Emerging Tech Curriculum

challenge:

Design a simple curriculum around virtual reality technology for public high school students.

Solution:

Pilot City is an organization that introduces emerging technologies to public high school students in San Leandro and Hayward, California. For my part, I was asked to design a simple curriculum around virtual reality that teachers would teach their classes over the course of a semester. With a lot of enthusiasm, but little time to prepare, I set out to deliver a unique perspective on immersive technologies, putting together lessons on “how logic and organization are used to design interactive applications.”  But in my haste, I had made assumptions about the teachers’ knowledge of VR and on “Teach the Teachers Day,” I was met with blank stares. The teachers had never even tried VR and had absolutely no context for what I was trying to convey.

I learned three lessons in my career that would again serve me in the situation I found myself with these teachers. First, know your audience. Second, understand the tools you have to tell your story. And finally, don’t panic! There’s always a moment in the creative process when it feels impossible. We took a break and I gave the teachers an opportunity to actually try VR, getting a sense of their comfort level with the technology. We then took stock of the equipment that would be available to the students. And together, we calmly mapped out a simplified curriculum that would teach students how to produce 360 videos as a means of raising awareness of underrepresented populations. At the end of the semester, when the final projects were presented, I had to hold back tears.

In the following project, the team interviewed a girl in the special needs classroom. Due to lack of time It's not centered properly. But this can be fixed by simply spinning the 360 video 180 degrees. And if you can find a cardboard viewer and some headphones to experience it, it is worth your time. The kids did an amazing job!