VR Classroom
How To Book
If you would like to utilize VR in your classroom, please send an email the WLDH Studio (wldhs@uark.edu) with the following:
- prospective dates (2 week notice minimum);
- an artifact or idea to work from;
- the number of classes you wish to bring as well as the number of students in each class.
A consultation meeting will be scheduled to build the lesson plan and how to set up the experience on a practical level, as well as the date(s) for the activity. All VR Classroom activities take place in the WLDH Studio (JBHT 207).
Equipment
Past VR Classroom Events and Resources
Led by Jhonatan Carmona in 2023, this VR Classroom visit focused on taking his students to Casa Batllo in Spain through a YouTube VR video that had a Spanish narration. The students would fill out the attached worksheet that describes Casa Batllo before going through the building in VR. After, the students would answer questions on a Padlet and discuss the experience with each other.
In Dr. Rhodora Vennarucci's Greek Art and Archaeology and Elementary Latin courses, Lost Recipes was used to give the students an experience in cooking Ancient Greek recipes and understand the layout of an Ancient Greek kitchen. For CLST 44103, this was done in conjunction with the Greek House project to bring to life a small portion of a similar home to the one being studied. For LATN 10103, this was done in conjunction with a Roman cooking project; while these are different cultures, the items used in each kitchen are similar and the recipes use similar ingredients given the very interconnected nature of the Greeks and Romans.
As part of the Classics Day that Latin students from the Thaden School had on the University of Arkansas Campus, Dr. Vennarucci, Dr. Reeber, Dr. Levine, and graduate students Michael Hall and Rachel Murray brought the students to the WLDH Studio for a pair of VR applications. Dr. Venarucci had students go through her Virtual Roman Retail application, which allows the player to experience a virtualized Roman Shop. Michael Hall had the students play Lost Recipes to show them the extent of virtual Classics experiences available to us at that time.
The FLTAs from Argentina for the 2022-2023 Academic Year (Camila Bracamonte) and 2023-2024 Academic Year (Julieta Bertola) both brought students to the WLDH Studio to bring them on different tours of Argentina. Camila found a number of videos that brought the students to different natural wonders of Argentina, a cultural event, and a trip through Buenos Aires. Julieta, in the spirit of Halloween, brought students to the Cementerio de la Recoleta to take a walking tour of this famous cemetery in Buenos Aires.
Applications
Lost Recipes
A stylized 3D cooking video game developed by Schell games. Players will make a set of recipes from Ancient Greece, Ming Dynasty China, and Maya cultures with period accurate tools and methods. Recipes are taught by a ghost sous-chef who is voiced by a member of the respective culture. The game had several professors and academic checkers to make the experience as period appropriate as possible, which adds to the depth of care and charm to the game.
Immerse
An AI-powered application that allows for more open conversations. This application is available via web browser and with headsets, and allows for one-on-one vocabulary practice, listening and speaking practice with generative prompts in the target language.
Currently only available in French and Spanish.
Italian Cooking/Italian Market
The Italian Market application—currently on the Meta Quest 1 and Oculus Go headsets—is an interactive walk-through of a market in Rome. Students will be asked questions in Italian and must choose the correct answer. The game is built from 360 Image Stills of a real Rome market.
The Italian Cooking application—currently on the Meta Quest 1 and Quest 2 headsets—is a 3D-modeled kitchen inside a 360 video of an Italian cooking class in Rome. The participant will listen to instructions in Italian and cook a dish following those instructions.
YouTube VR
The video sharing platform, YouTube, has an extensive and free to watch catalogue of 360 VR videos of thousands of destinations. Some of these videos have narration in the target language, some have narration in English, many have no narration, just a walk around or through cultural areas.
Language Lab
This is a language learning game that is focused on recognizing vocabulary while playing fun games. There are three mini-games: mountain climbing, a rhythm game, and a shooting gallery.
- The mountain climbing game asks the player to listen to a vocab word and then grab and pull down on the correct item.
- The rhythm game will give a student a vocabulary word, then items will appear. The student then must “slash” at the correct one. This game is in a similar style to Beat Saber.
- The shooting gallery will populate several items on the screen, then the player be given a vocabulary word and must choose the correct object by clicking on it.
Google Earth VR
This application needs the Quest 2 or Quest 3 device to be plugged into a computer via a USB-C wire to use. Google Earth VR allows the user to explore the world through Fly-Over, similar to drone footage, and land in spots that have Google Street-View views available.
Due to the plug-in limitation, this is best used when one student is controlling the movement, and the rest of the class is watching the cast and discussing what they are seeing in the target language.