Immersive technologies bring new opportunities to engage, teach and entertain children, but what are the safeguards we must put in place?

The overall sense that emerges from the research is that immersive technologies such as VR could become valuable learning tools
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As more children start using virtual reality, it will be critical for parents and teachers to understand the effect it can have. This is what a new report Virtual Reality 101: What You Need to Know About Kids and VR is hoping to contribute towards. Produced in collaboration with independent nonprofit organisation Common Sense Media, it is a resource to better understand how this new technology can be applied to everyday life and learning.

“Because VR is in its infancy, we have a unique opportunity to stay on top of this technological wave before it overwhelms us,” says report Co-author Jim Steyer, Founder of Common Sense Media.

Compared to other media, VR is a powerful way to deliver information
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Report Co-author Jeremy Bailenson – a communication professor at Stanford University and founder of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab – explains that research about the effects of the medium on children is only just emerging: “Compared to other media, VR is an extremely powerful way to deliver information. VR responds to your body. If you want to get closer to an object you can actually walk; if you want to touch something you can reach out and get haptic feedback. It’s perceptually surrounding, so no matter where you turn there is content.”

The report also includes the results of a survey of 3,613 parents about their attitudes toward virtual reality.

“Until this survey, it was unclear how, and even how many, kids were using virtual reality,” Bailenson says. “Now we have an initial picture of its adoption and use.”

The overall sense that emerges from the research is that immersive technologies such as VR could indeed become valuable learning tools, and 62 percent of parents surveyed for the report agree that VR can offer educational experiences for their children.

But parents and educators still need to take some precautions, Bailenson says. In the survey, 11 percent of parents reported their 8- to 17-year-olds experienced dizziness, 10 percent experienced a headache, and 13 percent bumped into something. He therefore cautions that parents need to supervise their children when they use VR and ensure they do so in moderation, limiting sessions to 10 or 20 minutes and enforcing regular breaks.

As more children start using virtual reality, it will be critical for parents and teachers to understand the effect it can have
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“We found that kids can develop more trust in media characters in the virtual environment,” says Jakki Bailey, a graduate from Stanford’s PhD program in communication and now an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

In a 2009 study, Bailenson found that when elementary-aged school children saw themselves swimming with orca whales in a virtual environment, many later recalled the experience as real. Building off that research, a 2017 study Bailenson conducted with Bailey showed that media characters in virtual reality may be more influential over young children than characters on TV or computers.

62 percent of parents surveyed for the report agree that VR can offer educational experiences for their children
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In partnership with the Sesame Workshop, Bailenson and Bailey set up an interactive and immersive VR environment where children aged between four and six played games with the popular Sesame Street character Grover. Their observations showed that when children were engaged with the VR version of Grover versus a version on a two-dimensional screen, they were more likely to treat him as a friend.

As immersive technologies become pervasive and seamlessly intersect with the physical world, educators need to proactively understand and prepare for this change rather than reactively adapt to it
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Building on their previously published research on Immersive Virtual Reality and the Developing Child and Considering virtual reality in children’s lives, Bailey notes that this influence can be a positive force in teaching, as children are more likely to turn to that source for information and learning.

Speaking – appropriately through a Virtual Reality platform, AltspaceVR – at the recent Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, Bailey advocated for teachers and parents to be mindful of the greater psychological impact these virtual environments have, particularly in young children. The very element which makes Immersive Technology such a powerful learning tool – the sense of psychological presence it affords the user – could also be potentially damaging.

The very element which makes Immersive Technology such a powerful learning tool – the sense of psychological presence it affords the user – could also be potentially damaging
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Speaking at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, Bailey advocated for teachers and parents to be mindful of the greater psychological impact these virtual environments have
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For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance and support on how best to incorporate these into your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedInand follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Report: Kids and VR appeared first on Tech Trends.

Professor Jeremy Bailenson from Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab explains what Virtual Reality is, how it works, and what it can do

I’m still old enough to remember a time when typing a message on a touchscreen keyboard felt very cutting-edge indeed. But I also remember doing that for the first time in a crowded Apple store, with no real intention of buying the first-generation iPhone I was playing with. The experience felt interesting and exciting, but not necessarily useful, and certainly not necessary.

It’s only a matter of time before technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality will transform the way we interact with digital content
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This, many experts argue, is the stage we’re currently at with Virtual Reality: It’s an exciting technology with interesting applications that people are happy to try out – but not yet willing to embrace fully.

Yet just as the tipping point eventually came around when even my grandparents bought their own smartphones – and used them every day – there is a building consensus that it’s only a matter of time before technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality will transform the way we interact with digital content in even more fundamental ways than the smartphone has done.

Virtual Reality is an exciting technology with interesting applications that people are happy to try out - but not yet willing to embrace fully
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For those feeling befuddled by that whole idea, Experience on Demand is certainly a helpful read, and oftentimes an entertaining one as well. Its author – Professor Jeremy Bailenson – is the Director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, and one of the world’s greatest authorities on Virtual Reality, yet this doesn’t come across as an academic book.

