Teachers everywhere can now introduce students to the power of VR.
Since Google launched their educational Expeditions Pioneer Program last September, more than a million students from 11 countries have taken one of 200 plus virtual reality trips in the classroom. Now the company is opening up their VR program to everyone.
The Expeditions program, which has been slowly making its way into the hands of teachers, makes use of Google Cardboard viewers to take students on guided tours of a variety of locations in VR, many places not normally accessible to students and teachers, especially in under privileged school districts.
Some of these virtual field trips include everything from visiting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to taking a guided tour of Buckingham Palace. The program is a powerful tool for education and was definitely met with high demand from teachers. Onboarding for the program could be challenging at times, educators needed to opt-in and go through a fairly lengthy sign-up process.
Now with Google opening up their Expeditions program to everyone through a simple app download, the entire process will be that much easier, letting teachers immediately test the program in their classroom. The app is available today for Android and will be available for iPhones and iPads soon.
And for the classrooms that may not already have devices necessary for the Expedition program, Best Buy will also be making Expeditions kits available for schools to purchase. These kits will contain everything teachers need to bring their classes on amazing Expeditions: a tablet, virtual reality viewers and a router to connect them all.
The $9,999 kit includes 30 devices, 30 viewers, 3 chargers, a tablet for teachers, a router, and a case for the equipment.
