Classroom Setup for 24 (SEATED) Students

[MartinMarty]

You know I love your project, but I have to say, from the point of view of someone who, if I lived there, would probably be a customer if not a volunteer helper: Technical questions aside, that fishbowl is a serious privacy concern that is going to turn a lot of people WAY OFF. I get paranoid jumping around in my own living room during VR, let alone being essentially blindfolded by an HMD and then put behind a glass window for people to look through.

 

We had a round, glass room in the networking area of a company I worked for. It was designed so that customers could see lots of blinking lights and cool screens with flashing readouts, etc. Although the tooling was state-of-the-art, people did not like working in there, and it wasn't only women complaining, and the inhabitants of our fish bowl did not have anything covering their eyes.

 

Maybe,,, with the right curtains...

 

Just my two cents.

[Synthesis]

 

You're going to want the coverings to be as opaque as possible as you're attempting to block infrared light, not light in the visible spectrum. More than likely, you're not going to be able to have people watch through semi-transparent coverings. I won't say don't try if you have the time to experiment, but if you want to be sure it's working, go with the completely opaque black or dark fabric.

 

Edit: One additional thought is distance. I'm not sure how far away the glass is, but if it's far enough away, it won't be a problem. Generally you want to angle the Base Stations down at an angle so if they're beyond the FOV of the Base Stations, they won't interfere. 

 makes some good points as well, especially considering if people will feel self conscious. Obviously that's a bit more subjective and it's not going to be the same for everyone, but yes, in general those windows could present an issue. If there's a way for you get a single set either from a friend or just as an advanced purchase for research, I'd recommend testing one out in your planned space first.

Thank you,

-John C

[Bighouse]

Believe me, I understand the privacy issue. I also understand that, in this day and age, privacy isn’t what it used to be- at least not electronically. So I think students have different expectations and takes on just how much they may love/hate working in a fishbowl. I don’t think the room would be a really fishbowl. I’m quite sure most of the walls will be solid, but I do expect to have portions of walls that will be solid glass instead of a traditional wall. I actually welcome that. Studies show that students do better in classrooms when they feel a strong connection to the outdoor environment, and for most computer time  and general class use, it’ll be nice. When we need to go into HMD labtime, we’ll just push a button and have the concealed roller blinds drop around the perimeter of the room where the windows are. Maybe I can have two layers of shading, transluscent white and opaque, light blocking as well to use whichever works better in the space and for watching the activity from the outside.

 

This classroom may be adjacent to a lobby, a grand staircase with many levels on it, and some great innovation open spaces for maker-type activities, so it could really be a fun space to work in and to collaborate with adjacent activities. The actual building won’t be constructed for five years or so, and by then the technology will most certainly mature and change. BUT, I’ll still be setting up an extant lab (without floor to ceiling windows) that will eventually be demolished as we make room for our new building.

[LobakiVR]

This is really great to see what you are doing. We just last week deployed a 25 station VR Lab in a middle school, high school setting where over 600 students will have regular access. We are also working with a local community college on a 15 station deployment. We are working with faculty to provide guidance on enhancing classroom lessons and also guiding students in learning development tools. Hopefully we start creating the VR generation workforce. :-) I'm very interested to see how your deployment goes. We are having conversations to do more in a multi-state setting and I would love to colloborate on best practices and troubleshooting. Really great to see this!

[toddlich]

Hi Big House. I am a school teacher and trying to do something similar. 20 Vive seated students and 2 VivePro play areas in a 13meter x 13meter room with no windows. How did you pull it off? I have all my gear in boxes that arrived this week and could sure use some diagrams and details of how it works. 

 

Thanks

Todd