{"id":23191,"date":"2019-01-07T12:37:51","date_gmt":"2019-01-07T12:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/2019\/01\/07\/through-a-childs-eyes\/"},"modified":"2023-02-04T16:17:44","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T21:17:44","slug":"through-a-childs-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/2019\/01\/07\/through-a-childs-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Through a Child’s Eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Derek<\/a><\/p>\n

Assistant Professor of Graphic Design Derek Ham, <\/a>PhD, is always on the lookout for ways to incorporate virtual reality, or VR, into learning experiences for kids. His own children, ages 7, 4, and 2, are \u201cconsumers of VR,\u201d he says, but what if they could harness virtual reality as makers? \u201cThey try my higher-end Oculus Rift and VR content, so I\u2019m always thinking of activities to get them into it. How would they make their first composition?\u201d He wants to offer them the chance to look through a pair of VR lenses and say, \u201cI made that!\u201d<\/p>\n

When Ham paired up with doctoral degree candidate Payod Panda [MID \u201916]<\/a> for Panda\u2019s master\u2019s thesis, they began experimenting with \u201ccomputational thinking, spatial thinking, and spatial reasoning.\u201d Panda was already a skilled coder, and now the duo, along with Luis Zapata [BID \u201911, MGD \u201917]<\/a>, focused their resources on constructionism in VR\u2014the topic of Panda\u2019s doctoral research. He paraphrases computer scientist and educator Seymour Papert: \u201cIf a learner is creating something that is shareable and viewable to other people, then the learner can have a deeper understanding of the topic.\u201d What came next was a surprise to both Ham and Panda\u2014and a huge opportunity for educators everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we talk about lowering the bar for expense and for hardware, that\u2019s where Panoform is born, because all you need is a phone and Google Cardboard, period.\u201d \u2014Derek Ham, PhD<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The team developed an app called Panoform, a tool that converts two-dimensional drawings made on a paper grid into three-dimensional settings. These can be viewed through an inexpensive piece of hardware called Google Cardboard, which snaps onto a smartphone. \u201cPanoform started as an experiment, almost; we were playing around with 360 photos and VR in general, and we wanted to find a low-barrier of entry way of creating VR stuff,\u201d says Panda.<\/p>\n

Anyone can visit Panoform.com<\/a>, print a contoured, 2-D grid, and draw a setting. After a picture on the grid is complete, it can be photographed, cropped, and uploaded to the website, where the computer reads the curve of the lines and converts the drawings into panoramic settings. The software automatically wraps and maps from the grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn essence, we\u2019re teaching kids how to deconstruct a 360-degree panoramic image,\u201d Ham says.<\/p>\n

\"Panoform<\/a><\/p>\n

As Panoform developed, it became clear that in order for it to be accessible both to younger kids and to schools, it was necessary to cut costs and take into consideration the skills younger children are learning. \u201cIf we talk about lowering the bar for expense and for hardware, that\u2019s where Panoform is born, because all you need is a phone and Google Cardboard, period,\u201d Ham says.<\/p>\n

Ham and Panda presented Panoform at the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival in March, which gathers teachers and innovators over new classroom technologies. Panda presented in June at the International Society for Technology in Education 2017 Conference & Expo in San Antonio, Texas. There have been discussions of best practices and collecting data and feedback to see how Panoform impacts learning. Some teaching professionals have even reached out on Twitter about Panoform.<\/p>\n

Lindsey Own, the Makerspace Coordinator of the Evergreen School\u2019s BIGLab in Shoreline, WA, discovered Panoform at SXSW EDU. She introduced it to kindergarteners designing frog habitats. \u201cI thought Panoform would be a cool way of letting the kids immerse themselves in these environments, and a neat spatial reasoning exercise for them too, because kindergarteners develop skills in being able to manipulate shapes mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

