Step Inside The Virtual World Where Possibilities Are Endless For Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) is a burgeoning technology space that is only limited by what we can image. With those possibility there has been an effort to use VR for good. Whether in the education arena or, simply,  even helping kids with doctor visits and receiving vaccines. 

Russ sits down with Parker and Sean to talk about VR and the possibilities of what it can do to be a tool to aid and help people. Possibly providing a safe space to face fears or prepare for medical appointments for those in the special needs community. Or in the classroom, making education a more hands on experience by taking hard to grasp concepts and placing the students in a virtual world that allows them to experience their education.  

We will check back in with Sean and Parker, plus the Digital Scribbler team, to learn more about their progress with Virtual Reality, so stay tuned.

Mentioned On The Show:

Simulation based virtual learning environment in medical genetics counseling: an example of bridging the gap between theory and practice in medical education

Improving biotech education through gamified laboratory simulations

Physical and Virtual Laboratories in Science and Engineering Education

How VR is taking the fear out of kids getting their shots

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

[inaudible]

Speaker 2: 0:08

everybody. Welcome to the, this is me podcast. It's podcast talks about inclusion and education and inclusion in the community. The neighborhood. Uh, you may go to church, you may have a nonprofit, you may have a playground. It's just about inclusion. Typical kids with special needs kids, typical adults with special needs, adults being able to spend time together socially, emotionally, intellectually, uh, wherever they are. And today we're going to began really, uh, talking to you about technology and its use. We haven't covered that up till now. We talked about our EAP programs and we'll do that more that, uh, that we've been involved with. We'll be, we've talked about medical, uh, uh, items with, uh, Dr Traver and he's gonna come back. But today I've got, uh, Sean Killick and Parker Allen and, uh, we got a new project and the new project is creating a virtual reality lab. Now ultimately, we're going to get into other things besides virtual reality, but we're real excited about this. It's a new launch and we're going to begin to work first with education, bringing virtual reality tools into classrooms and getting kids to be able to benefit from those, uh, those tools and to make them be almost as seamless as using their smartphone or as seamless as using their x-box or their PS4. And so, uh, today, uh, having Sean and Parker here, they're going to begin to tell us a little bit about what they're thinking, what they're doing and where we're going.

Speaker 3: 1:29

Yeah. So, thanks for having zone, but of course you ever starting this, uh, kind of VR thing and figuring out how to do it along the way. But, um, I think for me, just the virtual reality and, um, uh, what really, well, I'm a student at Santa Clara University and I, um, and I am a computer science major. And what got me excited about that actually was growing up, going to a school that, um, promoted inclusion and specifically using technology to help that, um, help that process and excellent. Um, yeah, I ended up taking a, my first quarter at Santa Clara, I took a class called, uh, um, technology and education or something along those lines. And I ended up writing a paper for, uh, the end of that, basically talking about the Stanford study and other things that were going on that showed how much virtual and augmented reality and these different laboratories that students could use for science or just different things they could use, were able to dramatically increase their retention rate and, um, basically just get kids excited about learning. You still have that paper? Uh, I think I do. I had to find those trying to look for it though.

Speaker 2: 2:36

Signed that paper and posted on digital scribbler yeah. You want to read some of this stuff we're going to be doing, go to ww.digital scribbler.com and we're going to be posting over the next several months, uh, all the different stuff, all the different efforts we're making using virtual reality. And so we'll try and get Parker's paper for you so you can be able to read it.

Speaker 3: 2:53

Yeah. And we'll keep it updated too. I think we're planning on a, at least once a week having kind of VR news up there, like specifically with inclusion, but also just generally and then different stuff we're doing. Should someone be interested in VR? Um, Gosh, well first of all, I think it's super exciting. Like it's just cool being able to go into a different world and there's some people out there that may not even know what VR is. What does it mean going to a different world? It's a virtual reality and it's basically like, um, it's like stepping into a video game or stepping into a, uh, three dimensional world that you can look around and interact with.

