Introduction to VR Creation: A Two-Week Curriculum for High School Students 

DAY ONE

On the first day, after welcoming the students, we showed a  concise presentation about virtual reality hardware (link below).  This was followed by a live virtual reality demonstration, after which, students had their introduction to VR. The theme was immersive play, and the video below demonstrates avatar customization in VR.

DAY TWO

On the second day, we introduced VR tools that permit users to create 3D content. To illustrate a "VR-only" creative tool, we began with a three-dimensional drawing application called Open Brush (derived from Google's Tilt Brush, which is now open-source). This was a good way to ease students into complex menus for managing the many creative options the application provides.  As a counterpoint, we showed a VR application called Vermillion that focuses on realistically simulating oil painting.  

You can examine examples using the links below.

DAY THREE

On day three, we focused on single-user virtual reality, but because this covers a lot of territory, we concentrated on experiences that transport users to a convincingly realized simulated world.  In the first instance, students went through 'Anne Frank House,' a simulation in which we are brought into an accurate reproduction of the Anne Frank house with voice over and annotations to provide educational context to the immersive experience. As a counterpoint, the second instance was Vader Immortal, a cinematic, gamified entertainment simulation in the Star Wars universe, to demonstrate the potential of merging traditional cinema with virtual reality.

DAY FOUR

Day four moved into multi-user virtual reality. We selected two experiences to illustrate the range of possibilities: Rec Room, a social and entertainment platform allowing users to create avatars and explore shared environments, and a fully customized VR environment built with Arkio and hosted in Wonda Spaces, created with the same tools available to the students themselves. Following the session, students received additional guidance on both platforms, and several went on to use Wonda for their final projects.

In the video below, you can see students in a shared VR environment passing around a 3D model of an apple, enlarged in real-time through VR gesture interactions. 

DAY FIVE

On day 5 (the last session of week one), we provided instruction in the use of Arkio (as mentioned earlier), and introduced one more creative application - a musical instrument simulation called Paradiddle - music-making was under-represented in our content, but we didn't want to completely neglect it. Overall, the bulk of the day was devoted to helping students commit to their project idea and consider how to execute it in the second week of the session. 

DAY SIX

Day six introduced project management concepts in the context of VR careers, covering broad approaches like Agile and Scrum without diving too deep, followed by additional instruction in Wonda Spaces and a lesson on creating custom avatars using Ready Player Me.

DAY SEVEN

Day seven focused on work samples and portfolios. We discussed professions where a portfolio is essential, such as visual arts, film, game design, UX/UI, and drew a connection to the students' own projects in progress. We also covered digital portfolio platforms, including Sketchfab, as a resource for hosting and presenting 3D work.

DAY EIGHT

Day eight was about giving and receiving feedback. Specifically, the difference between aesthetic and functional feedback, and the value of both in developing work. During the second half of the session, the iTLAB team reviewed student projects individually and offered recommendations based on each student's medium and approach. Projects at this stage included 3D sculptures, immersive presentations, simulated oil paintings, VR analysis, and high-resolution 3D modeling.

DAY NINE

The theme of day nine was adaptation, which opened with  the following questions:

• Are there any changes in the project you are going to do?

• Can you still complete the end of the week?

• If not, how will you pivot?

This framing was to help the students see the necessity of being able to adapt their work, sometimes with short notice, to meet the need of a fixed deadline. Ultimately, only one student ended up making a significant change.

DAY TEN

Day ten was to finish and share projects. References to everyone's work were displayed in the custom VR gallery that was created with Arkio and hosted in Wonda Spaces to illustrate the use of the tools to the students.  At presentation time, we toured the VR gallery, where each student spoke about their project and answered questions. You can examine the gallery here.

CONCLUSION

Designing a meaningful learning experience always involves uncertainty — you can build the best curriculum possible and still not reach every student. But introducing these high schoolers to VR proved to be something more than instruction. Watching them open up to the possibilities of the technology, and grapple seriously with its implications for careers, culture, and human experience, was genuinely rewarding.

When discussing immersive technology with students, the conversation almost always arrives at Black Mirror. My standard response: immersive technology will mirror the best and worst of us, as many technologies before it have. The speculations of Black Mirror are not fantasy; they're warnings. By acknowledging that, those of us drawn to this work have both the opportunity and the responsibility to drive it toward its best possibilities.

That's what the iTLAB was built to do.