{"id":2864,"date":"2016-09-29T12:47:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T12:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frasersm.it\/h\/?p=2864"},"modified":"2021-03-02T13:57:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T13:57:42","slug":"virtual-learning-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frasersm.it\/h\/virtual-learning-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Learning Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is part 2 of an occasional series about using virtual reality as a learning tool. See <\/em>part 1<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 2001, Rockstar games released Grand Theft Auto iii. This was the first instalment of the series to be rendered in full 3D, allowing you to truly immerse yourself in the games environment. Named Liberty City, it was a sprawling metropolis of around 6 square miles, which you were free to explore at your own pace in between, or even in lieu of, missions of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attention to detail was incredible. Wander up random backstreets you\u2019d find torn posters or other minor details which existed nowhere else in the game. Jump into a car and you could choose from 10 radio stations to listen to, each with hours of spoof DJ content and real licensed music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It felt like a real place. A living, breathing city.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ten years later, technology had advanced sufficiently, to the point that games which required high-end games consoles in 2001 could now comfortably run on the average smart phone. Rockstar repackaged it and released it as a 10th anniversary edition for Android and iOS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to Liberty City for the first time in a decade, I felt the same sense of nostalgia you might expect when revisiting the location of a bygone holiday, years later. The more I wandered round the streets, the more a sense of familiarity strengthened and returned to me as specific events from the game came flooding back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems obvious then, that there is equal worth using real locations and entirely invented spaces as spatial memory learning aids.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A really exciting prospect when you consider that there are a generation of children coming up who think nothing of constructing their own virtual worlds in Minecraft (over 100 million registered users). They could just as easily be constructing their own mind palaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an in-between area to consider though. Places that exist in the real world which you can revisit virtually at any time. Many museums and art galleries across the world have now had their interiors mapped by the Google Street View cameras as part Googles Arts and Culture initiative, meaning you can now roam their corridors without ever setting foot inside.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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