Virtual Reality

In class today, we had the opportunity to check out a virtual reality lab and it was fascinating. I have never experienced virtual reality and I got to make art with virtual objects and brushes, as well as view artifacts in a 3D space in my time in the lab.

There are a few health concerns with virtual reality. First of all, it can affect the growth of the eye, leading to the potential development of myopia or nearsightedness. Secondly, there is a danger of getting hurt by obstacles in the real world that are not visible in the virtual reality world (for this reason, it is always recommended that someone is watching over a person using virtual reality). Finally, motion sickness is very common within virtual reality, as the movements within the 3D space can be abrupt and/or large, throwing off a person’s balance. For these reasons, children below the age of 12 should not use it, and people above the age of 13 should be conscious of their time spent on it.

I can see many benefits of adding virtual reality into an educational setting. As two main examples based on my experience, I can see the benefits of virtual reality being implemented into art and history classes. In the virtual reality space, a person can create art in three dimensions, using objects, lines, a 360 degree space, colours, and more. Additionally, in this space, a person can view artifacts up close, far away, from above, from below, etc. This could be a really cool addition to history classes in which students are studying archaeology and artifacts are not obtainable in the real world.

Reference:

The very real health dangers of virtual reality