Speaker 2: 3:30

So I'm, one of the things I did and, uh, in getting things ready to launch is I visited Facebook and their virtual reality department. Um, and so when went over there, uh, with a couple of friends who work at Facebook and met and, uh, uh, scheduled an appointment with their, uh, their, their, their team, um, and, and Facebook is, is a really great company and it's a, it's a joy to be able to go over to their company and be around the campus. They're the, it's an adventurous place. And I know in the news there's different things about, you know, using Facebook, but it's, it's bigger than just the Facebook application that all of you use. Uh, they do a lot of great, great things and they're very welcoming to help entrepreneurs and startups like ours at digital scribbler. Um, but I went on and, and uh, I'd used virtual reality a little bit, but, uh, uh, I went with a friend and we went into two separate rooms and got a demo and it was a big room and obviously they have some pretty cool equipment in there. I was on the Oculus, I think. And so they, the guys started putting me through his paces and I was telling them all about what we did. And it turned out the guy who was working with me, his niece had autism. And so he got my information so they could look it up and he could give it to his brother, uh, and be able to get the tools. So we're going through it and you know, I'm seeing dinosaurs and they, they literally, you're standing there and the dinosaur like moves and comes right up to your face and you literally feel it. And then there was like trains and all that. But then the moment of truth came when I knew virtual reality was powerful. I was all of a sudden on top of the empire state building. Now here's the key. I'm afraid of heights. I'm very afraid of heights. Suddenly it appears and I start sweating. I get nervous and my heart starts racing and I say to the guy, oh no man, I'm on top of this building. And I'm afraid. Literally it felt like if I stepped forward, I would fall. My brain was fully convinced. He said, do you want me to turn it off? I go, no, no. I'll get through it. And then when I did some reading on research, one of the things I've found out is that psychologists are using virtual reality to help people deal with other traumas and they're able to take people in virtual reality back to the place that trauma occurred and help them get through it. And I began to think, wow, I could probably overcome my fear of heights if I just worked using virtual reality until I was no longer afraid. And so if you're out there and you're wondering how can that be practical, how can that really work for us? Imagine you have a kid who has this as Parker's alluded to, whose has difficulty with some emotion, some fear, and being able to put them in virtual reality and slowly working through. In fact, I think Sean, you did that, didn't you? Yes. Actually, when you were talking I was, I was thinking some about it cause I, uh, saw as we're getting more involved in VR, so apps that people are using the face, their fears and there's kind of all over the store, whether it's fear of heights, fear of, and my wife and I were looking at a discovery channel on, they had shark week and you know, my wife's like, you're afraid of sharks? No, my wife was. And so she reacted. And that's definitely one of the things that you could go to a University of Michigan football game and overcome your fear of how great they are. Uh, maybe that'll be a VR trip we'll take some day. Um, but, uh, but yeah, so it definitely the full immersive experience, uh, really helps with that. Like get your emotions totally involved. And that was one of the things that a friend actually encouraged it. Was Parker a also did some research about how, um, it's BBR is being used to actually help kids get through shots or blood draws, uh, co in they're doing a lot of research. I think it's in Brazil where they're actually mapping or timing, uh, the video that the kids are watching with one shots are getting taken to the different sensory kind of experiences while getting a shot or putting the of tourniquet on their arm is all mapped with the movie. Oh really? Yeah. So basically what, as they're watching it, they're experiencing something and it, they think they're kind of involved in the movie when they're actually getting a shot. And so, uh, that was really, it was really cool. And they're doing research on it and so, you know, you know, we, you know, we just gotta unit ourselves and my son actually had a blood test, um, this week in a unit we're using. We just had, we got a Samsung gear. I have a Samsung phone and I did a little bit of research and I liked, I mean the oculus go was an option for us and the Samsung gear, um, I went with the Samsung gear cause they're, they're, the app store has actually kind of map with Oculus and there's a lot more kind of options on there that we saw. Uh, uh, as well as they had the Google daydream that we kinda thought about and they didn't have as many things on there. Um, and I figured it and I'm curious actually on another, know how it's all gonna work out with the VR cause it's different Platt but then you use it and we used it and uh, it was great. Like we kind of did some kind of testing on our own. You took a blood draw for yourself? No.