{"id":1237,"date":"2021-11-11T16:58:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T16:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/?p=1237"},"modified":"2026-06-29T14:13:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:13:57","slug":"i-taught-one-of-earths-first-courses-with-the-oculus-quest-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/?p=1237","title":{"rendered":"I taught one of Earth\u2019s first courses with the Oculus Quest 2."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Oculus Quest 2 VR headset, Photo by Remy Gieling on Unsplash<\/p>\n

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\n

Here’s how that went.<\/p>\n

\n

First, I can\u2019t provide a reference that this course, Introduction to Virtual Reality<\/b> out of the Unity College XR Innovation Lab<\/a>, was the <\/i>first, but given:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The timing:<\/b> The Oculus Quest 2 was introduced<\/a> on September 16 and shipped out on October 13, 2020<\/b>.
    \n The Oculus Quest 2 is an upgrade of the original Oculus Quest. I used
    \nthe original Quest during course development and had access to a Quest 2
    \n during the actual course run. As course development progressed, I did
    \nnot know definitively that the Quest 2 would be the selected headset
    \nuntil late in the process. <\/li>\n
  2. The opportunity:<\/b>
    \nCollege semesters tend to most often be trimesters (3 per year). The
    \nQuest 2 launched mid-autumn semester. The first opportunity to start a
    \ncourse, then, would be winter\/spring semester starting January 2021. My
    \n5-week course squeaked in there between February 22 and March 28, 2021<\/b>. Therefore, it is fair to say this course was one of the first<\/i> because there really wasn\u2019t much opportunity for other courses to launch and run before this one. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I
    \n do not write about the learners in any identifiable way. I write this
    \narticle from the perspective of the designer and instructor and I write
    \nit for other potential virtual reality (VR) headset-using instructors.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019m going to call the VR experiences (games) apps since that term is current and understandable. <\/p>\n

    First,
    \n I will explain the course design and decisions. Next, I will name the
    \napps used. Finally, I\u2019ll explain the use of a device management (DM)
    \nsystem.<\/p>\n

    Course Design<\/b><\/h3>\n

    In
    \n the design and development of this course, I played the role of the
    \nSubject Matter Expert (SME) and instructor introducing first and second
    \nyear college learners to virtual reality. Interestingly, I am an
    \nInstructional Designer by degree and interest, so this was a bit meta
    \nfor me; designing a course on design. However, I was assigned a Senior
    \nInstructional Designer and they had a process, timeline, and confidence
    \nin Canvas. We got along fabulously <\/i>and we finished ~80 hours of development on time. <\/p>\n

    We did a backwards by design<\/a>
    \n approach (don’t know what that is? Visit my honored friend Dr. Luke
    \nHobson’s Instruction Design Institute course) to building these pieces:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Designed the final project.<\/li>\n
    2. Cut the project into chunks with an assignment due each week.<\/li>\n
    3. Wrote the weekly lessons.<\/li>\n
    4. Finalized the assignments and discussion prompts.<\/li>\n
    5. Completed learning resources (intro videos, handouts, examples).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I
      \n also worked with the person responsible for advocating for this new
      \ncourse to the college. They oversaw the place of this course within the
      \ncollege\u2019s mission and programs. We worked on selecting the apps that
      \nwould be preloaded on the headsets. Also, they played the role of
      \nteacher assistant in the course for tech support questions and they ran
      \nthe entire DM process.<\/p>\n

      We started gathering ideas of which apps we
      \n would include. Since we didn\u2019t know which headset (or even if we would
      \nhave a headset requirement) we started with the \u2018free\u2019, \u2018easy-to-access\u2019
      \n VR apps first. I came in with a good background in 2D VR choices and
      \nthey had a few ideas from 3D VR choices. Both of us made sure to include
      \n a wide range of apps as we wanted the course to appeal to many
      \ndifferent college majors. We scoped out apps ranging in feel (not too
      \nmany first person shooters) and content (apps that were related to fun
      \nor work).<\/p>\n

      Why teach VR design?<\/b><\/h3>\n

      Why is there value in teaching design?<\/p>\n

      It\u2019s
      \n the first step in an efficient and focused effort at getting to a goal.
      \n It is rare that organizations and individuals spend time <\/i>on design (aka mission or purpose<\/b>). People want to rush past it with the hand wave approach and say \u201cyes, yes, I already know I want <\/i>to include VR, let\u2019s get down to exactly this <\/i>VR! Let\u2019s start!\u201d <\/p>\n

      The
      \n point of a good design foundation is that it is like the rudder on a
      \nship or the hypothesis to a scientific experiment; it guides you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      A
      \n good design will provide guidance later when decisions arise. If you
      \nare clear on your purpose, then making later decisions becomes easier
      \nbecause you just evaluate which choice leads you along the path towards
      \nyour mission or purpose. <\/p>\n

      For example, I worked on a VR project
      \nthat had accessibility and \u201chold up to 1,000 simultaneous avatars\u201d as
      \nits top design specifications. Those elements were key. So as I
      \nevaluated VR choices, we found VR choices that were:<\/p>\n