App Recommendation - Titans Of Space Plus
Application - Titans of Space Plus
Developer - DrashVR
One of the major advantages of the Oculus Quest for educational use over other VR devices is the 6DOF, or six degrees of freedom, offered to the student. Whereas other devices, with the exception of high end devices like the Rift, tend to give users a straight line experience akin to a theme park ride, native apps for the Quest give students more freedom on where they go and what they do. Although teachers may prefer a more directive experience, giving students more freedom can create some interesting and engaging experience in their learning. So an app like Titans of Space is no brainer to give both end of the experience.
Titans of Space Plus allows students to go through a guided tour of our solar system and a few large scale galactic neighbors, but also allows them to pick and choose where they spend their time, what they look at, and how they interact with their ‘pods’. Teachers can set up a short course, about 20-30 minutes, or a long course, around two hours. However, teachers can give students certain objects to explore and do deeper research with and on throughout the experience. Your tour guide and the facts given about all the celestial objects are amazing and well worth the ten dollar price tag. The best part of the program is the sense of awe that it creates within the user. In just the few hours that I have spent in the app, I have found myself excited by the stellar visuals and engaging information, but also the ability to pick and choose what catches their attention. I handed it off to one of the science teachers in my building, someone who had not experienced much VR in her life. Throughout the roughly 45 minutes she was in the experience, she would react with “Wow” or “Ahh” and even though I was in conversation with another teacher, she was so engaged with the process that the reactions continued. Immediately after we were starting to discussing the main components of the experience and how she would be able to use it in her class over the next year. I am very excited to start writing curriculum for this program ASAP.
