Google Is Bringing Virtual Reality to the Classroom
In 2014, Google made a virtual reality viewer out of cardboard. In 2015, it's turning it into a teaching tool for school classrooms. The Google Cardboard headset, which is mostly made out of cardboard and works with Android phones and special apps, turned out to be a hit beyond just a gimmick at the company's developer conference last year. Clay Bavor, Google vice president of product management said on-stage at this year's Google I/O conference Thursday that it's shipped more than 1 million cardboard headsets in the past year. There are also hundreds of cardboard-compatible apps in Google's app store. But now, Google is bringing is cheap and easy set to the classroom, helping teachers take their students on virtual field trips with Cardboard units, mobile devices, and software. Dubbed "Expeditions," Google's program is partnering with organizations such as the Planetary Society and the American Museum of Natural History for content. Through Expeditions, teachers will receive a kit for their classrooms which will include cardboard viewers for each student, Android phones, a tablet, and pre-installed software that will keep all the viewers synced together. All the teacher has to do is get the virtual field trip going on their device to send the whole class on a trip together. Bavor also said Google is releasing a new version of its cardboard viewer, which will now support phones with 6-inch displays and all Android phone models it previously only fit certain ones. It will also only require three steps to assemble instead of 12.