Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

With Google’s new Expeditions app, teachers can take their whole class on a VR field trip

By
Google Expeditions: over a million students, on trips to virtually anywhere
Virtual reality field trips are coming to a school near you — and it’s all thanks to Google.

Earlier this week, the company launched its new 360-degree Expeditions educational virtual reality app, allowing teachers to take their students on VR field trips, courtesy of the search giant’s Google Cardboard virtual reality viewer.

Recommended Videos

Using Cardboard in conjunction with the new Expeditions Android app, teachers act as “guides” by controlling the VR experience for a classroom of students sharing the same Wi-Fi network. There are already more than 200 different Expeditions which can be taken — with each one curated with integrated descriptions, talking points, and questions. Currently, trips include visits to historical landmarks, diving underwater with sharks, and even journeys into outer space.

Related

If teachers want a more professional version of Expeditions, there are also higher-end pre-made Expeditions Kits, featuring 30 ViewMaster VR viewers, 1 teacher device and more, available for sale through Best Buy for $9,999.

A preview of Best Buy's new Expeditions Kit.
A preview of Best Buy’s new Expeditions Kit. Image used with permission by copyright holder

“We’re committed to enhancing students’ digital literacy by providing opportunities to use the latest and greatest tech in the classroom, and this includes one of the year’s most talked about technologies: virtual reality,” a spokesperson for Best Buy tells Digital Trends. “By teaming up with Google for Education to offer Google Expeditions Kits, we’re giving teachers an out-of-the-box ready tool that adds a first-person dimension to their students’ studies.”

While the technology involved with Expeditions isn’t necessarily cutting-edge, it does represent an exciting launch because of what it suggests about the growing mainstream access to VR.

“Google have kept the Expeditions technology deliberately simple in order to ensure its universal accessibility,” Alice Bonasio, a tech strategist and consultant who also blogs about virtual reality and education, tells Digital Trends. “It signals the company’s intention to invest significantly in both VR and EdTech by integrating all its existing products and engaging the millions of teachers who already use Google tools.”

Hey, what kid wouldn’t love a virtual reality field trip? At the very least it means no disappointing packed lunches and someone vomiting on the school bus.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Luke Dormehl
Luke Dormehl
Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
The HP Victus gaming PC with RTX 3060 has a $550 discount
The HP Victus 15L gaming PC in white.

Gamers don't need to spend more than $1,000 if they want to buy a new gaming PC because there are affordable options like the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop. From its original price of $1,400, you can get it for just $850 as HP has applied a $550 discount on this machine. However, you shouldn't delay your purchase because there's no assurance that the gaming PC will still be 39% off tomorrow. If you want to make sure that you get it for less than $1,000, you're going to have to complete the transaction for it within the day.

Why you should buy the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop
You shouldn't expect the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop to match the performance of the top-of-the-line models of the best gaming PCs, but it's surprisingly powerful for its cost. Inside it are the 13th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, with 16GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is the best place to start for gaming. It's enough to play today's best PC games without any issues, and it may even be capable of running the upcoming PC games of the next few years if you're willing to dial down the settings for the more demanding titles.

Read more
This 17-inch HP laptop is on sale for just $300 — but hurry!
The HP 17t-cn300 17.3-inch laptop against a white background.

If you want to buy a laptop with a relatively large screen, the good news is that you don't have to break the bank with your purchase because you can get the HP Laptop 17t for a very affordable $300. It's on sale from HP with a $200 discount on its original price of $500, but there's no telling how much time is remaining before this offer expires. We don't think it will stay available for long because laptop deals like this almost always get sold out quickly, so complete the transaction as soon as possible to make sure that you don't miss out on the savings.

Why you should buy the HP Laptop 17t
With the 17.3-inch display of the HP Laptop 17t, you'll have a lot of screen real estate to work on your projects and watch streaming shows. It's pretty affordable for a laptop with this large screen, which offers HD+ resolution for sharp details and vibrant colors. However, despite its big display, the HP Laptop 17t maintains portability because it's only 0.78 of an inch thick, which makes it easy to slide into your bag when you're on the go, and it won't be too heavy to carry around because it only weighs about 4.6 pounds.

Read more
What to do if your Intel CPU keeps crashing
Pins on Core i9-12900K.

Despite being among the best processors you can buy, some high-end Intel CPUs have faced a wave of instability over the past few months. Intel is investigating the problem, but the company and its motherboard partners have already worked toward some temporary fixes to improve stability on high-end Intel CPUs -- even if it comes at a performance cost.

Before getting into the fixes, keep in mind that they are temporary. Intel will release a statement on the instability soon, likely with more direct guidance on what affected users should do. In addition, the scope of the problem isn't clear -- if you're not experiencing issues, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
Who's affected

Read more