ClassVR - Honesty needed....

[garethEds]

Morning,

 

I cannot attend BETT this year but have recently been considering a ClassVR set for use across the school. To avoid the sales speak (about how it's amazing) - I thought I'd ask here if anyone has purchased them for their school and how they find them?

 

How much to they get used by departments/staff/pupils?

 

Are they easy to use?

 

Is it worth investing in a set?

 

Honest reviews welcome.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

[Brax]

Hi Gareth,

 

I haven't had any experience with ClassVR but when I worked in a SEND specific school , one HTC Vive headset with controllers was very helpful in 1:1 situations with those students to engage with them and also interact with a variety of topics like science. The key part in my opinion is the interaction with the environment. ClassVR is simply looking in the environment rather than interacting from what I've seen but would also love to hear other people's experiences with it to see if it's worth trialing.

[TechieJI]

I have experience with ClassVR with Primary Schools, found the charging trolley a little troublesome compared to the portable cases with cable extensions/adapters.

 

The resources available within their portal are great and is always being added too.

 

I think it works best when embedded into the curriculum, therefore teachers need to incorporate the VR resources into the planning and create/share playlists in advance.

[dhicks]

ClassVR is simply looking in the environment rather than interacting from what I've seen

 

From a very quick trial at the BETT show, I understand you can interact with the environment using a cursor that points where you look at, so you can make simple "click here for option X" choices via simply looking around, which works quite well if in a limited way.

 

I suspect a whole-class-at-a-time approach might be difficult to manage, but I could see a 1:1 situation as described above working, or possibly as a lesson starter / plenery - one pupil explors the VR environment while others watch / comment (again, would need close management). Admitedly, for both those cases I'd maybe try a more powerful, thethered headset, possibly with the pupil sat down.

 

Edit: despite the name, ClassVR actually does AR content as well, which might be more appropriate for a classroom situation where you need pupils to be able to see each other still.

Edited March 30, 2023 by dhicks

[ajevanu2]

Hi All,

 

I've just a joined a Trust where they are rolling out a VR suite in a few weeks time at one of our primary schools. We have got rid of the old IT suite and setup 10x stations with the HP Reverb G2 Virtual Reality Headsets and HP Gaming PC's, Decent desk pods and LED lighting etc. In another room next door we have stripped this down to be a big open space with IWB and tables for collaboration to be our 'Launch Control' allowing 10-15 minute experiences for our pupils and they carousel back into this space to continue learning. I will get the specs for you ASAP but it didn't come cheap (They won the innovation project bid we have every couple of years within my Trust).

 

The issue with rolling this out is always the VR experiences and how they are embedded into the curriculum. This is the bit I am really focusing on as part of my role. The Trust have not gone down one specific providers route and curriculum, but have built the kit around SteamVR/Microsoft Mixed Reality. We are at the very beginning of our journey with this one school. Once we have everything up and running I will put a post on here with pics and how we have got it embedded into our curriculum. Once we are all good, any Edugeekers are more than welcome to visit!

 

Currently trying to source a decent wall wrap/ print company for our corridors between rooms for signposting the experience and mission control. If I see anything good on VR at BETT tomorrow, will let you know.

[dhicks]

Currently trying to source a decent wall wrap/ print company for our corridors between rooms for signposting the experience and mission control.

 

Not VR-related, but maybe consider hiring an artist - we have hand-painted murals at several points around the school, they seem to suite the setting better than a printed equivalent. I suspect hiring an artist is possibly the slightly cheaper option these days, and you could always aim for an airbrush / graffiti artist if you wanted something a little more modern-looking.

[Disease]

Hi All,

 

I've just a joined a Trust where they are rolling out a VR suite in a few weeks time at one of our primary schools. We have got rid of the old IT suite and setup 10x stations with the HP Reverb G2 Virtual Reality Headsets and HP Gaming PC's, Decent desk pods and LED lighting etc. In another room next door we have stripped this down to be a big open space with IWB and tables for collaboration to be our 'Launch Control' allowing 10-15 minute experiences for our pupils and they carousel back into this space to continue learning. I will get the specs for you ASAP but it didn't come cheap (They won the innovation project bid we have every couple of years within my Trust).

 

The issue with rolling this out is always the VR experiences and how they are embedded into the curriculum. This is the bit I am really focusing on as part of my role. The Trust have not gone down one specific providers route and curriculum, but have built the kit around SteamVR/Microsoft Mixed Reality. We are at the very beginning of our journey with this one school. Once we have everything up and running I will put a post on here with pics and how we have got it embedded into our curriculum. Once we are all good, any Edugeekers are more than welcome to visit!

 

Currently trying to source a decent wall wrap/ print company for our corridors between rooms for signposting the experience and mission control. If I see anything good on VR at BETT tomorrow, will let you know.

 

Any more info on this project, how did the suite go?

[robintech]

We had them but never used them although they didn't have the controller back then, seems like others say it has to be in the curriculum to make it worthwhile. IT support wasn't involved in the purchase which was done by HOD

They didn't seem to be VR as I imagined it, more like Google Street view or YouTube 360 video

[Disease]

We had them but never used them although they didn't have the controller back then, seems like others say it has to be in the curriculum to make it worthwhile. IT support wasn't involved in the purchase which was done by HOD

They didn't seem to be VR as I imagined it, more like Google Street view or YouTube 360 video

 

 

Thanks for the update, did you get to take any photos of the finished space, would be interesting to see.

[robintech]

Thanks for the update, did you get to take any photos of the finished space, would be interesting to see.

 

Ours was a normal classroom nothing extra