Teacher QTVR Workbook

1 Acknowledgements Thanks to the La Mesa Historical Society for providing historical images. Thanks to art teacher Shari Duran for her expertise and stu- dent input. Disclaimer This workbook is not a substitute for your soft- ware or hardware user manuals. Consult these documents or the manufacturer for specific product support. For updates to this work- book, check the VR Toolbox™ website at http://www.vrtoolbox.com. The QTVR Workbook: building better learning with immersive media 2 Introduction Prominent in current state and federal educa- tion reform initiatives, new technologies are gaining focus as instruments for revolution- izing learning. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has devel- oped national educational technology stan- dards (ISTE, 1998)1 in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education, major univer- sities and large corporations. The standards recognize the role that multimedia plays in establishing technology-supported learning environments for the new millennium. These technologies appeal to multiple learning styles and offer students the ability to inter- act with instructional materials in a way pre- viously unimagined. Today’s multimedia ap- plications allow learners to simulate other- wise costly or dangerous experiences, con- duct experiments, visit remote locations, and model relationships, both real and abstract. These technologies also extend those experi- ences so that learning transcends school walls and the traditional instructional day. At the forefront of immersive media is QuickTime™ Virtual Reality (QTVR) pow- ered by Apple Computer, Inc.’s QuickTime multimedia architecture for MacOS™, Win- dows™, and UNIX. QTVR enables users to manipulate their views of environments and objects from any perspective. QTVR mov- ies can be distributed on the Internet, embed- ded in web pages, or on disk as part of self- contained multimedia presentations. To “visit” a South American archaeological dig or “hold” a Peruvian artifact requires a mouse rather than a plane ticket. QTVR’s affordability and ease of use makes it an ideal tool in the hands of both teachers and stu- dents for curriculum development and project enhancement. For those that aren’t ready for the inclusion of electronic media in their les- sons and projects, panorama software also enables one to create traditional panoramic images from a sequence of normal photo- 1 For ordering information visit http://www.iste.org Introduction 3 graphs. QTVR assists in both unlocking cre- ativity in teachers and making abstractions concrete for learners. Purpose The go…