Did you always want to know what Virtual Reality exactly is? Or you are not sure what the difference between AR, VR, MR and XR is? How old is VR do you think? Would you like to know about the history of it? Do you know in which industries VR is used and how it might develop in the future? What are the benefits of using VR? Can using VR be dangerous? What ethical implications could creating VR environments or apps have?
If you are interested in the answers to these question and more, and have a few spare hours, there are some good (free) short online courses you can take. Here are two to get you started:
FutureLearn: Introduction to Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality
This two-week course by the University of Lancaster Institute of Coding is very accessible and there is just enough information if you only have a couple of hours and want a brief introduction. But there are lots of extra links to articles, websites and even development tools if you want to dig a bit deeper. You can also take your time to reflect about the information and questions, and add comments to interact with other course participants. Some comments are really insightful or help you to look at things from a different perspective. You get a free digital upgrade too, and can download and share your certificate on Linkedin and elsewhere. The topics that are covered are:
- The fundamentals of XR (VR, AR and MR)
- The ethics surrounding the creation of XR applications
- Careers/pathways in and skills in XR
- The technologies and tools in creating XR projects
Linkedin Learning: Virtual Reality Foundations
If you have access to Linkedin Learning (You need to have a Premium account or your institution subscribes to it, or you can sign up for a 30-day trial), you can take this course by Craig Barr. The learning objectives are:
- What is virtual reality?
- Types of virtual reality
- Using virtual reality in business, filmmaking, AEC, and more
- Developing VR content
- The future of VR
The topics covered are similar to the one above, but it’s worth going through both courses as they look at things from different angles or provide different examples. From what I have seen, in the FutureLearn courses comments are generally more elaborate because you are frequently asked reflective questions. If you start on a specific start date, you also feel part of a learning community and not like just watching a series of video lecturers on your own as it often is with Linkedin Learning courses. Of course there is nothing to stop you from forming a community with like-minded people and working your way through a Linkedin course together and discussing the content as you go. Linkedin Learning allows you to download and share your certificate on your Linkedin profile and feed too.
What interests you in VR? What do you think of its potential? How would you like to use it?
My main interest is, of course, language learning and teaching in virtual reality. And if this interests you too, check out the first virtual reality English teaching platform: Immerse.