Virtual Reality, Game Design, and the Future of Education

1. Virtual Reality, Game Design,
and the Future of Education
Aldis Sipolins
Head of Virtual Reality and Game Design
IBM Research: Education and Cognitive Sciences

2. My Background

4. The Holodeck Project

5. VR Brain Training Startup

6. What Is Virtual Reality?

8. Binocular Disparity

9. Binocular Disparity

10. Presence & Transfer

11. Learning in Virtual Reality
Presence
- Ecologically valid responses
- Makes learning engaging
Transfer
- True goal of learning
- Near vs. far transfer
Physical Activity
- Room-scale tracking allows for mild exercise
- Elevated heart rate enhances learning

12. "It works. Nobody’s getting sick off this… And you don’t have to teach
them anything except the most basic interactions, because our brains
know all about three dimensional space. It’s startling and perhaps
insulting what we’ve tolerated as interaction models until now.”
Tycho Brahe (Jerry Holkins), Penny Arcade

13. The Virtual Reality Market

14. Virtual Reality Is(Finally) Here
Watershed moment in technology
- First VR headsets hitting the market
Hardware is dominated by big players
- Facebook, Google, HTC
Software/infrastructure is not
- IBM in prime position with Cognitive + Cloud + Watson

15. “We believe VR devices will have multiple use cases similar to
smartphones that serve the functions of voice communication,
texting, email, video, internet browsing, and social platforms. In our
view, consumers will be able to use a single VR device to play
videogames, watch video programming and live events, and shop.”
Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

16. VR/AR Investment
00
00
00
00
00
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Q1 2016
$542m
$2,100m
$307m
$692m
$250m$223m$102m$26m
Oculus (Facebook)
Magic Leap (Google)
Source: Pitchbook Virtual Reality Analyst Report

17. 0 m
100 m
200 m
300 m
400 m
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Projected User Base
Source: IDC Worldwide Augmented and Virtual Reality Hardware Forecast
315 million
95 million
200k 9.6 million

18. Hardware Revenue(2025)
Source: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
0
75
150
225
300
0 200 400 600 800
$14b
$62b
$111b
$99b$63b
$110b
Average Sale Price ($)
AnnualShipments(millions)
Game Consoles
Desktops
Laptops
TelevisionsTablets
VR/AR

19. Projected Revenue
Hardware
55%
Software
45%
Source: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

20. Software Revenue (2025)
Videogames
$23.9b
Media
$15.0b
Real Estate
$5.3b
Education
$1.4b
Engineering
$9.7b
Retail
$3.3b
Healthcare
$10.5b
Military
$2.9b
Source: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

21. Virtual vs. Augmented Reality
AR
25%
VR
75%
“At this stage, we have
greater conviction in the
relative success of VR
versus AR given VR’s
technological progress
and momentum, and the
early formation of an
ecosystem of vendors
and partners”
Source: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

22. Virtual Reality and Youth
47% know “a lot” about VR
75% will ask parents for VR device
88% said VR is “very cool”
Source: The New Reality of Virtual Reality and the Potential With Youth

23. Cognitive Is The Future of VR
VR generates massive amount of user data
- What users do (accuracy, reaction time)
- Where users are (3D position + rotation)
- How users interact (motion controller gestures)
More data sources on the horizon
- Wearables (heart rate, respiration)
- Vision tracking
- Brain imaging (EEG sensors)
Cognitive makes this data meaningful
- Predict performance
- Suggest content

24. Hardware

25. Oculus Rift
Samsung
GearVR
HTC Vive
Mobile VR High-End VR
Google
Cardboard

26. Google Cardboard
-
- Cheap
- Works with any smartphone
- Tons of content
- Display quality
- No position tracking
- One-button input
+

27. Samsung GearVR
-
- Wireless
- Resolution (2560 x 1440)
- Headset cost ($100)
- No position tracking (for now)
- Specific phones
- Phone cost ($800)
+

28. Oculus Rift
-
- Resolution (2160 x 1200)
- Refresh Rate (90 Hz)
- Touch controllers (Q4 2016)
- Hardware requirements
- Tracking range
- Cost ($600)
+

29. Oculus Touch Controllers

30. HTC Vive
-
- Room-scale tracking (15’ x 15’)
- Resolution (2160 x 1200)
- Refresh Rate (90 Hz)
- Space requirements
- Hardware requirements
- Cost ($800)
+

31. Vive Inside-Out Tracking

32. Vive Motion Controllers

33. Which Is Better?

34. "It's going to change the world. The hardware is going to double in
quality every few years for another decade, to the point where, 10
years from now, it's going to be hard to tell the difference between
virtual reality and the real world.”
Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic Games

35. Motion Sickness

36. “It’s no longer the hardware’s fault anymore. It’s the
developer’s choices that are making you sick.”
Chet Faliszek, Valve

41. Additional Slides

42. Virtual Reality & Education

43. Huge Potential
- Immersive, engaging lessons
- 3D concepts taught in 3D
Physical Activity
- Enhances performance and learning
- Lifelong brain health
- Helps autism, ADHD, obesity/diabetes
A New Frontier
- Education & VR is unexplored territory
Virtual Reality & Education
vs.

44. Challenges
Outcome variables
- Paper & pencil tests
- Real-world outcomes (transfer)
Cultural stigma
- VR is isolating & passive
- VR is social & active
Age restrictions
- 13+ for now

45. “…adults are going to be too embarrassed to run around outside
chasing after some invisible phantom. But a nine-year-old running around
the yard, playing kickball with Pikachu? Like, oh my God. Kids are going
to love this thing so much.”
Jesse Schell, Schell Games

46. Education & Game Design

47. “[A good game is] one that teaches everything it has to offer
before the player stops playing. That’s what games are, in
the end. Teachers. Fun is just another word for learning.”
Ralph Koster, A Theory of Fun

48. Education & Game Design
Why games?
- Fundamental human desire for fun
- Learning is hard-wired to be fun
Skill Acquisition
- Instruction, exploration, integration
- Variable Priority Training
Positive Reinforcement
- Make every interaction rewarding
- Utterly intuitive user experience design

49. “Good design is good business”
Thomas J. Watson

50. The Virtual Classroom

52. "...since the buildings were just pieces of software, their design
wasn't limited by monetary constraints, or even by the laws of
physics. So, every school was a grand palace of learning, with
polished marble hallways, cathedral-like classrooms, zero-g
gymnasiums [way cool!], and virtual libraries containing every
(school-board approved) book ever written”
Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

53. The Virtual Classroom
Watson Is The Teacher
- Explains lessons
- Answers questions
- Suggests content
Learner Models
- Accuracy, reaction time
- Heart rate, breathing, EEG…
- Personality & preferences
Adaptive Social Learning
- Collaborative lessons
- Real-time changes to optimize learning

54. Binocular Disparity

55. Thank You!

56. Go Make Stuff!