To introduce the concept, Own had her kindergarteners draw a class panorama on a giant sheet of butcher paper and then wrapped the paper around groups of students so they could experience how Panoform would adapt their drawings. The project, says Own, offered students \u201cthe opportunity to look at things through different lenses and different perspectives. It was a great spatial reasoning project for the kids, and it let them create these immersive environments, which is a big learning goal that we were aiming for in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Own adds, \u201cRight now, so much of VR is just consuming other people\u2019s content, and a huge component of technology education is in kids creating their own content\u2014Panoform is the only VR platform I\u2019ve seen for kids creating their own VR content younger than advanced high school students, and kindergarteners can do it. It\u2019s a really incredible platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that its reach is expanding, Ham hopes to grow Panoform.com into more of a community site. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s a tool. I want to grow it so the tool is a part of a site that has everything from the blog exchange of ideas to downloadable curriculum materials, pictures\u2014you name it. It will become a full educational website surrounding this tool and the innovative use of it, and then as we evolve the tool, it\u2019s all part of this network of users.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also working on coloring book sheets that younger children can interact with, as well as implementing the tool in local classrooms, including the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation\u2019s annual boot camp for teachers. Educators at Weatherstone Elementary School in Cary, NC, wrote a grant proposal on the use of VR in the classroom based on Panoform and received several thousand dollars to buy Google Cardboard devices for their students.<\/p>\n

San Jose\u2019s Tech Museum of Innovation will feature Panoform in Reboot Reality: a digital experience lab<\/em>, a permanent exhibit with rotating platforms, including those by Adobe, Google, Facebook, and Stanford University. Described as an \u201cexperimental space,\u201d the installation offers visitors a glimpse of many hands-on technologies, as well as workshops.<\/p>\n

As \u201csimple\u201d a tool as Panoform is, \u201cit proved really valuable to a lot of educators, which is something I was not expecting initially,\u201d says Panda. The process of developing it has also proved invaluable to his growth as a designer, and being able to actually follow through on the creation of a design has been rewarding in a multitude of ways. \u201cWe could have had this really nice concept, but if we hadn\u2019t been able to create it, it wouldn\u2019t have had the response it has gotten from other educators, because nobody would have been able to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ham imagines a future in which technology like Panoform will become ubiquitous in educational settings and beyond. As a parent and teacher, his hopes for Panoform\u2019s reach are boundless.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy refrigerator is covered in compositions from coloring sheets,\u201d says Ham. \u201cMy kids made those. You go into the genre of VR, and there might be a point when a parent has a gazillion Panoform creations on their phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

This post was originally published<\/a> in College of Design Blog.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"\"Derek<\/a>\r\n\r\nAssistant Professor of Graphic Design Derek Ham, <\/a>PhD, is always on the lookout for ways to incorporate virtual reality, or VR, into learning experiences for kids. His own children, ages 7, 4, and 2, are \u201cconsumers of VR,\u201d he says, but what if they could harness virtual reality as makers? \u201cThey try my higher-end Oculus Rift and VR content, so I\u2019m always thinking of activities to get them into it. How would they make their first composition?\u201d He wants to offer them the chance to look through a pair of VR lenses and say, \u201cI made that!\u201d\r\n\r\nWhen Ham paired up with doctoral degree candidate Payod Panda [MID \u201916]<\/a> for Panda\u2019s master\u2019s thesis, they began experimenting with \u201ccomputational thinking, spatial thinking, and spatial reasoning.\u201d Panda was already a skilled coder, and now the duo, along with Luis Zapata [BID \u201911, MGD \u201917]<\/a>, focused their resources on constructionism in VR\u2014the topic of Panda\u2019s doctoral research. He paraphrases computer scientist and educator Seymour Papert: \u201cIf a learner is creating something that is shareable and viewable to other people, then the learner can have a deeper understanding of the topic.\u201d What came next was a surprise to both Ham and Panda\u2014and a huge opportunity for educators everywhere.\r\n