When writing about technology, it’s often difficult to strike a balance between ensuring that enough of the basics are covered without being patronizing to those already familiar with the subject. The book walks that fine line very well by focusing primarily on the human experience, so that whether or not you know what terms like latency, rendering, tracking or lag mean, you should come away with a better understanding of what Virtual Reality actually does.

As an expert in psychology and mass media, Bailenson has largely remained unalarmed about the extent to which traditional media affect us. Yet he writes that as absorbing as books or videogames or television are, they pale next to Virtual Reality: “VR engulfs us (…) it’s the apotheosis of every media fear and fantasy we’ve ever had,” he writes.

Bailenson's book places VR within a broader social context
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His book does a good job of pulling back the focus to place VR within a broader social context, explaining how it relates to other technologies – both traditional and emerging – and our existing relationship with the digital world.

Although he cites scientific research throughout, the book is mainly pegged around personal anecdotes and use cases that illustrate what it does to real people, and why it matters to everyone, not just the techy crowd. The picture that emerges is of an astoundingly broad range of applications for Virtual Reality, none of which involve either gaming or pornography.

VR engulfs us. It’s the apotheosis of every media fear and fantasy we’ve ever had
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There are examples of how VR can be a powerful learning tool
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Those anecdotes tell the story of how NFL teams have significantly improved the performance of their players by training them in Virtual Reality simulations, and how VR is being used to treat conditions such as chronic phobias and Alzheimer’s. It has helped 9/11 victims overcome posttraumatic stress disorder, and burns patients manage their pain with fewer opioids.

There are examples of how VR can be a powerful learning tool, as Bailenson argues that almost any skill can be improved by virtual instruction (groups learning tai chi moves in virtual reality remembered their moves better and performed them back with 25% greater accuracy than those who had been taught by watching a video, for instance).

We also learn how VR’s unique ability to create empathy by literally “placing you in someone else’s shoes” has been successfully applied to a variety of scenarios, from helping people relate on a personal level to issues such as climate change, to tackling bias and prejudice in diversity training.

Several bizarre experiments describe how experiencing a simulated virtual scenario first-hand can result in instant and lasting changes in behaviour
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Several – often rather bizarre – experiments in the book describe how experiencing a simulated virtual scenario first-hand can result in instant and lasting changes in behaviour. In one, they explored if walking around as a virtual cow might change participants’ attitude towards consuming red meat, while in another, people visualized their energy consumption during a shower in terms of literally eating lumps of coal, and subsequently went on to use hot water more sparingly. And although more research is needed to verify such results at scale, it is difficult to remain unimpressed by these early indications of VR’s power to create empathetic responses in people – not only in relation to other human beings, but also towards animals and the environment.

One of the surprising arguments that Bailenson puts forward seems to be that by living more of our lives in virtual worlds we can help save the real one. Business travel, for example, could be vastly reduced if we are able to replicate in VR the same levels of interaction and feeling of presence that one gets from face-to-face meetings.

The more time you spend in virtual experiences, the more you come to appreciate the vibrancy of real life
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“Conspicuous or wasteful consumption in the real world comes with real costs, be it in fossil fuel consumption, the mountains of plastic junk that are piling up in our homes and landfills, or the floating islands of garbage that are growing in our oceans…. When considered this way, deep engagement in social virtual worlds seems less scary than the dystopian scenarios would have us believe, and may have significant social benefits,” he says.

This desire to protect the environment reflects a passionate appreciation of the real world which might seem out of place for someone who has spent the last two decades studying computer-generated environments. Paradoxically, he argues, the more time you spend in virtual experiences, the more you come to appreciate the vibrancy of real life.

Business travel could be vastly reduced if we are able to replicate in VR the same levels of interaction and feeling of presence that one gets from face-to-face meetings
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Although Bailenson is clearly an enthusiast and advocate for the broader benefits of Virtual Reality, he also addresses its potential dark side, sounding a warning note against the danger of using what he describes as “the most psychologically powerful medium in history” without proper care or consideration.

One of the surprising arguments that Bailenson makes is that by living more of our lives in virtual worlds we could help save the real one
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Virtual Reality represents the culmination of the way technology is enveloping our lives, and its psychological effects can be profound and long lasting, he cautions. It is therefore important that we learn to use this new medium responsibly, and the best way to do this is to understand exactly what we’re dealing with. As Bailenson is fond of telling journalists, Uranium can equally be used to heat homes or make nuclear bombs. Technologies like VR are neither good nor evil, but how people will choose to apply it remains an open question.

This article was originally published on VRScout

What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do #BookPreview via @alicebonasio https://t.co/qzYRe5smBr pic.twitter.com/Vw2sh7D7t8

— VRScout (@VRScout) January 30, 2018

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Book Review: Experience on Demand appeared first on Tech Trends.