Manuel Gómez Navarro recently was interviewed by the Idaho Virtual Reality Commission for a recent online Q and A: “Bringing VR To Boise State’s Spanish Language and Culture Classes.”
Gómez used virtual reality, or VR, in his course, Spanish Peninsular Culture and Civilization, spring 2018. He created virtual tours using various resources — photos, spacial audio, and hotspots — to take students on virtual journeys to significant sites including the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the Jewish Quarter in Córdoba, and the Carmel Mission in California.
“I see an increasing use of VR in my classes, especially in those with a strong cultural component,” said Gómez. “I’m planning trips to record 360 videos about Hispanic cultural events for use in the classroom. In the near future, I see my students pulling VR headsets (bought by themselves or the university) out of their backpacks and it being totally normal to have a class interacting with this technology.”