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Oculus Rift CEO Says Classrooms of the Future Will Be In VR Goggles
jyosim writes "Oculus Rift isn't just for gaming. Brendan Iribe, CEO of the VR company, says the immersive tech will be "one of the most transformative platforms for education of all time." In an interview with Chronicle of Higher Education, he imagined laser-scanning every object in the Smithsonian for students to explore, and collaborating in shared virtual spaces rather than campuses. "The next step past that is when you have shared space, and not only do you believe that this object is right there in front of me, but I look around and I see other people just like we see each other now, and I really, truly believe that you’re right in front of me. We can look at each others’ eyes. If you look down at something, I can look down at the same time. And it’s every bit as good as this. And if we can make virtual reality every bit as good as real reality in terms of communications and the sense of shared presence with others, you can now educate people in virtual classrooms, you can now educate people with virtual objects, and we can all be in a classroom together [virtually], we can all be present, we can have relationships and communication that are just as good as the real classroom," he says.
Why does the classroom of the future need to be VR? I would think the typical computer monitor would be sufficient.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
In other news, a spokesman for gun maker Smith & Wesson said today that "gun ranges are the classrooms of the future." Film at eleven.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
List of transformative, disruptive, game-changing, paradigm-shifting technologies that have changed education forever:
1) Radio
2) Televison
3) Language Labs
4) Personal Computers
5) Laptops
6) Tablets
7) Second Life/Virtual Worlds
8) Gamification
9) Eight-Track Tape Recorders
Thanks to these transformative platforms, the classroom of today is nothing like the ancient classroom of Rome or Greece, or even the quaint antiquity of the early twentieth century. Education is completely different now! No more reading, writing, and arithmetic: thanks to transformative platforms and gadgets, kids have no need for such lessons! And it's all thanks to visionaries and other CEO's who haven't seen the inside of a classroom since their childhood.
Yes, let's strap on VR goggles all day for classes which aren't enhanced in even the smallest way by VR. Hell, why stop there? Keep them on constantly. It'll be great when grocery shopping.
I don't buy isolated VR as a learning tool for wide use.
I stop paying attention to what they say and start paying attention to the person and think what their motivation may be.
I am fairly uncomfortable with the thought of "one of the most transformative platforms for education of all time" being under the direct control of private corporate interests. Whose interest lies in maximizing shareholder profits at the expense of everyone else.
Aside from imposing a royalty/licence fee on every user, having platform control indirectly enables thought control in the form of restricting easy access to the mass population. The publication of material dealing with sensitive but important topics such as religion, abortion, gay rights, racism, terrorism, prostitution, child pornography etc can be curbed simply by denying them access to the platform. We are already seeing this happen to a lesser extent with Facebook (deleted posts, banned accounts etc) and Apple store (all forms of porn).
As an analogous situation, imagine if the creation of (text)books was originally patented. The patent holder would then be able to ensure that any textbooks whose contents disagreed with him do not get published simply by denying a licence to the publisher for that book.
Obligatory Simpsons... https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Buck Feta. You know what to do.
"Oculus Rift CEO Says Classrooms of the Future Will Be In VR Goggles"...and people will live out their lives in self-contained tubes.
I swear, when some of these CEOs talk about new technologies for education, you can hear the line from The Hudsucker Proxy in the background ("You know...for kids!").
"we can have relationships and communication that are just as good as the real classroom" -> *facepalms* Drop the Web 2.0 'Social Media' bullshit. "It's a social thing, where you communicate with other people, doing other social things, kind of like a party or something, but using our technology!" -> Someone please kill me, it's the same story every single time. Why not just promote the damn VR stuff for what it can do that RL (real life) can't do? Displaying stuff that can't fit into a classroom, like a tesseract. You have this great technology which can be used to push the boundary of what students are exposed to these days, and these jokers want to use it for a glorified chatroom. Gah!
I know a CEO has to say crap like that, but it's just so ... over the top. I know classrooms are the holy grail for corporations, because it's all about the kids after all and money should be no object to a quality education, but damn. I'm surprised he didn't launch into how VR technology could drastically reduce the spread of the severe respiratory disease that is currently sweeping through schools in some parts of the country. Why is this on /.? He needs to stick to where they will probably really hit the jackpot, porn.
What an impediment to learning googles are.
Wasn't there a news story some time ago that said research was done that shows that children a certain age or younger should not play 3D games because it screws up the development of their brain? Also mod Oculus Rift CEO down for being as biased as they come.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
You'll go where I go, defile what I defile, eat who I eat.
Sorry guys, the form ate my CRLFs. :(
Education? ... Yes! Why it's great for education! In fact, it's the future of the classroom! And don't forget, Oculus Rift is both a floor wax and a dessert topping!
