High Fidelity’s STEM VR Challenge

High Fidelity recently had the pleasure of showing off our open source virtual reality platform to educators and technical integrators at the ISTE conference in Philadelphia.

Though educators have been using virtual worlds like Second Life and Minecraft to teach a wide range of subjects for years, until now the ability to be fully immersed in those worlds was not technically possible. Head mounted displays like the Oculus, Vive, and GearVR will change that and when used with a VR platform like High Fidelity’s, we believe they will transform the way we learn.

To demonstrate one way educators can use our platform, High Fidelity worked with DynamoidApps to develop an interactive model of an animal cell that can be explored on one’s own or with an entire class. The vast alien looking environment goes beyond just showing the parts of the cell, also showing some of the processes taking place. Traveling around with your classmates and teacher allows for real time question and answers and sharing of ideas.

If you want to visit this animal cell, login and go to cell science/start, and fly towards any cell you see to begin your journey. Hitch a ride on a motor protein and jump off at one of the huge mitochondria along the way!

This cell ‘unit’ will also be free to anyone who wants to use it or modify it. We hope it is just the first of many such units educators will be able to take advantage of; to jump start that catalog, we are offering up to three $5000 grants to teams or individuals who want to build edu content. For more information on rules and deadlines, visit eduvr.org.

We look forward to receiving your submissions and seeing more examples of great EduVR content.