Author: evangelia baka

Using VR in the classroom isn’t exactly a walk in the park. But John Zingale, a social studies teacher at Vancouver iTech Preparatory in Vancouver, WA wanted to go a step further. In partnership with the nearby For Vancouver National Historic Site, he and computer science teacher Cindy Hagin have led students through numerous VR-based projects. Most recently, his class scanned multiple museum artifacts for 3D viewing. Using the app Qlone—which syncs up with Apple’s AR Kit and employs the method of photogrammetry—students were able to translate pictures of the objects into 3D digital images. “Being a project-based school,...

Ulster University is involved with an international project utilising virtual reality (VR) to impact Ireland’s tourism sector. Managed by Museum Nord, the €2m CINE project has nine full academic partners across Norway, Iceland, the UK and Ireland, funded by the Interreg Northern Periphery Programme. “We’re using VR and AR (augmented reality) for sustaining and protecting culture and national heritage,” said Joan Condell, Ulster University senior lecturer. Partly this is a way for museums in Ireland, the UK and Northern Europe to get their visitor numbers up. “Museums are struggling with lowering visitor rates – they constantly have to redo their sales pitch,” explained...