For the past two years I have used Google Cardboard VR headsets in my Art History classes. The initial investment of boxes was provided by a generous grant through Perimeter College’s Office of Informational Technology. The majority of my students have difficulties drawing on the true experiential majesty and aura of architecture, especially in ancient periods where sites and buildings are often in ruins. I find the use of VR in this respect to be a major breakthrough in appreciation. With the cardboard boxes they are using their own cellphones to travel literally in time and space. I can stop my 2D PowerPoint lecture, pass out boxes and pull up a plethora of images using Google Streetview on any given historical site. Here is a screen shot, showing the split stereoscopic view of the Temple to Athena/Nike on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
This fall I began to incorporate VR production into my upper level Art History survey classes. Again through a institutional technology grant I have a GoPro rig developed by Kolor, a pioneering French VR company. With production equipment, I plan on offering special visits to cultural institutions and landmarks in Atlanta to take immersive stills and video. Currently post production has been a major challenge. Students from the SDCC have helped me with a few beta projects in order to learn Kolor’s Autopano Giga software suite. Here is a short video of the quad on Decatur Campus. The spherical image can be explored by clicking and dragging your mouse.
As of the end of the Spring 2016 semester a few of my work-study students are refining post-production techniques for the equipment we already have. We collaborated with the Georgia State football team filming their Spring Game. Unfortunately our footage has been difficult to work with, but the example below is a representative sample of our sideline access. There is also interest by GSU Athletics to continue producing content for other sports teams, although we are reticent to add more projects until we have perfected post-production techniques.
I have reached out to Perimeter’s Theatre and Music departments in search of additional production projects. Obviously this would be an excellent outlet for the classes I already teach. I also need to reconnect with the Nursing department about possibly doing a clinical “VR experience,” as an immersive video project for their classes.