But seriously:
And if we can make virtual reality every bit as good as real reality in terms of communications and the sense of shared presence with others, you can now educate people in virtual classrooms, you can now educate people with virtual objects, and we can all be in a classroom together [virtually], we can all be present, we can have relationships and communication that are just as good as the real classroom
Classroom teaching is a bug, not a feature. It is a side effect of the fact that our earholes and eyeballs are connected to our skulls, and until recently we had to put them in the same meatspace where the teacher was talking and showing pictures. Once you step into the no-physical-presence-required realm of using a VR headset, you can release the restrictions imposed by the simultaneous physical presence requirement.
One simple example: Lecture halls, with their tiered seating -- those are designed that way because we can't see through each other, not because it is better to be sixty feet away and at a thirty degree angle from the teacher.
And how about discussions? Hierarchical, collaboratively moderated, store-and-forward discussion threads are much better than "realtime whoever gets the teacher's attention before the bell rings." We've been using the latter because that's the best we had for thousands of years.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
HTML code br fixes that. ;)
Buck Feta. You know what to do.
you failed to use right the Subject
All the goggles are accomplishing is wrapping an image around your face. Until touch, movement, smell, and sound are also adequately reproduced, it's not virtual reality anymore than the Hard Drivin' arcade machine from the 90s was. And replication of those elements are not coming in our life time; likely won't come until we've figured out a way to trick the brain into doing the work for us.
Also -- holy shit, the pink eye this is going to cause. Gross.
That's just the intro to this book. As fiction, it was entertaining. As a possible actual reality? Not so much, thanks.
As an educator I am tired of venture capitalists and high-tech industries constantly seeking for ways to reinvent the classroom to create profit, when the traditional model works perfectly as long as it is well funded.
And where does new technology end up? In the garbage. We didn't use our laserdisc players, we didn't use our videoconferencing hardware, we didn't use our CD and DVD and BD writers, we didn't use our touch-screens, we didn't find any valid applications for our tablets. On top of that we have literally no budget to maintain and support all this technology which needs constant, endless support in a school environment.
Believe it or not, education works when we pay teachers, buy supplies, fund breakfast and lunch programs, keep the libraries open, and keep vocational and art, music, dance, theater courses going. That's all it takes.
But in the end we just get another new football field and a bunch of tablets that get broken within months, and no money for anything that truly matters. Administrators line their pockets with money earmarked for the classroom, and the students go without. This has gone on for years and years.
Still gotta work on that drool from the corner of the mouth.
Have gnu, will travel.
This could be excellent for distance education. A virtual classroom for those people who simply cannot get there.
Or in the situation where the teacher has the best view and you and everyone to see that. Imagine being able to watch, from the exact perspective, in stereoscopic a master surgeon at work.
Maybe it will with the right MineCraft mod :)
Since it probably takes 100 hours of programming per hour of content what this guy is actually doing is providing job security of IT pros! Oh, wait, I meant job security for HB1 visa holders.
High school physics class would be great with VR.
Bandwidth sucks with Distance Education. Typically latency sucks as well. If that's taken into account and you can pre-download bits of a virtual Smithsonian, then that's useful, but for a lot of other things close to realtime voice and crappy, but timely video gives the kids the answers now and lets interaction happen pretty close to immediately.
I'm not dismissing it out of hand. I was really pumped on the idea after looking at molecular interactions using 3D goggles at the Hitachi pavilion at Expo88 (in 1988), but up to now it's turned out to be not as good an illustration tool as ping pong balls and glue. I think for a lot of situations a 2D representation on a flat monitor looks enough like 3D to get the message across, especially if it can be manipulated or the point of view changed.
i would like to see the new pattern of teaching soon
technology will always just be a tool for a human teacher
the notion that these would be cost effective is absolutely ridiculous...maybe one day but not now
every dollar spent on these is wasted...they are not intrisically value added...like seeing a moving w/ 3D glasses on vs the regular film
sure there are probably a million "innovative" ideas for things like a virtual walk through of [insert historical thing you think is important]
if Occulus wants to donate them, great...but if they have lobbyists going around selling school districts on actually **using tax dollars to buy these for schools**...that's ridiculous in this era of infinite "budget cuts"
Thank you Dave Raggett
Classrooms of the future will be with PCs
... with iPads
... with Oculi Rifts
Funny. I see more and more parents sending their kids to anthroposophy-based schools, even though they don't care for Rudolph Steiners's theories. They want their kids to get in touch with the real world. Even parents in Silicon Valley demand that computers are shunned from the lower grades of elementary schools.
Physics - awesome!
Chemistry - awesome
Biology - awesome
But I think he's wrong on some many issues. From the summary:
Why? That's like looking at a single car from one country and claiming an "education". Think REALITY. The students could see HOW the objects were created. What tools were used. Who crafted the item. What the society was like that required it.
They're called "chat rooms". Wanna "cyber"? Porn is NOT the same as education.
Looking at other students would be a distraction.
Why does it matter that you see avatars looking at the same point that you are looking at?