\u201cIf we talk about lowering the bar for expense and for hardware, that\u2019s where Panoform is born, because all you need is a phone and Google Cardboard, period.\u201d \u2014Derek Ham, PhD<\/blockquote>\r\nThe team developed an app called Panoform, a tool that converts two-dimensional drawings made on a paper grid into three-dimensional settings. These can be viewed through an inexpensive piece of hardware called Google Cardboard, which snaps onto a smartphone. \u201cPanoform started as an experiment, almost; we were playing around with 360 photos and VR in general, and we wanted to find a low-barrier of entry way of creating VR stuff,\u201d says Panda.\r\n\r\nAnyone can visit Panoform.com<\/a>, print a contoured, 2-D grid, and draw a setting. After a picture on the grid is complete, it can be photographed, cropped, and uploaded to the website, where the computer reads the curve of the lines and converts the drawings into panoramic settings. The software automatically wraps and maps from the grid.\r\n\r\n\u201cIn essence, we\u2019re teaching kids how to deconstruct a 360-degree panoramic image,\u201d Ham says.\r\n\r\n\"Panoform<\/a>\r\n\r\nAs Panoform developed, it became clear that in order for it to be accessible both to younger kids and to schools, it was necessary to cut costs and take into consideration the skills younger children are learning. \u201cIf we talk about lowering the bar for expense and for hardware, that\u2019s where Panoform is born, because all you need is a phone and Google Cardboard, period,\u201d Ham says.\r\n\r\nHam and Panda presented Panoform at the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival in March, which gathers teachers and innovators over new classroom technologies. Panda presented in June at the International Society for Technology in Education 2017 Conference & Expo in San Antonio, Texas. There have been discussions of best practices and collecting data and feedback to see how Panoform impacts learning. Some teaching professionals have even reached out on Twitter about Panoform.\r\n\r\nLindsey Own, the Makerspace Coordinator of the Evergreen School\u2019s BIGLab in Shoreline, WA, discovered Panoform at SXSW EDU. She introduced it to kindergarteners designing frog habitats. \u201cI thought Panoform would be a cool way of letting the kids immerse themselves in these environments, and a neat spatial reasoning exercise for them too, because kindergarteners develop skills in being able to manipulate shapes mentally.\u201d\r\n\r\nTo introduce the concept, Own had her kindergarteners draw a class panorama on a giant sheet of butcher paper and then wrapped the paper around groups of students so they could experience how Panoform would adapt their drawings. The project, says Own, offered students \u201cthe opportunity to look at things through different lenses and different perspectives. It was a great spatial reasoning project for the kids, and it let them create these immersive environments, which is a big learning goal that we were aiming for in the classroom.\u201d\r\n\r\nOwn adds, \u201cRight now, so much of VR is just consuming other people\u2019s content, and a huge component of technology education is in kids creating their own content\u2014Panoform is the only VR platform I\u2019ve seen for kids creating their own VR content younger than advanced high school students, and kindergarteners can do it. It\u2019s a really incredible platform.\u201d\r\n\r\nNow that its reach is expanding, Ham hopes to grow Panoform.com into more of a community site. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s a tool. I want to grow it so the tool is a part of a site that has everything from the blog exchange of ideas to downloadable curriculum materials, pictures\u2014you name it. It will become a full educational website surrounding this tool and the innovative use of it, and then as we evolve the tool, it\u2019s all part of this network of users.\u201d\r\n\r\nHe\u2019s also working on coloring book sheets that younger children can interact with, as well as implementing the tool in local classrooms, including the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation\u2019s annual boot camp for teachers. Educators at Weatherstone Elementary School in Cary, NC, wrote a grant proposal on the use of VR in the classroom based on Panoform and received several thousand dollars to buy Google Cardboard devices for their students.\r\n\r\nSan Jose\u2019s Tech Museum of Innovation will feature Panoform in Reboot Reality: a digital experience lab<\/em>, a permanent exhibit with rotating platforms, including those by Adobe, Google, Facebook, and Stanford University. Described as an \u201cexperimental space,\u201d the installation offers visitors a glimpse of many hands-on technologies, as well as workshops.\r\n\r\nAs \u201csimple\u201d a tool as Panoform is, \u201cit proved really valuable to a lot of educators, which is something I was not expecting initially,\u201d says Panda. The process of developing it has also proved invaluable to his growth as a designer, and being able to actually follow through on the creation of a design has been rewarding in a multitude of ways. \u201cWe could have had this really nice concept, but if we hadn\u2019t been able to create it, it wouldn\u2019t have had the response it has gotten from other educators, because nobody would have been able to use it.\u201d\r\n\r\nHam imagines a future in which technology like Panoform will become ubiquitous in educational settings and beyond. As a parent and teacher, his hopes for Panoform\u2019s reach are boundless.\r\n\r\n\u201cMy refrigerator is covered in compositions from coloring sheets,\u201d says Ham. \u201cMy kids made those. You go into the genre of VR, and there might be a point when a parent has a gazillion Panoform creations on their phone.\u201d"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making the idea and application of virtual reality for children as young as kindergarten is something that Derek Ham set out to do. With Panoform, this free downloadable app, that is exactly what transpired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":23192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"ncstate_wire","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-23191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-_from-newswire-collection-271"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24141,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23191\/revisions\/24141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/graphic-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}