{"id":11273,"date":"2019-05-21T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T11:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.elearninginside.com\/?p=11273"},"modified":"2019-05-28T09:53:29","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T13:53:29","slug":"project-chimera-uses-vr-to-put-remote-students-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.elearninginside.com\/project-chimera-uses-vr-to-put-remote-students-in-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Chimera Uses VR to Put Remote Students in the Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

With education in all forms today, classes tend to be either wholly online or wholly face-to-face. While some hybrid degrees are gaining in popularity in fields such as nursing<\/a> and law<\/a>, these mostly demarcate courses between remote and in-person. But what if the same class\u2014and not just the same class content\u2014could be taught to both in-person and remote students at the same time? Jimmy Giliberti, general manager of Number 9, a VR development company, has been thinking about scenarios like these for some time. Number 9 operates as a subsidiary of the Glimpse Group, an umbrella company that brings together VR and AR expertise across numerous fields. Along with another company, Foretell, Giliberti has recently developed Project Chimera, a VR presentation solution that brings together live and remote audiences and presenters in the same space. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing, and the interesting thing about Chimera, is it is the DNA of two entities being blended together into something new,\u201d Giliberti said over the phone. \u201cIn essence, what we\u2019re doing is capturing 3D 180\u00ba video (I could use 360\u00ba, but in this case, we\u2019re using 180\u00ba), and grafting it into a computer-generated environment that allows people to participate in an event, or a class, or a presentation, virtually.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How Project Chimera Works<\/h2>\n

In the intended setup, a teacher (or presenter) would speak from the front of the room to an audience comprised of IRL students (or attendees), a monitor showing remote students, and a 180\u00ba camera live streaming her remarks. The monitor shows a virtual classroom with virtual rows of chairs. In those chairs, graphic representations of remote students appear. <\/span><\/p>\n

Those virtual attendees, wherever they are in the world, can stream in to the lecture via the Number 9 app and a pre-specified conference link, much like Zoom. Donning their VR headsets, they see what the 180\u00ba camera sees. Using their controllers, they can raise their hands, take notes, and gesture as they speak. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe set up monitors in front of the presenter so they can see into the virtual world,\u201d Giliberti said. \u201cThat way, it doesn\u2019t affect their teaching. That\u2019s one of the things we wanted to solve. We didn\u2019t want to put an instructor in VR in a [purely] virtual space. There are social VR spaces, and it solves the issue of everyone being in the same place, and everybody being immersed, but it does affect your way of teaching.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Provided that everyone involved has the right devices and software, an in-person peer could even use a tablet to see and interact with their remote counterparts. The technology is continuing to develop.<\/span><\/p>\n