In this 15th update video, we look the updates made to dashboard and remaining planned updated to GCED. GCED submission viewer now supports panoramas and videos. The dashboard includes search functionality and access to GCED dashboard.

With this update, we have completed the planned product functionalities.

We'll continue to work on documentation, smaller bug fixes and specific features requested by teachers. We'll bring the update video series to a pause during this time, but will continue to publish updates through Twitter and other channels. We feel video is not a good medium to share those kind of updates & minor improvements.

We'll be back with videos to share our experience of building RemixVR. We also have plans to share our marketing efforts when we start it in full force.

The video series have been helpful not just in sharing updates, but also to keep us motivated each week. We recommend trying a weekly update video schedule for your product development.

In this update, we look at the workflow of GCED. Teachers can now create classrooms, create activities and respond to activities. The student submission page is also working.

RemixVR's GCED tools allows schools from around the world to asynchronously connect based on the time available.

In this update, we look at Global Citizenship Education dashboard. We see the frontend part of GCED. We see how to create classrooms and activities in it. We also have an early look at the submissions page for activities.

In this update, we look at the progress in the backend for global citizenship education product. We look at the apis that have been developed and have an early look at the activities page of global citizenship product.

In this video, we look at Global Citizenship Education with RemixVR. We look at how it'll work.

We also see the how RemixVR solves the issue of timezones when connecting with students from different parts of the world.

We also look at the prototype of the frontend for Global Citizenship Education.

We have reached 10 update videos! In this video, we look at the remixing functionality in RemixVR. You can take an existing VR experience and remix it to customise and create a new experience.

Use cases include updating fields to include your study material or using your language in text fields.

In this video, we look at the new object field that has been added and also at the updated lesson theme with an Object space.

We've integrated the field with Google Poly to make it easier to find objects. We'll integrate with other service providers to make it even easier.

In this video, we look at the updates happening to object field. In the first iteration of the field, we're integrating Google Poly.

With Google Poly we can search for objects and use them in RemixVR.

The backend part of the Object field is still being made. Saving the model in the backend and integrating it to lesson theme will be done next.

In this 7th update video, we look at how to a new space that has been added to lesson theme. It's a banner space! You can choose a title & description, and select a color for the background in this space. You can use this space as an explanation card for the upcoming spaces.

We've also added audio field to all spaces in lesson theme! With this, you can upload an audio file to any space when using lesson theme.

For example, you can upload a voiceover when showing a 360 image or an explanation audio when showing a banner space.

In this update video, we look at how to use the new lesson theme to create multi space VR projects all by filling few forms. We'll see how you can add more spaces to the project.

With lesson theme, you can have more than one space inside a project. Lesson theme will also be evolving soon by adding more types of spaces to choose from.

Last week we conducted our very first teachers workshop in Thrissur, Kerala, India. During the time, we accomplished two things:

1. Introduce Virtual Reality to teachers.
2. Showcase RemixVR and gather feedback.

In this post, I’ll be sharing what we learned from the workshop.

Workshop

The workshop began with me talking about Virtual Reality. After a brief intro, I wanted to show them what it is all about. After all, seeing what it can do helps way more than me talking about it.

I had 3 VR headsets with me. One Oculus Go. One phone based VR headset (Procus). One Google cardboard.

I setup Taj Mahal lesson from RemixVR on the headsets. Then I shared the headsets with the teachers.

Most of them were experiencing VR for the first time. It was exciting to see their response.

I answered the questions teachers had about the headset and how it worked.  I also explained the difference in cost and experience for these headsets.

I also talked about 6DOF headsets, but it’s hard to explain that without experiencing it first hand. Unfortunately, I didn’t have those headsets with me.

Next, I showcased RemixVR.

I opened RemixVR website on the projector and created a new project with 360 Image theme.

I then uploaded a 360 image that I took of the school minutes before starting the workshop. I entered the school’s name as text and clicked on View Project.

I opened this VR experience in all the VR headsets I had. Within seconds, teachers were able to get a VR view of the school they were in.

This accomplished two things.

1. They could put in perspective how 360 images can immerse a user.
2. How easy it is to create VR content and lessons using RemixVR.

I then asked for their feedbacks.

I’ve shared them below.

