WondaVR is the University of Sheffield's 360° media and VR hosting platform. WondaVR allows you to create immersive virtual reality experiences using a combination of 360° images and video and augment these scenes with images, videos, audio and text annotations.

360° images and videos can be captured using a 360° camera and immersive experiences can be easily authored in within your web browser using the WondaVR platform. You can read more about 360 media and the WondaVR platform on the Digital Learning web pages.

You can also see my examples of 360° photography and how they can be used in WondaVR.

As well as the 360° image and video modes, WondaVR can also be used to create 3D virtual environments where the user can move around a space and interact with objects in that space.

Building a virtual exhibition

As part of the WondaVR pilot in 2022, I wanted to explore using WondaVR to create a virtual exhibition space with students on the EDU61004 Media Making and Creativity module (part of the MA in Digital Literacies, Culture and Education).

In this module, students explore the different ways children can use technology to be creative in the classroom. Each week students explore a different technology and create something with it - examples are videos, stop-frame animation, avatars, posters etc.

I wanted students to be able to showcase their work and at the same time learn about authoring VR experiences.

I ran a collaborative session where students co-created their VR exhibition. In the session, students used Google Drive to collate all their media files and dicussed where things should go within the space. We were slightly restricted in that WondaVR only allows one person to edit a project at a time, so students took it in turn to have a go at editing and placing their assets within the 3D room.

You can explore the virtual exhibition here.

As you can see, it worked really well!

You can move around the exhibition using the WASD keys to go forward-left-back-right respectively. There are a variety of media in the exhibition - images, text, videos and even a 3D model of a Pikachu!

Conclusion

WondaVR provided the students with an introduction to a new and exciting technology and enabled them to work collaboratively to produce their virtual exhibition. This work has sparked lots of ideas around how students might use 360-degree photos (as well as AI generated worlds) and videos to produce fully immersive and multi-modal narratives and stories in WondaVR. WondaVR is now part of the University's official toolkit and just released is the AI-powered conversational character builder, which brings an entire new dimension to the creative and educational potential of this tool.