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Most virtual environments (VEs) are based on visual experiences, displayed on a monitor / white-board / projector and where you will always feel external to the image itself. CDEC in partnership with Gaia Technologies have introduced the new 3D Visualisation product that allows you to become immersed and feel located ‘within’ the image. You may interact with real (e.g. pilot, combat or medical training) or virtual (e.g. chemical reaction and molecules) computer-generated worlds and environments.
In education terms this allows fantastic opportunities for; Enhanced learning Better understanding of complex issues is possible through the visual representation of immense detail which cannot be communicated through other media. Observe images from all angles as you approach it from below, above, and from the sides and understand how what is seen is inter-related and builds on relationships with other elements. Curriculum A first class teaching tool that is ideal for science or spatial disciplines, and can also help deliver learning in history (e.g. you may wish to visit 18th century London) geography (what it feels like to be in the centre of an earthquake) and modern languages (where you can virtually visit other cities and cultures). Health & safety Allows educational understanding of activities that would be too dangerous or too expensive to create within a school/college environment Further Applications The virtual experience can be further enhanced by combining 3-D graphics with sound and tactile information (e.g. haptic gloves are routinely used to train doctors and vets in surgical operations, where the sense of touch is important). Imagine how the teaching of dissection within a biology classroom can be improved – pupils will be able to feel a virtual dissection using a virtual scalpel! In the next decade, chemists and engineers may even discover how to incorporate the senses of smell and taste into a virtual world! |