Category: Research

Virtual Reality Learning Lab

NRO Kennisrotonde – Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality

This the English version of our report In opdracht van het Nationaal Regieorgaan Onderwijsonderzoek hebben we een uitgebreid literatuuronderzoek uitgevoerd over Virtual Reality en Augmented Reality in het basisonderwijs. De vraagsteller, een bestuur van een grote scholengemeenschap formuleerde voor de NRO Kennisrotonde de volgende vraag: Wat weten we over de inzet en effectiviteit van Augmented…
Read more

Virtual Reality Learning Lab – new online & offline location

We’re very proud to announce that the website of the Virtual Reality Learning Lab is online. We are still working on some technical details and of course we still have a lot of content to add. Nonetheless we are excited about this step; thank you Donna Schipper. We’re even more excited about our new offline…
Read more

Towards a theoretical framework for Virtual Reality in Education

For my current research I broadly explore the potential of Virtual Reality for education. As a part of this I try to form some sort of theoretical framework to describe the unique characteristics of VR as a medium and how it can be used to explain complex concepts and teach different skills. With some googling…
Read more

The dangers of techno-pessimism in education

I do research on the potential of Virtual Reality for education. Now, people generally find VR very exciting and because of this I get a lot of enthusiastic reactions. People can imagine all sorts of useful applications for education. Students could learn about our solar system while experiencing a space flight, or walk through ancient…
Read more

Hack de Pont – VR Hackathon

On the 30th of April 2016 I gave a Unity3D Virtual Reality workshop for the VR Hackathon ‘Hack de Pont‘, organised by Creative Coding Amsterdam, Lava Lab and Submarine Channel. Among the participants were Syrian refugees from the very noble Hack your Future program. Although a large part of the group had never worked with…
Read more

Virtual Reality for Science & Education 2016 – a Review

On the 10th of March 2016 we organized the Virtual Reality for Science & Education symposium at the Scheltema Complex in Leiden. I think we can safely state the event was a great success! Over 125 people attended the event, causing a small shortage of chairs at the busiest time of the symposium. I have…
Read more

Why are people enthusiastic about VR in Education?

During the past year I have spoken with a lot of people about the use of Virtual Reality for learning, which is the topic of my research. Surprisingly many people are really excited about this. But why is this? Why are people enthusiastic about VR in education?

Virtual Reality for Science & Education Symposium – 10 March 2016

Updates about the program below! During the last few years developments in Virtual Reality have gained a lot of momentum. Almost two decades after the inevitable downfall in the hype cycle, the Oculus Rift showed that a VR headset is within reach for the average consumer. This kickstarted many new initiatives, causing an entire VR…
Read more

Guest lecture Education & ICT – University of Utrecht

On 12 January 2016 I gave a guest lecture at the Education & ICT course at Utrecht University. Great to give students their first VR experience and discuss the potential uses for the field of education. Guest lecture UU – Virtual Reality & Education from Robin de Lange And some pictures by Casper Hulshof:

Embodied Vision 2015

In the spring of 2015 I taught the course Embodied Vision together with Dan North. The course was part of the Media Technology MSc. program. In the lectures given by Dan the students learned about special effects and illusionism in cinema and how this is used in the service of narrative and spectacle. In the…
Read more

Virtual Reality for Science & Education

In May 2015 the Gratama Stichting and Leids Universiteitsfonds announced that my research project into the possibilities of Virtual Reality for the field of education will receive the Gratama research grant. Prof. dr. Jaap van den Herik helped me with the application procedure, the research will be part of my PhD work supervised by prof.…
Read more

Art of Neuroscience talk – Virtual Reality visualization of live EEG data

On March 24th 2015 I gave a talk at the Art of Neuroscience symposium in the beautiful Eye in Amsterdam. More information about this yearly event can be found here. In my talk I presented the Virtual Reality visualization of live EEG data I created with my team mates Eva Delincakova and Bert Spaan at…
Read more

Embodied Vision Workshop: Augmented and Virtual Reality with Unity3D

On the 19th of June 2014 at 10.00, I’ll teach a workshop for the Embodied Vision course of the Media Technology MSc. program. Below you can find a short description of the workshop and the assignment. After the workshop I’ll post a summary of what we’ve discussed. Embodied Vision Workshop: Augmented and Virtual Reality with…
Read more

Mind Extensions website

In Western tradition, thinking has been commonly seen as a very secluded activity. As our environment is getting more and more saturated with technologies, it is becoming clear however, that our minds are less separated from the world as we might think. Many questions arise, questions about artificial intelligence, about the technologies we use to…
Read more

Brainstorm – Hack the Brain hackathon

For the Hack the Brain hackathon, organized by Waag Society, TNO and the Donders Institute, we created an immersive 3D environment of EEG data using the Oculus Rift. To experience our project you wear a cap with electrodes to capture an EEG signal from the electrical activity in your brain. The Oculus Rift places you…
Read more

Graduation project

On the 28th of August 2013 I presented my graduation project, which was graded an 8.5. Developing an Augmented Reality application to promote an extended concept of cognition in education [ABSTRACT] The ever decreasing size and price of computer parts seems to be leading to computing power becoming ubiquitous. Similar to technology such as pen…
Read more

Het Semantic Web en netwerktechnologische cognitieve uitbreidingen

Final paper for the course Wikisofie ABSTRACT The Semantic Web is initiated as a project which would make the semantics of the information in the collection of documents which form the Web, understandable for machines. In this paper I will show some of the arguments for the statement that this project is too ambitious and…
Read more

Creatief programmeren

Laatste column voor het vak Wikisofie. In deze column wil ik een licht werpen op de volgende stelling:  “Door leden van de samenleving toegang te geven tot een gemeenschappelijk fonds van probleemoplossingen en handelingsmogelijkheden, wordt enerzijds de cognitieve druk op het individu ontlast, maar zou de samenleving anderzijds ook aan creativiteit en originaliteit kunnen inboeten.”…
Read more

Conducting Life

For the course Embodied Vision Erik Jansen and I have made a Max/MSP Jitter patch that re-edits footage automatically and motion-based. The conductor is the leader of a musical ensemble, whose task it is to direct the musical performance by making gestures. One of the main tasks of the conductor is to set the tempo of…
Read more

Over het Internet

Vijfde column voor het vak Wikisofie. Het is opzienbarend hoeveel de standpunten van Hubert Dreyfus en Don Tapscott die zij presenteren in hun boeken On the Internet, respectievelijk Wikinomics uit elkaar liggen. Beiden boeken gaan over toepassingen van het Internet en de invloed daarvan op de samenleving. Toch lijkt het alsof beide auteurs het over…
Read more