Immersive technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality reality (AR) create distinct experiences by merging the physical world with the digital. They offer the opportunity to engage audiences with cultural heritage in new ways, and offer exciting possibilities for education.
These possibilities have been fully demonstrated by Built with Bits, a mentoring programme and educational challenge for students and educators, organised by the Europeana Initiative. The second edition, run by partners Macedonia Studio, took part in the second half of 2022. It trained 262 students and 19 educators and cultural heritage professionals to use Mozilla Hubs (a virtual world platform) to develop virtual spaces which used cultural heritage resources to offer a creative solution for a local issue. In doing so, the programme fostered collaborations between schools, universities, local museums and libraries, digital artists and UX designers, researchers, historians, architects, local authorities and tourism centres.
The projects developed for the programme are varied and inspiring and provide rich answers to the question: why use immersive technologies in education?
7. Virtual spaces can connect you with the New European Bauhaus movement and its values of sustainability, inclusivity and togetherness.
This is how Kati Lőrincz developed her project, New European Bauhaus Treasure Hunt with more than 50 students of the Szabó Lőrinc Bilingual high school in Budapest and two external collaborators, the 3D artist Alexedu Cabanillas and Ekin Baskentli, an architecture student.
Kati says, ‘The New European Bauhaus Treasure Hunt was built on the idea of celebrating art and culture and linking sustainability and inclusion to our local treasures. Our school is in the Bauhaus area near Napraforgó Street, a pleasant and unique street with houses made from modern materials which use state-of-the-art structural designs by the era’s notable architects. I planned the project around learning not only a new vocabulary related to technology, architecture and styles but also culture, European values, sustainability, SDGs and inclusion. By completing this project, students not only learned and practised English but also became acquainted with the European and Hungarian Bauhaus movement and local history’.
Guess what? The space was awarded with the Best New European Bauhaus project. Find out more about New European Bauhaus.
8. Students can lead on using immersive technologies - and become teachers themselves!
When working with immersive technologies, educators may end up learning the most challenging technical aspects from their students, acting as mentors rather than lecturers. Rafael Montero - secondary school teacher at Corazon de María in Gijon - and his students worked in this bottom-up way, and Caminos Sostenibles CODEMA is the fantastic result of this approach to projects.
The space was fully developed by Álvaro Puebla and Javier Yañez, both 17 years old. Rafa explains how, ‘This project consists of a large-scale model that contains a circuit with information and interesting facts about our city and its future sustainable paths. As students interested in sustainable mobility, we proposed it because we think this could be a great project to make in real life. This way, we can help children and families to come to school safely’.
The project received the award and special mention for Best Only Students project, which was more than deserved.
9. You can design a project which supports local tourism while respecting the environment
This is the case of the project Rediscovering Arbatax Red Rocks - tourism, nature and culture in Arbatax (Central environment, Cultural and Naturalistic Centre and Battery Park), a collaboration led by Maria Luisa Onida, secondary school teacher at IIS Leonardo da Vinci in Lanusei, and her colleagues Daniela Brogna, Luiga Palumbo and Anna Marongiu with their respective students.
Maria Luisa explains, ‘Red-iscovering Arbatax Red Rocks is a project consisting of the redevelopment and enhancement of the area of the Red Rocks. As a teacher interested in the enhancement of natural and cultural heritage, I proposed it because it concerns a space that is abandoned but has a large potential and could play an important role in tourism. The project includes the creation of a centre for the study of the marine environment and pollution in the area of the former maritime station. The Red Rocks square would become a place for eco-friendly tourism. It will also represent the centre of a system consisting of the port area, the main street of the village and the square.
During the project, they contacted associations that deal with sustainable tourism (such as Società Turistica Salinas SNC) to research the territory. They also collaborated with regional media to find documents on culture, local traditions and the environment, earning the special mention for the Best Local Impact project.
Find out more and get involved!
We hope that this post has convinced you of the value of immersive technologies in education, and shown you what has been achieved in the Built with Bits programme! But if not, never fear - you can read six other reasons in Part I and Part II of this theme.
You can find out more about the training, resources and activities which the Europeana Initiative provides for educators on our Education page. And if you would like to learn more about working with Mozilla hubs, you can explore the Built with Bits tutorials.