INVITATION

How can we help students utilize technology to bring the community into the school setting? How do we encourage students to use specific tools and software to support learning and research in content-specific areas? How do we motivate them to apply strategies for developing simulations for real-world events? How do we teach students to create ideas that contribute positively to the learning community and to recognize the importance of literate information to a democratic society?

TASKS

Students create a QuickTime virtual reality tour of their school. Students are divided into groups to decide what school locations or buildings will be incorporated into the tour, and to plan a site map of the entire project. The virtual reality project will be completed for posting to the school or district Web site.

TOOLS

Computers; the Internet.

AppleWorks; Inspiration; Photoshop LE or Photoshop Elements; QuickTime VR Authoring Studio or The VR Worx.

Director Academic (optional).

INTERACTIONS

Students meet as a class to discuss the virtual reality tour and then divide into four groups: Project Managers, Outside Building Managers, Inside Building Managers, and VR Web masters. Groups create portions of the VR tour and meet together near the end of the project to bring the entire tour together.

Project Managers are responsible for creating the overall site map.

Outside Building Managers are in charge of selecting the tour areas that involve the outside of the building and include site locations, angles, and so on.

Inside Building Managers are in charge of selecting the inside school locations including sites, angles, and so on.

VR Web Masters are in charge of the QTVR and Web logistics of the project.

SITUATIONS

Based on their assigned group, students work outside and inside of the school. The Project Managers and Web masters will working in the classrooms and computer labs.

ASSESSMENT

The teacher assesses the project based on the depth of the tour and multiple technological tools involved. The Multimedia Checklist and rubric examples provided in this kit will provide a framework for assessment.

Students create an interactive tour of their school for use on a school or district Web site. The integration of technology with the community helps to bridge communication gaps between community and schools, allowing families and other community members to virtually visit the school.

You determine the level of the final outcome, as this is a project that can continue development for an extended period of time. Time and storage space also determine how far this project can continue. You and your students may decide that a simple interactive panoramic tour involving QuickTime VR will be sufficient while others may want to involve object VR and other development tools for use in creating the final tour. You and your students will also decide whether the project is group based, individually based, or both. Project organization and student knowledge of the software are essential to the success of this tour. Please refer to the QuickTime VR Authoring Studio or The VR Worx tutorials included in this kit.

Phase 1: Group interaction

Students should be divided into groups according to their communication skills so that each group contains members that have complimentary strengths and weaknesses. For example, try to include one student who is extremely organized, one who is a natural leader, one who possesses an "artistic" eye for design, and one who may be have strong technical skills. A rubric should be developed so students understand the expectations for the project throughout the development of the information phase.

Phase 2: Preparing the tour

Students walk the school with their assigned groups, taking notes on a PowerBook or iBook computer if available, and using Inspiration to create a rough draft of the virtual reality spots for the tour. This can be done through brainstorming or using the RapidFire portion of Inspiration. Students need to discuss and decided on the possible school areas to be photographed; this task must then be assigned. Students within each of the groups decide among themselves who will be responsible for a specific virtual reality spot.

During this phase, students within groups decide what camera angles will be used, where the hotspots will occur for virtual links, how many photos will be taken, and at what degrees of rotation. Groups also need to decide how many links to include and what URLs could link to any important school history.

Phase 3: Creating the school map

Groups now divide into specific roles and begin developing each portion of the tour. The Project Managers meet with each of the mini-groups responsible for the VR spots to develop the overall site map. The map will be created in Photoshop LE or Photoshop Elements. Group members will critique the map to verify the VR spots on the site map and to suggest any changes.

Phase 4: Creating the virtual spots

Students involved in the Inside and Outside Building Manager groups divide into teams with each team shooting a specific VR spot. Each team within the group is responsible for their selected spot. Students need to have a clear understanding of QuickTime VR Authoring Studio or The VR Worx before going out on camera trips. A clear explanation of nodes and the importance of balance and level tripods should be provided to students. It is important that students do plenty of test shots and create sample panoramas before they begin to shoot the VR spots for the tour. A review of the QuickTime VR or The VR Worx tutorial will provide students with a framework to use.

Phase 5: Group show and tell

Once the panoramic and object VR scenes have been finished, teams within each group share with others what they have created. Students then create a short presentation of their particular finished VR. This is a good chance for student/peer critiques. It is important that students know proper peer-critiquing methods in order to facilitate positive feedback. This may serve as another lesson earlier in the school year or as a part of this unit.

Phase 6: Putting it all together

Students decide how they want the presentation to appear on the school or district Web site. A meeting with the Web master to discuss server space, appropriate file sizes, and uploading features needs to be scheduled. Once the site has been linked, students should test the entire tour before it is posted on the Internet.

PREPARATION

Students should be comfortable with the following software: QuickTime VR Authoring Studio or The VR Worx, Photoshop LE or Photoshop Elements, Inspiration, and AppleWorks.

Lessons on how to engage in productive peer critiques will help students prepare for analysis of other Web sites and how to critique each other's portion of the final project.

Show students Web sites that involve interactive tours using virtual reality software. Comparing and contrasting these Web sites will allow students to see what they like and also what might not work for their upcoming project.

Locate Web sites or other sources that show both panoramic and object virtual reality and allow students to discuss what should be included in the upcoming project.

On the day of the final presentation, invite families, community members, or local school board members.

During this project, allow enough time for revisions and remember that multimedia projects will always continue to change.

As an option, students might want to take the data and project information and test their skills using other software such as Director Academic. The tour may involve more graphics, interactive games, and be more video intensive.

QuickTime VR on the Web
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/authoring/vronweb.html

CampusTours: Virtual College Tours!
http://www.campustours.com/

QTVR Tutorials for Educators
http://www.edb.utexas.edu/teachnet/QTVR/

Lux Middle School Web Site
http://lux.lps.org/intro.html