#Early_June #Hamburg
It is the early morning of a Friday in early June 2024, when I start my car at home. I spend more time late last night, then I would like to admit, on setting up our VIRION VR Glasses. 15 Meta Quest 2 now have individual accounts and are supposed to work independently and able to share their screen with other devices.
| Learning 1: How should schools set up their VR Glasses? When schools use commercial VR glasses, like the Meta Quest 2, we used in our VIRION tests, they should keep in mind, that setting up and administering the glasses is tedious. Therefore, schools should invest in proper Multi-Device Management (MDM) tools. |
While I live in the inner city, our participating school Stadtteilschule Lohbrügge is on the outskirts of Hamburg. This gives me the advantage of driving against the flow of commuters, so that there are no major traffic jams for me and the 15 glasses, 2 highspeed internet routers and 1 Google Chromecast. Soon, I am closing in on the Eastern suburbs of Hamburg, a mixture of open fields, suburbia and modernist style apartment blocks mostly from the 1960s. Our partner school is in mostly new, modern buildings and with 1.500+ pupils most likely one of the biggest schools in our VIRION test runs.
Why am I here? Our four VIRION VR contents are now finally developed, and we will test it with twelve schools all over Europe. Stadtteilschule Lohbrügge will be the first one in Germany and today I will introduce the teachers to our glasses and the content, so that they can test the apps with their students in the following weeks. As described in Learning 2, we will try to stream (“cast”) between our VR glasses and the school’s iPads, so that a group of two students can work as a tandem on the VR glasses tasks. So, before we even start to include the group of teachers in this training, in a small group we are trying to connect glasses and tablets. For that, we have brought our own routers, so that the glasses are already connected and only the iPads need to connect to the HCU routers and have the Meta Apps and set up for the matching glasses with the respective account.
| Learning 2: How can you use the VIRION Apps in a class room? Based on a joint workshop with all schools in Madrid earlier in 2024, the teachers of three German schools decided to test this approach: – 15 glasses are available in the VIRION tests, so that out of 30 pupils 15 can use VR glasses at the same time – Students work in groups of two: one student wears glasses, one student is equipped with a tablet and the assignment sheet of each educational VR App (e.g. assembling a circuit) – The content of the VR glasses is streamed to the tablet, so that one student can easily follow his/her colleague through the virtual world, help him/her not to get lost and to help concentrating for the task at hand. This way, we include all students in the process, and help them to jointly work on the assignment. It will also help teachers tackling problems pupils face in the Virtual Reality from the outside, without the need to switch glasses with the pupil. – Before pupils start, a teacher can, while wearing the glasses, show basic functions of VR and the educational content. The glasses content is streamed to a projector or screen for the students to see, e.g. via a Chromecast or other means of casting. |
After some initial testing, it becomes clear that something is not working as supposed to. The devices are not connecting well to the Meta services via either the school’s wireless, nor the HCU routers, connected to school’s ethernet. On the other hand, the devices work fine when connected via mobile hotspots. Together with teachers and staff responsible for the tech infrastructure, we determine that the municipal IT operator must have blocked ports or functions relevant for Meta services. We have emergency calls with the IT operator, but at least for today we will not manage to test the streaming option. The tight schedule for financing and procuring the glasses and the ambitious plan to have the pupils work in groups of two is therefore falling flat on its face. We resume initial testing in a more traditional way, together with a handful of teachers who are planned to test the VR with their classes.
| Learning 3: What technical requirements are there with the school’s network/wireless? With the approach described above, using the VR depends on the availability of a performant internet connection. Before using the VR application with students, check that all internet connections work well with the glasses you have bought. In our case, we had problems with blocked network ports used by the Meta services. They were perhaps blocked due to the fact, that Meta also operates Facebook. Please remember, that when the glasses are connected to the internet, students can load other content. However, this can also be prevented with the right settings, in particular through multi-device management (see above), or other measures. On the other hand, you can also create settings, in which the VR is used without any internet access. This way, a lot of the VIRION testing outside Germany was performed. |
Late_June #Detmold #NRW
Two weeks later, I have picked up the VR glasses from the first round of testing in Hamburg and now big boxes of VR glasses and additional material is in the back of an HCU company van. When I leave the HCU underground garage, I recognize that while I was setting up the van, the weather has turned. Deep black clouds are hanging over the river Elbe, and only a minute after I have left the garage, the first raindrop falls on the windshield. I make it barely 1 kilometer, before I decide on the Freihafenelbbrücke bridge that driving is not save due to the heavy rain. Together with other drivers, I ride out the heavy precipitation event in a parking lot. Only twenty minutes later, I can return to the streets, and while avoiding flooded underpasses, at some point I finally reach the Autobahn.
After following Autobahns 1, 7, 352, 2 and some windy backroads for 300km, I arrive in Detmold, a picturesque city of 75.000 inhabitants, and regional capital in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, that thanks to Germany’s federalism not only has different vacation dates, but also a distinctly different school system.
As a former resident of the city myself, over my lunch break I’m happy to see that nothing has changed in the town center. The Leopoldinum is not only the oldest school in the city, but also in walking distance from the historic city hall.
