Google is focusing its VR efforts on bringing the variety of the wider real world closer to more people, and its new Expeditions app for virtual field trips is no exception. The app is aimed at giving students the ability to travel to places they otherwise might not had the opportunity to reach.
Google Expeditions is a virtual reality teaching tool built with Google Cardboard. Teachers can choose from a library of 100+ virtual trips to places like Mars, the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Wall of China. Teachers need only download the app onto devices that will fit into a Google Cardboard and the teacher can lead the class onto a journey to different locations around the world. Google Expeditions is a virtual reality platform built for the classroom. Google worked with teachers and content partners from around the world to create more than 100 engaging journeys — making it easy to immerse students in entirely new experiences.
Virtual reality at the level Google is facilitating it is affordable and easy to get started with. You basically need only a low-cost or free kit like Cardboard, and your existing phone. While this doesn’t lead to amazing visual fidelity, it does allow for transportive experiences.
Expeditions launches with ready-made virtual field trips including, letting educators provide out of the box tours to their classes with minimal setup and organization required. And of course, you also don’t need to get those pesky permission slips signed to let everyone take part.
Google Expeditions enables teachers to bring students on virtual trips to places like museums, underwater, and outer space. Expeditions are collections of linked virtual reality (VR) content and supporting materials that can be used alongside existing curriculum.
These trips are collections of virtual reality panoramas — 360° panoramas and 3D images — annotated with details, points of interest, and questions that make them easy to integrate into curriculum already used in schools.
The Power of Google Expeditions
Google Expeditions offer a wide range of experiences for students, both in Virtual Reality as well as Augmented Reality. Many Tours can even be embedded in a webpage, so no additional equipment is required. Expeditions can be guided (teacher to students, or student to students), or can be explored independently by students on their Chromebook.
There is a creation component in Google Tour Creator. Teachers can create custom Expeditions/Tours for their students, or students can create Expeditions/Tours for each other.
With over 800 Expeditions currently available, the content touches on a wide range of subjects including historical landmarks, natural wonders, college campuses, careers and more.
The platform was discontinued on June 30, 2021, and was merged into Google Arts & Culture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlYJdZeA9w4
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