By Ekaterina Panferova
Imagine this: you are in the middle of a student fair, unsure of which school to apply to… but then, you put on virtual reality (VR) glasses provided by CIS University, and you are suddenly transported to the campus located right in the heart of Madrid, where two students give you a guided tour. And guess what… this immersed future is right around the corner.
—“Many can observe that virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and the metaverse have become some of the hottest topics in the world”, as Gabriel Ferrer, one of the supervisors of the project and a CIS University professor, stated.
The whole idea of the project is to utilize immersive tools to provide a VR tour to potential students and further integrate virtual reality educational content into classrooms.
—“I think the key point here should be exploring new ways of engaging with education as well as the transmission of knowledge through virtual exploration”, added Gabriel.
The main aim of filming this experience for VR was to create a ‘beta’ or ‘alpha’ project, which would become the first step in uncovering the potential of immersive content. Currently, everything is in the early stages of development; however, the goal is to fully integrate virtual reality into classrooms.
The idea was to create a promotional video, which will be viewed entirely using VR headsets. —“It’s going to be 360 degrees and a 3D”, highlighted Mr Ferrer. Furthermore, he commented that this video, undoubtedly, can optionally be viewed on flat screens such as laptops, cell phones, etc. Yet, the main purpose of this production is the experience of viewing it on a VR headset. As mentioned before, the idea is to display all the essential information virtually instead of giving a digital or printed brochure or flyer. A 6-minute journey to CIS University guided by two students will be available to potential applicants. In addition, anyone lined up waiting to partake in this virtual experience will also be able to watch it on a traditional, flat screen.
My colleague Zachary “Zach” Zemmels and I participated in the shootings of 10 scenes, which included university classrooms, Plaza Mayor, and Templo de Debod. As a result, the video covers the main highlights of CIS University and also offers a chance to actually feel the atmosphere of Madrid. —“It is a unique way to explore and experience the university. I think it is especially useful for people who are not able to visit CIS University. It will be especially captivating for them”, shared Zemmels.
Calling the filming “a warmup experience”, Prof. Ferrer said that the plan is to someday generate content and tools that teachers can directly use in the classroom. —“Imagine Prof. D’Angelo or Prof. Feldman instead of talking about the Industrial Revolution, Colonialism, or even the Roman Empire, displaying all the material through VR glasses in class”, outlined the VR project coordinator. The idea is to ultimately create CIS University content for virtual reality in the future.
One element that directly lends itself to facilitating VR use at CIS University is the medium-sized classes itself, as well as the international campus that allows the community to quickly implement new technologies. This project is only the first step toward this emerging technology.
And as Gabriel Ferrer concluded: —“It’s a train that we don’t want to miss. It doesn’t matter if it’s us who jump in first because either way somebody’s going to do it. So, this is an opportunity and we have some advantages through our strategies”.
So come hop onto the VR train to the future with us, and stay tuned for all new updates on the CIS University website!
