Gadgets to Borrow: TechRow VR Headsets

WiFi is needed to access applications within the VR library. A simple guest password to the WiFi network could be used to enter the applications from the onboard VR screen (library).

TechRow PII Statement

These are some helpful tips and tricks observed from your fellow librarians.

1. There are 5 VR headsets provided per checkout. Set up the VR units to be coordinated with five specific chairs in the room. This avoids repeatedly calibrating boundaries for each headset.
2. Sanitize and charge units after each use. 
3. Download experiences prior to student use.
4. Make sure Wi-Fi is available when downloading experiences and to access applications within the headsets.
5. Preview experiences in their entirety.
6. For users that are new to VR,
   • Provide a quick overview of how to turn on the device, control volume, and review what options the students will see in the menu screen.
   • Provide a cue to let them know when an experience is ending (example: look for rolling credits or a key piece of dialogue or scene).

Spring 2024

-The students were reading The Alchemist and completed a study about the different locations in the book. The last stop was the Egyptian Pyramids, so the kids got a kick out of visiting the pyramids with the headsets.

Social Studies

• The Antoni Gaudi Tour - With his extravagant, shape‐shifting structures that drew on various sources, from the Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th century to Islamic and Asian architecture to organic natural forms and beyond, Antoni Gaudí became one of the most famous architects of the first half of the 20th‐century.
• The Great Pyramids of Egypt - Built during a time when Egypt was one of the richest and most powerful civilizations in the world, the pyramids—especially the Great Pyramids of Giza—are some of the most magnificent man‐made structures in history.
• Follow Me Rome: Colosseum - Viewers immerse into the fascinating past of Ancient Rome during the Imperial Era.
• Same but Different Series - Featuring children with differences from across the UK who explain “what it’s like to be me”. The films are emotive, insightful, and convey the theme of inclusion whilst subtlety educating the viewer about what it's like to live like a young person with a difference.

Science

• Under a Cracked Sky - Dive under eight feet of sea ice to swim with seals, explore ice caves and float above a dark seabed crawling with life.
• Wild Immersion: Africa (with Jane Goodall) - Never had a chance to go on a safari? The African savannah comes to you. Learn more about its most iconic species and watch them up close. Featured animals: Plains zebra, Giraffe, Dwarf mongoose, Lesser flamingo, lion, African bush elephant, Blue wildebeest, Chimpanzee.
• Lost Giants VR. Megalodon - We will follow four scientists on a journey through time to immerse ourselves in the world of these lost giants.
• 700 Sharks - Follow Laurent Ballesta, a famous underwater specialist and marine biologist in the tiny Fakarava atoll, lost in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Laurent is about to give a final answer to his quest: understanding the hunting behavior of the biggest shark pack in the world.

Arts

• Claude Monet: The Water Lily Obsession - Through a dialogue between Claude Monet and his old friend, statesman George Clemenceau, this contemplative VR experience invites you on a sensory journey starting off in Claude Monet’s garden, stopping along the way at the workshop of the artist and ending in the exhibition rooms of the Orangerie Museum.
• Kinoscope: A VR journey into the history of cinema - A virtual reality journey immersing the spectator into a lively
  and colorful universe to discover the history of cinema.
• Leonardo Da Vinci ‐ The Universal Man - In virtual reality, visit a dream museum housing Leonardo da Vinci’s incredible creations and dive into the story of one of the most brilliant minds in history.

Middle school lessons enhanced with VR headsets

Classroom lessons at Bellport Middle School are being enhanced with the use of VR headsets on loan from the Eastern Suffolk BOCES School Library System.

...  For more of the article, please visit the South Country CSD News page