Stanford experiments with VR classes
Stanford University has launched a class conducted entirely in virtual reality (VR), the first VR class in the university’s history.
Communication professor Jeremy Bailenson with the software — dubbed Engage — students and teachers can interact in virtual environments. Cyan DeVeaux, a teaching assistant, said VR allows people to imagine the impossible. “The only limitation to this assignment is a student’s own imagination,” the teaching assistant said, referring to the scene-building assignment.
Each session is limited to 30 minutes to avoid simulator sickness. Another concern was privacy. Bailenson asked Facebook to allow students to use fake accounts to protect their privacy. In return, he offered to use the headset from Oculus, a subsidiary of Facebook’s parent company Meta.
So far, two classes have been conducted, capturing more than 3,000 hours of data. The data collected from the course will be used to assess behavioural adaptation to VR and its educational adoption.