And he keeps going on about that. For him it is all about "seeing" other "people" (really just avatars) so it can be the same "experience" as real life.
That's stupid. They are not people. They are avatars. And knowing how people are, their avatars would be designed to be as distracting as possible.
Oculus Rift CEO Says Classrooms of the Future Will Be In VR Goggles
Says, hopes, whatever.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
This guy hasn't even shipped a product.
Considering the failure of 3D TV and 3D movies, 3D headsets have to be viewed as an iffy business proposition. The Oculus Rift may turn out to be the Segway of display devices.
Imagine the eye strain (and face strain) from wearing the goggles every day. There isn't much educational value in content being displayed in 3D. You get a few ooh-aahs initially but the wow factor will soon wear off.
If you 3D print the VR goggles, THAT'll be transformative, game-changing paradigm-shifting !!!
I agree. It's sad to see this level of luddism and ignorance in slashdot comments. It seems common these days.
How long did it take for the vacuum tube to give us electronics like the radio? If you look at how fast things changed in 10 years in the early 20th century, you'll understand why we think that talking about VR for 20 years is not very impressive.
Maybe you'll be happier in an echo chamber with 3D printing and asteroid mining stories?
I think he was referring to people with complete lack of imagination, and who think they know everything about VR just because they tried some clunky low-resolution 3-pound helmet back in the 90's and haven't even had the decency to try the DK2 before condemning VR as an eternal fad.
Linden Labs said the exact same thing about second life.
Zing!
Did you know there's an Oculus enabled SL beta available?
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wik...
I'm pretty sure the only thing left keeping SL alive these days is the furries that have sex on the network.
There never were actually that many furries in SL. What's keeping SL alive are the 25-55 year old women.
If I'm not mistaken, even they don't like SL much anymore.
I really don't know why people associate furries with SL, since they are HUGELY outnumbered by every other demographic. Personally I think the association exists because a bunch of slashdotter-nerds, entering SL to check it out, headed to the more nerdy spots in SL: scripter/builder hangouts/sandboxes...and thusly ran into SL's heavily furry scripter/builder/aspie crowd. They're not furry because of the sex, they're furry because they feel alienated from real-world social culture and the average SL social culture too. Their furry form is a "take that" to the "barbie's and kens"
It's sad to see this level of mindless, uncritical fanboyism from adults. Talk about ignorance. You fools don't understand human nature.
Let me guess. You never tried a VR done right, and pretty much dismisses the entire concept as a failure. I would really like to see your reaction when actually experience the sense of "presence" in VR for the first time.
In other words, the opposite of VR.
That doesn't translate into it being useful for education. I mean I can get a rush from flying a F-15, does that mean classrooms need F-15s?
You contradict yourself. The clunkiness of cars, radios and TV only proves that a good concept is only waiting for the technology to catch up. VR is a great concept, which until now was not feasible. But it's starting to become feasible, and is likely to have massive adoption in 5-10 years, which will definitely include usage in education and surgence of virtual classrooms (as suggested by Oculus' CEO).
"likely to have massive adoption in 5-10 years, which will definitely include usage in education "
Yes yes yes, sure, of course. Whatever. See you in 5 years. Nothing will have changed. Except money hands.
VR is not comparable in any way shape or form to the automobile. VR has very specific applications and benefits, none of which should have anything to do with education until very late into education. I have built VR CAVE and PowerWall systems and developed VR programs, and assure you that there is no benefit to standard education. If you have doubts, go out into the world and look at real word benefits. I do mean actual benefits, not just some "cool technology" factor. Hint: Human Factors Engineering surely can benefit from VR, as can very advanced kinematics. Neither of those two subjects are in standard classrooms, and both require advanced degrees and a tremendous amount of knowledge in specific software to build the models and simulations.
Further, none of the subjects that could benefit from VR should be taught in standard education. Not because any education is bad mind you. The reasoning is A) cost B) Time (you would have to give up a lot of other general education) and C) Not enough people would or could benefit.
If you wish to argue that it should be taught, ask yourself why other advanced degrees are not mandatory.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Its pretty old hat to say every new media will revolutionize education: phograph, movies, radio, mail order, telvision, internet ....
Good old human teacher contact is still major factor after 140 years.
No one will ever have to get a concussion in gym again! But the school nurse will need to be a chiropractor.
I'm thinking about it, therefore I might be.
PM me in 5 years, and if there aren't at least 100 million people owing VR HMD's, I'll eat my shorts.
Do 10 minutes of Titans of Space, and you'll see the potential for education. Imagine the same technology applied to history, biology, geography. Going with your class through a crowded street of ancient Rome. Visiting different cities in other countries, seeing the customs and cultures. Travelling through the human body and going inside cells and organs. All this, not just looking at an abstract representation of those (flat screen), but actually feeling you're there.
Coming up later, an interview with the barber who says short hair is the latest greatest thing.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.