[inaudible] the VR itself. Ah, wait a minute, wait a minute, let me get this right. Your son had a blood draw. Yes. And you did some testing, but you tested the VR. We tested the VR to see you are not willing to go in and get your blood drawn using VR to test it. Exactly. Okay. You were only willing to go so far. I was willing to use virtual reality to, uh, to have fun and see what could have potentially help my son. Okay. But, uh, but we looked through, worked out, it worked out really great. Um, we, we kind of through the research realize that, you know, certain videos, he was be really active and want to look around and we didn't want that for while he's getting his blood taken. So we looked at, hey, what would actually he be calm. And uh, we ended up doing is the Netflix has a virtual reality app and you're Kinda, and basically you're in a virtual theater watching the same shows. Are you serious? So you look around and you know, you're, you see couches, you see remotes and, but you basically, your TV that you're watching the movie on is right in front of you giant. So we watched the shows that he likes himself and then he did really great. He was no, while we're in the doctor's office, he staring at it and the great thing, a great thing about it is he was distracted, but he also, even when he wanted to look, he couldn't physically see what was happening because the visor was all, you know, on his face. So even if kind of little moments that he'd want to look over his, his vision. What about parents who might feel like, I don't want to hide from my kid. What's due? What's going on? Or like what, what would you say to a parent who's like, wait a minute, you want me to put up big old virtual reality thing on his head and, and, and what if like what if it hurts them and he can't see it? Common? Is there a, is there a reason to not want to do that? Can you see any we, I can, I'm just asking. Well, we thought for some that you know, what's going to help them have the great experience of it so that you know that he doesn't, not afraid to go again if that's something needs to happen. Or you know, if we thought if it was a negative experience, he's not going to want to go to the doctors anymore. So we thought, how do we make this a great experience? So we did other things too. We had a social stories that we read him with pictures of what exactly was happening before he went before he went for a few days before. So he knew he was getting blood tests, he knew what every, all the steps. But then we also told them, hey, we're going to try this new cool thing. It was the first time you got to try. So he's really excited about it too. So he associates now going to the doctor with a chance to see movies and virtual reality. Um, here's the interesting thing. You know, I had one of my sons had to have oral surgery and so I wish we had had VR, but we, what we did is we actually filmed the office and the office of the oral surgeon, uh, and put together a social story and he was able to watch it for, I think we did it for three weeks before he went. And then also, um, I show they have film from a hospital in Australia and they show a young boy with his mother going to the hospital and going through all the stuff you have to go through to get the oral surgery, uh, exam and all that stuff. Right. And so that was really helpful. So I'm listening to you and I'm thinking for the parents who may be squeamish, may go, I don't know, this doesn't sound good. I'm not sure. You're not putting the kid through more to make them have to wear a VR. What it is is once you can establish a trust between your child, and I've been at this as a parent, especially these kids for 26 years. So once you establish trust between your child and that doctor in that office, you won't need the VR every time. And so you can use it, but you won't need it. So what we're talking about here really is preventing trauma by using the device. And then you have the option of coming into the office and not, not not having to do that. And this is something that other offices are using. Dental offices are using movies that you lay down and you get your dental work and you look up and you get headphones on and you go, okay, so this is not something that's really, so I want parents out there to not be afraid. And educators not be afraid. VR Is, is a real great option and it doesn't do anything negative to your kid. It really gives them an opportunity to overcome some potential traumas or prevent them as far as fears of doctors, a dentist, a going to the zoo or whatever it may be, whether your kid has a special need or not. Uh, now, one caution about that is you need to make sure you talk with your doctor before you put VR on your kid because especially if they're going to play a game, games, uh, can cause all kinds of problems if your kid has a seizure problem, uh, or any proclivity toward that. You want to be thoughtful. So you can do some research online and hopefully Parker or Sean will put together some tips about how to prepare for it. Cause it's easy to throw that headset on and not think about any consequences. Watching movies like Netflix shouldn't be a problem. It's just a better experience. But some people have been known to get dizzy using VR and so we want to be thoughtful about that and make sure people are hydrated. And like I said, you want to know what they're going to watch too, because when a kid sits in front of a television and he watches a roller coaster on a movie, it's gonna feel very different. If you watch that roller coaster on a movie in VR, what do you think? And Parker, you look like you've got a good thing to close us out on this episode, this initial maiden episode of VR. Uh, and, and tell us maybe about how you plan to put together this kit that you're going to use to go into classrooms and help kids with VR. What tools are you going to use?