In one of their extension buildings from the 1970s, we are soon setting up the VR glasses and, again, the school’s iPads. Delicious cakes from a local bakery add to the family atmosphere. We are lucky: the iPads easily connect to the Meta accounts, using the school’s wireless. Only the VR glasses cause problems: the school’s extremely long WLAN password is repeatedly rejected. Do we keep mistyping? After we find out that we better not use the faulty pop-up asking us to connect to a new network, but better use the main settings, we are finally able to easily do all the set-ups necessary.
After a good night’s sleep, we meet again in the morning. The VR glasses are set up in an underused physics classroom, where overhead connectors not only offer gas for experiments, but also electricity above each desk. This setting later proved to be extremely helpful, as glasses could easily plugged in for charging during every break, and can therefore can be used over a long time.
| Learning 5: Which classrooms are particularly suitable for the use of VR? In our case, where the glasses were often to be used for several hours at a time with only short breaks, and there was no equipment trolley available, as offered by the larger providers of VR solutions, it was particularly helpful to use them in science rooms with power sockets at each table. In principle, however, it seems helpful to have designated rooms available permanently or at least for longer tests where the devices can be used, stored and charged. If material trolleys are available, this challenge can be mitigated. |
In their first class of the day, students are introduced to the VR content. Everything works well, even the streaming to the iPads. The students have a blast and quick ones solve all four rooms of the Physics app with ease. Of course, there are also pupils with motion sickness, but these students then can easily switch to being the tandem partner, helping their colleagues with observing and advising them from the iPad.
Later in the day, I leave the school on my way back to Hamburg, now finally hopeful that our tests will be successful.
#Early_July #Flensburg #Schleswig-Holstein
Four weeks later, on a lazy Friday afternoon, I have packed 15 VR glasses and all our equipment back into the university’s van, parked on the empty schoolyard of the Goetheschule – Gymnasium der Stadt Flensburg. After two successful weeks of testing in Detmold and another two successful weeks in Flensburg, the lion’s share of testing is done. In Flensburg, again, the testing run smoothly. The wireless was available, and a chemistry room with overhead outlets again made charging easy.
The Flensburg contact person and I can complete this test in a relaxed atmosphere. The school is a fantastic brick building on a hill above the city. The guest from HCU has the great honor of being allowed to climb up to the dome of the school. The view over Germany’s northernmost city and the Flensburg fjord is breathtaking.
When I return to Hamburg, our temporary transport boxes are already worn and one of the chargers seem to have been mixed up with one from another device. For now, our test phase remains an experiment.
| Learning 6: How should VR glasses and other equipment be stored? The temporary storage of glasses and equipment in moving boxes and Meta glasses boxes, as we did with the German tests, is not suitable for permanent use. In addition to the goggles, leading VR users also provide equipment trolleys. Some solutions are also available for commercial offerings such as Meta Quest. These purchases should be taken into account when purchasing the goggles. |
#17.6.2024 #Hamburg
At last! Summer vacation! At least for the pupils of Stadtteilschule Lohbrügge and all other Hamburg schools. The graduating class has received their certificates today and the school grounds still have a festive atmosphere. Smartly dressed teachers help me carry the boxes with VR glasses across the schoolyard.
In this last week before the summer vacation, which was only three days long, we resumed the tests in Hamburg. Due to the technical problems, the school was behind schedule with its tests. Because the technical problems could never be fully resolved, I offered to help with some of the remaining testing and we decided not to stream from the VR glasses to the tablets. Instead, the classes were repeatedly divided into a group that used the 15 glasses and another group that worked on a different task in another room.
In keeping with the start of the summer vacation, it had become hot in Hamburg, at least as hot as it can get in this northern city. We opened all the windows to cool down the classroom. Nevertheless, we had the impression that motion sickness was more widespread than on other days and not all students were any more motivated to deal with cell biology or chemical elements in view of the wonderful weather. Others, on the other hand, enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the last week of school to play through as many of the apps as possible. Make-up was now more noticeable on the VR glasses due to the warm temperatures, but the VR device-compatible disinfectant wipes we used can also remove this quite easily.
| Learning 7: How should the VR glasses be disinfected? We are not in a position to provide legally binding information on the disinfection of VR glasses for use in schools (but see our Guidelines and Best Practice). However, for the tests in Germany, we purchased lactic acid-based disinfectant wipes that are specifically approved for use with VR glasses in particular or for technical devices in general. It should be noted that conventional alcohol-based disinfectants are not usually approved for use with IT equipment. |
I leave the school grounds for the last time, which will now fall into a deep sleep for six weeks, and drive back to Hamburg city center, again against the direction of the commuter flow, the VR goggles in the back of the trunk. On the way back, I can look back on seven weeks of testing and almost 1.500km on my tangible road trip for virtual reality: At the end, our German students will have given their feedback on 532 VR tests. Thank you to all the students who took part!
But a big thank you in particular to all the school administrators, faculty and especially teachers who supported our tests so wonderfully. We know that this was a huge effort in Germany, but also in Spain, Finland and Bulgaria. Thank you!