds of students (with) VR headsets for months at a time in the history of virtual reality, or even in the history of teaching." 8Each student received an Oculus Quest 2 headset to use throughout the course. Facebook's parent company Meta created the Quest device. Meta has said such headsets will play a big part in a future "metaverse" it plans to build with other companies. 9The university says that during 2021, two courses permitted 263 students to spend nearly 3,500 shared hours together in VR environments. The course description says students can virtually take field trips, hold group discussions and even take part in live music events and other performances. 10In addition to the headsets, the course also needed software to connect the students and teachers. For this, Bailenson said the university decided to use the ENGAGE virtual communication system. ENGAGE is used by major companies and educational organizations to hold virtual meetings and events. 11Cyan DeVeaux is a doctoral student at Stanford who serves as a teaching assistant for the class. She told The Stanford Daily that VR permits people to "imagine the impossible." 12Among class exercises was "a guided meditation in outer space," DeVeaux said. Students were also able to create performances with different avatars and build unusual settings on their own. 13Allison Lettiere took the class before graduating in the field of computer science. She said that in the past, she mostly thought of VR as being linked to video games. But she said the course taught her valuable information about the technology that she might be able to use in her career. 14Lettiere said one exercise was particularly helpful. It permitted students to virtually walk in someone else's shoes. She said this could help her better understand the needs some people have with accessibility in technology. 15Sophie Marie Wallace is a student majoring in science, technology and society. She said the class helped her connect to virtual experiences that led her to discover a new area of interest, "...using VR to improve sports performance in both land and (water) sports." 16The course is part of a study being carried out by Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab. The study is looking at how virtual technologies can be effectively used in educational settings. Bailenson and DeVeaux plan to use data from the class to examine differences in behavior in virtual environments. They hope the data can be used to help understand these differences and lead to an expansion of VR technologies in education. 17I'm Bryan Lynn. 18Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from Stanford and The Stanford Daily. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. 19We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. 20____________________________________________ 21Words in This Story 22digital - adj. created through electronic devices using computer technology; not physically real 23virtual - adj. existing or occurring on computers or on the internet 24medium - n. a way of communicating or expressing something 25rely - v. to trust someone or something 26meditation - n. the act or process of spending time in quiet thought 27avatar - n. an electronic image people create to represent themselves in a computer game or on the internet 28accessible - adj. easily used or accessed by people with disabilities