Speaker 3: 13:24

Well, we have, uh, an oculus rift right now, which is probably the, it's like the, the leading VR device right now with a computer that could handle it. Um, but pretty much a really just takes the, just the device, just the oculus and the controllers that it comes with. And you don't need a lot to be put into a, like a world where you could do that. You just need the right applications, which there's a ton of them for.

Speaker 2: 13:48

Have you already picked your applications out? I have not yet. So you will, you're going to get, you're going to be doing that. You're going to be setting it up. Yeah. What's your first, when's your first presentation going to be tomorrow? A week from now, two weeks from now, either.

Speaker 3: 14:00

Uh, it's probably going to be a week from now, a week from today.

Speaker 2: 14:02

Okay. So then you'll present to us, you'll come back on the podcast and present to us what you did and what you learned. Yep. Okay. Why are you excited about doing this?

Speaker 3: 14:09

Um, well there's a lot of reasons I'm excited for this. I think, just give me one. Um, well the biggest thing is just, I just keep going back to the, just the study about the retention rate and like thinking about like my own experiences in high school cause I was not interested in school at all. Um, I remember biology and chemistry were just so boring. Um, but even like, just having to read the textbook and, and even the textbook had minimal pictures and stuff. It was mostly just words. Oh boy. Yeah. Um, and then I remember this last summer going to a, um, I went and visited this company Meta, who's actually an augmented reality company. Um, and they make their own headset. But I was able to um, look at different, I forget exactly what it was, but it was atoms and different

Speaker 2: 14:52

molecules in augmented reality. I mean, well it's basically you could see everything in front of you, so you just have like a glass screen in front of you, but it projects images on there and you could reach your hand out and the cameras can see your hand and you can grab different objects. Wait a minute, you can augmentative reality. Yes. You can reach your hand out and grab it. Yes. So I can grab a statue in a museum and I can manipulate it and turn it. Yes. So you could grab it, you could turn it, you could resize it with two hands. So what's gotten you excited is the idea that if someone is disinterested in the classroom, you can actually put them in the place of the assignment. So if we blow this up, I know this probably isn't possible, but if we blow this up, if I'm studying the civil war and then there's augmentative reality for civil war in a museum or something, I can actually go. Like I went to Fredericksburg and I saw the room where a general stonewall Jackson died and they went to the battlefield and then they showed the room where he actually went to after he was shot by his own men. And, but I could actually go into that room to, to pick up the, they had, uh, some tools and containers next to it. I could actually pick those up and look at the basin and see it. That's true. Yeah. I totally that totally educational. Completely. Yeah. And I think even like, like everyone has those experiences of classes that you've had to study for that you hate. And that's just the worst cause it just takes so much effort. But people also have those experiences, hopefully have classes that they love. And when you study for it and work for it, it feels like it's not even work. Like if you really, really enjoy it. And that's the goal I have for ar or for virtual reality. I'm just in classrooms. If you can get students to enjoy it and get students to be excited about learning, then it doesn't even feel like learning in school doesn't become a hassle, becomes something fun. Wow. So basically what you're doing is you're saying, look, I think there's another way here and there. A lot of educators like that you're saying, I think there's another way for parents. I think there's another way for educators and we think VR can be an assistant to parents and be an assistant to educators to make kids and adults lives better. I'm looking forward to it. You'll hear more about it on our next podcast. This is, this is me.

Speaker 1: 17:08

[inaudible].