A timeline on the wall

By now I have put quite a lot of time into the history timeline and I have made more and more circles for people and events. I thought that maybe someone wants to use it on a classroom wall. In total, it will be about 7 meters, so it fits a longer wall.

Since I am an ICT educator, I have given the timeline a special twist compared to other timelines. The different circles of events sometimes have one or more QR codes printed on them. Some codes are red and others are blue. The students scan the codes by first installing a QR reader on the mobile phone and then hold the phone up in front of the code for different adventures to start.

The blue codes lead to documentaries that I have found around the internet. Some documentaries are longer and others are 5-minute clips.

VR in the classroom

The red codes are so much cooler! They lead directly into different VR worlds! Many teachers back off when someone says “VR” because it sounds way too difficult and strange, but it’s actually not tricky at all! For example, there are many clips on YouTube that can be viewed in VR and they are not harder to look at than any other YouTube clip.

The students scan the QR-codes with their mobile phone and that. A reasonably new mobile will understand exactly what the code is about and start playing the clip in 360! If it does not work properly, the phone could be too old – try another one! 🙂

I thought that the teacher can hang a simple VR box in plastic next to the timeline (they don’t cost much!). These boxes have an open front where you insert the phone after scanning the code. Put the VR box on your head and start enjoying different historical places and events!

In the VR worlds, students can visit Notre Dame, visit a guided tour of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (where the Templer Knights were founded). There are even short movies, one of them will let you see the attack on Pearl Harbor.