Oculus Go and Education – Part Deux

Yesterday, I wrote about my early impressions unboxing and using the new Oculus Go and considered the potential impact on K-12 education.  Today I had the opportunity to take some students into VR with the Oculus Go.  As part of a science lesson with science teacher, @JudeaTarn, we took students on roller coaster rides.  Originally, we’d planned on using the HTC Vive exclusively, but I thought this was a great opportunity to put the Oculus Go into students’ hands and let them give some feedback.  This also allowed more students to have access to experiences at the same time, allowing time for each student to ride the coaster.  The feedback was 100% positive!  We used the EPIC Roller Coaster app, a moderately realistic experience (this is mobile VR, after all).  After an exciting ride on a rusty mine cart or on a tour of a dinosaur-style theme park, you have a great opportunity to chat about forces and motion.

After providing roughly 20-30 students through three headsets, around 45 minutes to an hour of solid use, each showed about 66% battery remaining.  Schools using these at any scale will want to invest in some power strips to keep them charged!

Again, still giving the Oculus Go a thumbs up for K-12 use.  I should get commission from Oculus/Facebook, too.  I imagine I sold a few future Christmas presents today, too.

-Lucas