{"id":2157,"date":"2017-11-10T12:53:13","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T18:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rctc.edu\/echo\/?p=2157"},"modified":"2025-09-30T12:44:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T18:44:29","slug":"earth-science-students-are-seeing-stars-in-3d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/earth-science-students-are-seeing-stars-in-3d\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Science students are seeing stars in 3D"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lydia Hansen
\n<\/b>Editor-in-Chief\n<\/p>\n

Thanks to a grant from Minnesota State, virtual reality technology has become a reality for RCTC\u2019s Earth Science department. <\/span><\/p>\n

Combined funding from RCTC as well as a Minnesota State grant has provided for the purchase of three sets of virtual reality goggles, including the corresponding software and computers necessary to set up three virtual reality labs on campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ll be using is the HTTC Vive, which is one of the kinds of goggles you can use for virtual reality,\u201d said Dr. John Tacinelli, an RCTC faculty since 1997 who teaches in the Earth Science department. <\/span><\/p>\n

He explained that the goggles, which connect to a large computing system with a cord, can run virtual reality apps that allow students to experience concepts of Astronomy and Geology classes in a whole new way. Sensors in the goggles, mounted on the walls, and in hand-held controllers, track movement to coordinate the simulation in the goggles, allowing wearers to move about within the reality experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tacinelli\u2019s Astronomy class tested the labs, using a program called \u201cTitans of Space\u201d to render the solar system to scale and in 3D, something difficult to visualize through traditional means.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can use the controllers to select planets and put them together to compare the size, and you can even pick up\u2019 a planet to look at it from all sides,\u201d Tacinelli said of how the program operates. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Student<\/p>\n

He plans to add virtual reality to his Principles of Geoscience class, using Google Earth\u2019s virtual reality program, which allows users to travel to any place on Earth and see it in 3D. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can go to the Matterhorn glacier and look at ice or visit volcanoes or even your house,\u201d Tacinelli said. \u201cYou\u2019re like Godzilla striding across the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There are also plans to purchase similar programs for Anatomy and Physiology classes, which will open the virtual reality labs to even more students in the future. However, Tacinelli sees a few speed bumps ahead in making the best use of the virtual reality labs. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge is how do you turn that into something you can do for credit, that you can do for a grade. How do you bring that to the students?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tacinelli offered sessions of lab time for his students on Student Success Day in September as extra credit but said that \u201cI had more students who wanted to do it who couldn\u2019t because of time and space constraints.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"student

Another student takes the virtual reality programs for a spin, using the hand-held controllers to manipulate the objects within the simulation.<\/p><\/div>\n

While that problem will be partially solved when the other two labs are set up and equipped with computers, there will still be limitations because of the number of goggles available.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe might eventually get 4-5 more, but we won\u2019t be able to get 24 for a whole class,\u201d Tacinelli said. Although the cost of the technology has dropped rapidly in recent years, it cost over $20,000 to fund the project and purchase the necessary equipment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other foreseeable complications include combining virtual reality with the D2L Brightspace system for homework assignments, since both programs can\u2019t be open at once. This may mean virtual reality lab assignments would be group projects, where students take turns wearing the goggles and reading instructions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the bleeding edge of technology here,\u201d Tacinelli said of the new systems. \u201cLots of experimentation will be needed to make it work best. We\u2019re just at the beginning \u00d2 we haven\u2019t had a chance to experience all the options.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Access to this kind of technology in the first place, he said, is all due to RCTC staff member Guy Hamernik, who works in the Educational Technology department and the Technology Support Center. Hamernik not only came up with the idea for the virtual reality labs, but also created a budget for the project and recruited faculty members and administration help to pitch the idea to a Minnesota State reviewing panel for a grant to help design innovative classroom spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think they (the panel) were very impressed with what we had, as well as the level of buy-in from administration,\u201d Tacinelli reported, adding that despite having little time to rehearse, everything went perfectly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt must have been hard to follow us because we did such an awesome job,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s all due to Guy Hamernik because he\u2019s the one who really pushed it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“What we’ll be using is the HTTC Vive, which is one of the kinds of goggles you can use for virtual reality,” said Dr. John Tacinelli, describing new virtual reality lab technology RCTC is using thanks to a grant from Minnesota State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}