Introducing Reach by EmblematicReach
Reach by Emblematic is "the first web platform for creating, remixing, and sharing volumetric VR using real people and places" (Emblematic Group, 2019). What is the volumetric VR? "It is the capability to record every action of the scene as a full three-dimensional volume. it's like photography in a 3D space" (TedTalk, 2020). Interwoven with virtual reality, which "is the computer-created counterpart to actual reality computer though, a video headset computer programs present a visual world that can, pixel-perfectly, replicate the real world --or show a completely unreal one" (Valenti et al., 2020). Reach runs as a browser-based solution, with a drag and drop process that is easy to use. Each created content can easily be assessable to everyone on any device. A viewer an also put on a VR headset for full Immersion.
Collaborative-based learning
This year education has made an unintentional shift in the way instructors are educating students. The times made teachers get creative as the difficulties of the pandemic sends everyone home. Reach provides educators the ability to take their teaching to a different time and place virtually. Studies have shown that a learner can improve engagement when allowed to collaborate amongst their peers. Reiser and Dempsey mention how an "individual's mind is derived from society; a student's learning is derived from the community of learners. This community is developed by the students" (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017). When utilizing the platform Reach Students can help each other, have discussions about related subjects, and ask for feedback on various difficulties in real-time. Students do not need to be in the same physical room to experience what Reach has to off. It allows students to attend live presentations and dialogues at their home using a VR headset or a device that a web browser can bring to life the material presented.
Authentic learning
Some of the characteristics listed in Issues and Trends of Instructional Design and Technology by Reiser and Dempsey, to create an authentic learning environment one must support collaboration and should have real-world relevance, coaching, and scaffolding by the instructor at critical times and provide multiple roles and perspectives (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 296). With this in mind, Reach enables an instructor to create prerecorded or real-time demonstrations and present them to students as an immersive interactive lecture. All in all, Reach allows the students to collaborate, interact, and perceive the lesson in real-time.
There are many possibilities with using Reach as a tool in education. It can easily be implemented to encourage engagement with learners and can be observed as a hands-on activity. Research has shown that hands-on activities can improve one's ability to retain information better as long as it is guided to learn in a way that can reduce mistakes (Madden et al., 2020). Madden et al., 2020, mentions to improve the learner's capacity for processing information in their short-term memory or germane cognitive load; an instructor should be comprehensively directed and instructed how to manipulate the equipment to minimize uncertainties (Madden et al., 2020).
Simulation-based Learning
Reach uses an interface that allows instructors to create demonstrations in a group setting, a great way to promote students to interact with one another socially. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning (Reiser & Dempsey, 2017, p. 270). Within a simulation, students interact with their environment like never before, and they can ask questions in real-time with right away feedback. Reach provides the platform the experience where students can create analysis and assessments correlating to the learning task. Immersive virtual reality allows students to interact with content physically, and the class provides them engagement of a hands-on activity but with the control and replicability of a simulation (Madden et al., 2020). Simulations provide multiple forms of embodiment, such as changing perspectives to experience phenomena as they would in different circumstances in the real world. Students can experience these perspectives in ways unavailable in the real world (Madden et al., 2020).
References
Calabrò, R. S., & Naro, A. (2019). Understanding social cognition using virtual reality: Are we still nibbling around the edges? Brain Sciences, 10(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10010017
Emblematic Group. (2019, February 8). Introducing REACH [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwUkbi4_wWo
Madden, J., Pandita, S., Schuldt, J. P., Kim, B., S. Won, A., & Holmes, N. G. (2020). Ready student one: Exploring the predictors of student learning in virtual reality. PLOS ONE, 15(3), e0229788. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229788
Reiser, R. A., & Dempsey, J. V. (2017). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Pearson. VitalSource
TedTalk [ted]. (2020, March 19). How volumetric video brings a new dimension to filmmaking | Diego Prilusky. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwUkbi4_wWo
Valenti, S., Lund, B., & Wang, T. (2020). Virtual reality as a tool for student orientation in distance education programs. Information Technology and Libraries, 39(2). https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v39i2.11937
The curious holodeck social schools
This app could use some advertisements. I’ve never seen something this easy to use with our learning a 3d modeling package or pricy setup to capture things. This is something worth talking about because we can simulate the social situation we would normally have at school but with our backdrop. Just having kids in the same space with the teacher could help make online learning great. The curiosity of who’s online would become a hook to get students to show up and attend more also. Then you could use the now you are here method to introduce new content that further arouses their curiosity to the perceived gaps in current knowledge (Reiser and Dempsey, 2018…
Belief in Mastery
REACH programming allows teachers to walk beside a student in their learning, literally and metaphorically. By being able to show students the exact way to achieve the desired outcome, a teacher can create media that takes a step by step approach to facilitating a lesson. With the restrictions the pandemic has forced, teaching students with special needs has become the hardest elements to address. Students who receive services take a different approach to learning, which requires a different teaching style. The differentiation level is precise and complex for each student. With REACH, the teacher has the ability to walk a student who needs one-to-one guidance, through a lesson in real time, or what can be perceived in…
Curiosity is Aroused
According to Reiser and Dempsey (2017), curiosity can spark motivation to learn. Project Reach provides technology that anyone can access, and more importantly, it can take people, literally anywhere on earth, virtually. Being able to move beyond simply teaching students about places or events, and actually transporting them there virtually has the capability to inspire all types of curiosity. Project Reach offers learners the freedom to explore. Exploration is often the catalyst to a person realizing what they did not already know or what they have not been exposed to, thus creating a thirst for more knowledge. Students can now visit locations around the world in a virtual, three-dimensional capacity, and guide themselves around, just as they…
Project Reach:
Peer Response
Having valuable and engaging experiences outside the classroom during Covid-19 times can be extremely difficult, but with a web-based platform called Reach, going anywhere is possible! What makes Reach interesting is that users can curate spaces with drag and drop ease to create, remix, and share volumetric VR environments using people and places (Emblematic Group, 2019). Many subjects could benefit from implementing Reach, especially in a photography class. Using Reach in a photography class as a tool would allow students to feel more ownership of their work. When students take photos, they could use Reach to invite the viewer into an immersive experience where they talk about their process to create an academic peer dialogue and critique.…
This is a very intriguing topic and way in teaching and interacting with classmates and teachers. To be honest this is not one of the first things that would come into to mind when it comes to interacting. Now a days we tend to leave out a lot of different outlets to get into students minds and how they can learn. VR now that you mentioned is a great way to interact and making students feel like students can still be hands on even from the comfort of their home and even in the office to keep distance from one another in these times. VR and learning helps with engagement with students who like to be hands on and keeps…