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00:00:03

I'm very glad to be here. I want to share a slide with you and I think that we have a chat room. So, um, type yes if you have ever used virtual reality in your classroom. Um, I'm going to show you my slide. Let me see if you can see it. Oh, let me see this. Okay, here we go. Now, okay. So, um I'm going to read your answers in a minute. I see lots of yes, no, no. Okay. Well, um as I said before, I'm not trying to change your teaching core values. Um, I'm not trying to say that human-based

00:00:59

teaching is outdated. Uh, I just want you to share with me this webinar so I can show you how I have integrated virtual reality into the classroom. Um, I had many concerns at first. safety. I'm not a neuro neurologist, but I know that if you use this in the incorrect way or overuse or too much time using VR, it can affect visual function. So, that is something that we need to consider. Also, I didn't want to lose control of the class and I was concerned about adaptation because I have different ages like very young learners,

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young learners, teenagers, adults and I was scared that they especially adults would um you know struggle with technology back in my time because I'm I'm over 40 years old. So back in my time this I don't know if you see it. This was technology for me. That's all. That's how we learn English. And now we have this amazing opportunity. And I think that immersive learning has a huge potential to boost motivation and help a students stay and connected and and you know really improve in language.

00:02:25

So um in 2020 I did some research and I came across these two options um that you can see in the slide. I have them here. This is the Avantis VR is very light and is super cool because you only need your hands to control this. It is British and then we have Oculus that is by Meta. I think that you may know this. One great thing about Avantis is that they give you this cube and this cube as simple as you see it, it changes into a 4D whatever you want. So it is great for teaching complex vocabulary and things

00:03:11

that are, you know, difficult to get or to understand. You can not only teach English but also other subjects like math, literature, whatever you want. Crosscurricular teachers can use it too. And one important thing is that you need um space not only for storage of the units but also for you to circulate. I mean the layout of your classroom is going to be different if you want to use this technology. Um, I'm going to show you the next slide here. And let me see if I can change it here. So, I'm going to be quiet a little

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bit because I want to show you how this works with very young learners. I use um this one the the Avantis for very young learners because this uh is less immersed than the other one and kids can use it for a period of time let's say 10 minutes. So I'm going to be quiet a little bit and I want you to listen and to see how this sevenyear-old boy reacts to an immersive class. Uh, let me see. I don't think we can hear that, Cynthia. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. But at least you can see that he's

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moving and he's wiggling in his chair. I mean, he's completely um connected to the environment and he's completely immersed. No distractions. Um everything that he's saying is his own production. He's not being framed. He's not following any dialogue or or anything. Um so that is the beauty of this technology. But it needs gradual release and also there is a thing that course books or test books um publishing houses don't have books for teaching with virtual reality and therefore you

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need to do the the the work to adjust your your syllabus to to do it. So it's going to have a gradual release not only for the class but also for teaching how to use the technology. I use um I do you do and we do you know pattern. So um I show the kids how to use it, how to hold it, how to turn it on and then they do it and then we do it all together and and finally they have autonomy. Yes. And they feel like confident to use the new technology. But you will also need uh to follow a routine and to follow a pattern

00:06:14

and adjust your your syllabus. Um first you have to introduce the topic. I mean it's not like you're going to just go for it. You have to um adjust your content, your teaching goals to the VR content. Um for Avantis, which is the British one, you have a great library. They provide a great library. And one important thing about safety is that nobody can enter into your room and you will need only one computer in order to monitor what your students are doing. But for Oculus, you may have to set

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privacy settings so your students are not are not going to be contact by other people from outside, you know. So um after you introduce the topic, you go for a practice lesson and then maybe a listening lesson. And then finally, this is going to be the last activity with the VR. Um I want you to see here um the next slide. Here you can see the layout of the classroom. Uh here all the students are using advantage and the layout of the classroom allows me to circulate and um to monitor and intervene if necessary. So I can

00:07:33

circulate, I can give uh quick feedback and ensure equitable participation. Um classroom space and desk is super important and also timing. Okay, remember that students cannot be exposed to VR for long periods of time. This is a 15 20 minute tops activity and depending on the level also okay and so therefore you can give quick feedback and also um it is important here to highlight that you may need a teacher's journal. In the next slide you can see they are using Oculus and uh the controllers. Why the controllers?

00:08:17

Because not the application not not all the applications are going to allow using your hands. But when you use Oculus is great because I mean it allows the student to practice in real scenarios like campus life uh interviews um many other scenarios everything that you can think about is there and all the applications are provided by third parties. So you have a lot to choose from. Okay. So um it's important to keep the teachers journals as I said and the feedback from the students after using both

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technologies um has been great. I mean Oculus always gets better reviews in comparison to Avantis because um the the Avantis uh technology doesn't interact with AI and Oculus does it. Um the teacher can also choose the accent that the student is going to be exposed to. So they can be exposed to all kind of accents and um how is going to be the interaction between the software and the student? Well, in the software you don't have an instant correction. So that's why the teacher must be monitoring there. There

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are some things like internet connectivity um a safe space for storage. Yes, you need to consider that before trying to add this technology to your classroom. Now the results are amazing. You can have a learner because learners today's are super updated and they have a very short span of attention and they want to learn a language from zero to C1 in very short time and this technology allows that. Um and something very important it lowers anxiety for my C1C2 students that has been great. they have debates and

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the student can rehearse and build confidence um in a control environment and so after that they can interact in a different way with real people. So in the last slide, this is an an article if you want to read a little bit more about the topic. I found a very interesting um article in this magazine and they found out that 90% yes as it says there of the information that is taught is retained by the students and I can say that is right. Um, so what after I mean what happens after you finish with your lesson? You have a

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routine. Yes. And so you start with a textbook and then you did the practice and the listening and the VR and then you have to have like a feedback space. Okay. So um the teachers can observe actions and choices you know when they are interacting with the VR and then you allow your student to reflect on performance. And one of the best thing about this is that um you can renew the interest and and sustain practice for the whole year and all levels because it's um super cool.