Southeast is making the most of the educational applications of virtual reality with the recent completion of a room dedicated to virtual reality at the EDvolution Center.

The center recently completed the room that will help students and teachers with interactive learning in the classroom.

Virtual reality is simulated environment generated by a computer that allows a person to feel fully emerged into a specific setting or place.

The coordinator of EDvolution Heath Hase said when you enter a virtual reality program it is like you are no longer in the real world.

“You may be experiencing something of our physical world like the top of the Eiffel Tower or going into a rainforest-like environment, but you are actually fully emerged in virtual reality. You have a pair of goggles on and controls with a digital overlay all around you in a 360 experience,” Hase said.

Hase said it is the responsibility of the EDvolution Center to find and explore technologies becoming essential in the 21st-century classroom, and it was apparent virtual reality was already finding itself in the classroom.

“After doing additional research we wanted to add a virtual reality experience room, and the reason we wanted to do so is because virtual reality is finding its place in the classroom already in K-12,” Hase said.

He said it is the responsibility of the College of Education and Health and Human Studies department to prepare students and teachers for new ways of learning and teaching in the classroom.

Hase said for nursing students and teacher candidates the VR room is an alternative to going in the field to gain experience and virtual reality provides those same experiences in a more accessible environment.

“Instead of having to go inside a surgery room they can actually experience a surgery and participate in that surgery in a virtual reality experience,” Hase said. “Same thing for our teacher candidates they can go in a virtual classroom to learn about classroom management without actually going into a physical classroom.”

He also said that the virtual reality room can be utilized by anyone on campus, not just student working in the medical and teaching field.

Hase said virtual reality is different from other learning mediums.

“The biggest thing is engagement, the actual user within VR’s actual experiences and their ability to fully engage in the environment, they are not just simply reading about it, viewing it, but are actually able to fully interact,” Hase said.

Students looking to further their education with the use of virtual reality are welcome to schedule an appointment through the EDvolution center.