Challenges with RemixVR

For RemixVR to succeed, there are 3 main challenges.

1. Awareness about Virtual Reality
2. Budget to buy VR headsets
3. Creating lessons for VR

How to overcome these challenges

Teaching about Virtual Reality

For any new technology to succeed, it has to go through few groups of people. They are:

• Innovators
• Early adopters
• Early majority
• Late majority
• Laggards

For successful introduction of RemixVR it has to follow a similar path.

We cannot see all schools as our target audience.

We need to identify the early adopter schools for the highest chance for this to work out. How would we do that?

There are couple of ways to do that:

• Look for schools with advancement in existing technology
• Look for champion teachers who are enthusiastic about VR
• Partner with companies who specialise in bringing these technology to schools

Having budget for VR headsets

This is a larger issue which we cannot influence.

Since RemixVR uses WebVR, it can support any device including laptops and mobiles.

Because of this, VR headsets are optional.

VR headsets do provide a better experience. But, 360 images and 3D environment provided by WebVR on non VR headsets is still more engaging experience than reading textbooks or watching a video.

Creating lessons in VR

One of the key advantage of RemixVR is ease of use in creating lessons. We have made it as simple as filling a form to create VR lessons.

You don’t need to fiddle around with drag and drop or know 3D programming.

A lesson created on RemixVR is accessible to any teacher on the platform. This is a major advantage.

For example, if there’s a lesson showcasing Taj Mahal, any user can search for it and use that in their classroom by sharing a link.

On top of that, customisation of these VR lessons is possible by remixing them.

This workshop has taught us a lot about having a product for VR in education. We’ll continue sharing our findings through this blog and social media. If you’re not already following us on Twitter, please do so @remix_vr

In this update video, we discuss RemixVR workshop conducted for teachers in Thrissur, Kerala, India. We look at what we learned and what we were able to share with the teachers.

We'll be publishing a detailed summary about what we learned from the workshop soon.

We also look at a demo of lesson theme in action.

In this update video, we look at how we can create a project using 360 image theme and update its fields. We also look at the workflow for creating a new project using a theme and viewing the project.

The fields for the project are auto generated based on the theme. When the project is published, you'll also be able to share the project using just a link.

How easy can creating a VR experience be? What if I told you that it's as easy as filling a form.

Yes, a form!

This has been our goal with RemixVR. Make it very easy to create and share VR experiences.

VR themes makes this possible.

What is a VR theme?

A theme is a simple starting point for creating virtual reality experiences.

With themes, you don't need to learn complex 3D programming or applications to create VR experiences.

We want to make it easy for teachers to use, who are our primary audience.

How does that work? Scroll down to learn how RemixVR enables to create VR experiences by filling a form.

Today, I'll show you our first theme, 360 Image theme, and create VR lessons using it.

We used WebVR and AframeVR to power this theme. It is not necessary to use AframeVR to create themes. We'll get into how you can build VR themes in another post. For now, let's get back to 360 Image theme.

Since we're using WebVR, it works regardless of what VR headset you're using. And what happens if you don't have a VR headset? Well, with WebVR, you can view the content even using a laptop or a mobile.

What does 360 Image theme do?

360 Image VR theme allows you to create lessons using a 360 image. And share the lesson by sharing a link. It's that easy.

How to create a VR lesson?

Remember when I told that you can create a VR experience by filling a form?

Let’s go through the steps to create a new VR lesson using 360 Image theme.

1. Visit dashboard and click on Create Project button.

2. Enter project details and select 360 Image and click on Create Project button.

3. Upload a 360 Image

4. Enter a text description to display in VR

Once you’re done, click on Save and View Project button.

Demo of 360 Image Theme

You’ll able to see something like this. Here I've embedded the lesson. You can embed or share the VR experience created using RemixVR. No downloads required!

We’re working on improving the existing themes and creating new themes. That will enable more ways to create immersive VR content.

This is just the beginning.

We'll focus on making it easy to create a VR experience when we introduce more fun VR themes in the future.

If you have any feedback about the VR themes or RemixVR, you can contact us on Twitter @remix_vr.

In this week's update video, we look at the updates done to frontend of RemixVR. Frontend enables the user to create new projects based on a theme, edit projects, and publishes them.

We look at how a new project is created and how the fields are generated while editing a project.