News : Virtual Reality Education Pathfinder: New learning model coming to VSHS

Coming soon to a computer screen near you: V-S VREP.

"VREP?" you ask? "What's that?"

For school administrators and high school teachers, VREP is all about changing the education model. They use phrases like "rigorous learning in independent and collaborative environments."

But for the students, it's about learning what kinds of cool things you can do with a computer -- like recreating the shadows of a beautiful Mexican sunset so your classmates can see where you went on summer vacation.

VREP stands for Virtual Reality Education Pathfinder. Like the engineering and computer engineering courses that are part of the VSHS Project Lead the Way classes, VREP relies heavily on the latest computer technology.

And it started in Iowa, with people just east and west of Vinton.

East Marshall High School Principal Ken KoZak began the partnership with Jack Harris, the director of Advanced Manufacturing at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids. The program has also begun in Ohio and Connecticut.

But it's about much more than technology.

"VREP is more importantly about transforming learning and teaching, than it is about the technology. Technology is only a vehicle," says an Ohio teacher who participated in a recent gathering that included several students from Iowa high schools.

Mr. Kozak agrees.

"VREP is a student driven pathway to learning. The learning does not center around a teacher, but around the student and the students learning style and resourcefulness. The program is based on the concept that the students learn from each other and from other sources, the instructor is only there to facilitate the educational process. Students are asked to work on one educational project and a personal project each nine weeks. The educational project focuses on the student talking with an instructor to develop a project that would benefit the class and help the students understand concepts better. The students my create a cell in 3D or DNA. They may develop a war memorial or a house and label the things in a foreign language. The educational projects are unlimited but really center around how instruction can be improved and improve the students skills for learning."

The student-led aspect of this was humorously addressed during that Ohio conference on Jan. 11 of this year.

One of the student leaders announced that the students would begin discussing graphic interfaces and 3D modeling.

But first, he dismissed the adults -- all of them, including teachers.

With teachers as "facilitators" and not "directors" of learning, the program has seen phenomenal success in getting kids more interested in scool.

"The only limit of this learning is the student," says Kozak. The greatest part in all of this is the excitement in the students as they grow in their learning. Virtual Reality is used in every industry as a means to cost save and advancement in concept design. Through this process the students learn how to become independent thinkers, problem solvers, communicators, team members as they gain confidence in themselves and their abilities. They also learn to respect others for their abilities and what the other individual has to offer. Students who normally would not work together on projects will work together in VR with no hesitation. Kozak said that at East Marshall, "We have seen students that were bored get excited about school and students that did not belong find something that they become apart of. Students with learning disabilities gain confidence and become more independent. Most importantly, it begins to change how teachers teach and students learn." Kozak also participated in the conference in Ohio. He told the teachers that it is important to understand one thing: "You are teaching them nothing and that they are going to teach you what they learned, how they did it and how they got there." It's essential, he said, that only self-driven students join the program; it's up to school leaders to determine which students are VREP-ready. VREP coming to VSHS Vinton-Shellsburg High School Principal Kirk Johnson learned on Monday that the school has become a VREP district. That means the technology and learning models will soon be part of the VSHS curriculum, either late this school year or by the beginning of the 2011-2012 year. Training of teachers will begin in the spring said Johnson; the VREP classes will be independent of other classes. Johnson said that from an administrator's perspective, VREP offers three specific advantages. 1. Provide students with self-directed, interest-driven, project-based, rigorous learning in independent and collaborative environments where they can learn and demonstrate technical skills, content expertise, teamwork, discipline, and 21st century communication and employability skills. 2. 2. Create a consortium of student-designers who develop and share virtual reality learning environments that assist others in their learning of critical standards and competencies. 3. 3. Impact the role and perception of the teacher as “director of learning” to the role of the teacher as “facilitator of learning” through a very different approach to learning environments and approaches. An example At that Ohio meeting, teachers heard of one unique example of how a student applies his VREP skills. One student went to Mexico and saw and amazing shadow at sunset. He has been working for months, said his teacher on a computer program that would allow him to reproduce the shadow exactly the way he saw it. Along the way, he has consulted with a math teacher, a science teacher and an art teacher.