Virtual Reality and Learning

Your Name and Title: Sarah Pavey MSc FCLIP FRSA, Education Consultant and Trainer

Library, School, or Organization Name: SP4IL  www.sp4il.co.uk

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: England

Language in Which You Will Present: English

Target Audience(s): School librarians and public library librarians or anyone delivering lessons or training sessions

Short Session Description (one line): Learn how to use VR and AR to help students with vocabulary, description and storytelling

Full Session Description (as long as you would like):

Working for over 20 years as a school librarian in England in the public and private sector as well as in a UK international school I have spent time innovating and creating lessons to engage students, to motivate them and to help them retain knowledge. The advent of VR was a blessing and I experimented in many ways in how I could reap the best from this technology. I began with simple apps such as Aurasma (now EyeJack is probably the closest equivalent) learning to bring presentations to life. The first time I used it linking students reading poetry to a picture my headmaster told everyone that there was real magic happening in the library! This technology has so much potential and is very easy to use.

This session will concentrate on using VR, AR and Mixed reality apps such as Figment, Drawmatic AR and MergeCube in the context of storytelling - whether that is for non-fiction or fiction topics. I firmly believe that immersing yourself and interacting in another world helps develop vocabulary - and we know modern students often have limitations in the words they use. The session will not only consider how these products are used but also delve into the psychology and pedagogy of how taking this approach to learning can affect motivation and retention. I will cover how we can best ensure that what we choose to use is not just a one off gimmick but has legacy for learning.

Over the COVID lockdown I was asked to write a book about game-based learning and gamification in school libraries and in my research for this I gathered case studies from 35 countries some of which were about the use of VR and I will be using some of these examples in this presentation

Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session:

https://www.sp4il.co.uk/

https://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/page/detail/playing-games-in-the-school-library/?k=9781783305339