RRC Polytech: Emerging Media and Production

Virtual Reality at RRC Polytech

Please click on the video to the left to hear Christine Watson, VP Academic RRC Polytech, and Christopher Basarowich, Manager EMP, with Lauren Kullman, talk about VR use at Red River Polytech. VR of course is not new, but the technology has become more user friendly and educational content more readily available. Currently, EMP is using VR in several projects including “Right in the Centre of it All: Using 360 and 3D Technology to Create Immersive Experiences for Early Childhood Education Students and Educators“ (see below).

This technology has tremendous potential to enhance student learning with 360°, 3D, highly sensory, interactive experiences. In VR simulations, students can travel to remote locations and access or practice activities in environments that might otherwise be inaccessible or unsafe. With stories told from a first-person perspective, VR fosters emotion and empathy for powerful learning experiences. Whether you’re assembling an engine in VR, walking with the penguins in the Antarctic, or watching and listening to stories about diversity and inclusion, VR is about engagement, creativity, and skill development.

If you have not had the opportunity to experience VR, we invite to drop by the Emerging Media studios and visit our VR Café. Situated in GM-33, we have headsets available so you can view some amazing pieces from the National Geographic Association or see some of the stories and tours that EMP has created. Should you have any further interest about VR use in your program, please feel free to connect with EMP staff, we’d be very happy to talk with you about how this technology can significantly enhance teaching and learning at RRC Polytech.

Early Childhood Education Immersive Resource

Early Childhood Education instructors participated in a presentation of a new resource being developed in collaboration with Emerging Media. This project, which combines our Immersion Room with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, allows instructors and students to virtually visit several city and provincial childcare environments. Building on partnerships in industry and the community, this innovative project creates opportunities for students to connect theory to application. Practicum placements are often limited due to time and accessibility, therefore having this opportunity to visit virtual environments is transformative meeting the needs of students with cutting-edge technology and design.

Initial feedback from instructors was overwhelmingly positive and included conversations on connecting the philosophy of the Medicine Wheel and child development to specific elements and materials in childcare spaces. Connecting the project to the Manitoba Curriculum Framework, supporting student inquiries into how milestones of child development would occur in the childcare spaces, and opportunities to delve deeper into program philosophies.

The project has rolled out to include STAR funding which will allow for expansion and further focus on RRC Polytech’s strategic commitments.

For more information about this project, Right in the Centre of it All: Using 360 and 3D Technology to Create Immersive Experiences for Early Childhood Education Students and Educators, contact Marc Battle or Emerging Media and Production.