Lifeliqe – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 26, 2017

Lifeliqe Launches Educational App for HoloLens

It was back in April that we told you that education startup Lifeliqe was bringing its services to Microsoft’s HoloLens platform. Initially we saw the app at work in the classroom, but now anyone with a HoloLens can try it out for themselves.

Lifeliqe today launches its mixed reality app as a free download on the Windows Store. It’s based on the company’s pre-existing service for Windows. Designed for teaching K-12 sciences, the app includes 10 lessons plans with 20 interactive models that users will be able to explore like never before. With a HoloLens on, these models are projected into the real world as virtual objects. You can walk around them and explore them in-depth. Content has been designed to align with Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core to ensure its suitability in the classroom.

Subjects cover chemistry, physics and geology, making the app ideal for science modules across the country. That is of course if they have a HoloLens; Microsoft’s device costs $3,000 as an experimental developer edition and isn’t expected to hit the consumer market for years to come. Even in its current state the educational potential of the kit is clear, though.

Last year the company also launched a VR museum on the Vive in partnership with HTC. The virtual app taught users about everything from dinosaurs to cells.

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April 9, 2017

Lifeliqe Partner with Microsoft to Bring HoloLens into the Classroom

Visual learning platform Lifeliqe has begun working with Microsoft to bring mixed-reality educational applications to classrooms.

Lifelique is using its 3D applications to teach lessons in the circulatory system and electronegativity to children in US schools from grades six to twelve. The company had previously launched its content on the HTC Vive. Students at Renton Prep in Seattle and Castro Valley Unified College in California have been able to take part in the pilot program and were some of the first to experience the HoloLens content during a science lesson.

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“We’ve been using virtual reality as part of education at school for several months. It seems that students have a preference for mixed reality for learning, but the reason for [that] will be our next round of investigation,” said Michelle Zimmerman, director of innovative teaching and learning sciences at Renton Prep.

“When using Lifeliqe’s learning experiences, students were excited to dive into the blood vessel because they could visualize it, which should help their memory retention.” added Richard Schneck, career specialist at Castro Valley Unified College.

The pilot scheme will be rolled out to more schools and colleges over the coming weeks.

“Mixed reality offers completely unique means to deliver educational content, and we are excited to take another step forward in providing immersive learning experiences,” said Ondrej Homola, Lifeliqe CEO. “The excitement we witnessed during the pilot shows us the great potential mixed reality has in sparking lightbulb moments.”

Associate Professor at the University of Buffalo, Richard Lamb, is working with Lifeliqe to study the effects of VR and mixed reality on learning and measure the retention rate compared to traditional learning methods.

Education and training is a large growth area in the VR industry. VRFocus will be sure to keep you updated on new developments within this area.

April 8, 2017

HoloLens: Lifeliqe lässt die AR-Brille ins Klassenzimmer einziehen

Die virtuelle Realität erhält immer mehr Einzug in unser Leben. Auch der Bildungssektor soll von der neuen Technologie profitieren und der Unterricht an Schulen und Universitäten könnte durch sie revolutioniert werden. Es existiert bereits eine Reihe von Projekten, welche sich der „Immersive Education“ widmen. So ermöglichte es Google zum Beispiel Schülern, mit Hilfe ihrer Cardboard-Brillen Schulausflüge und Exkursionen in der Virtual Reality zu unternehmen. Das Start-Up Unternehmen Lifeliqe tat sich in der Vergangenheit mit HTC zusammen und entwickelte eine visuelle Lernplattform, in der man durch VR-Erlebnisse einen genaueren Eindruck vom Lernstoff, seien es Dinosauriern oder Stonehenge, bekommen kann.

Lifeliqe rückt in seiner neuen Partnerschaft mit Microsoft nicht die Virtual Reality sondern die Mixed Reality in den Vordergrund und bracht die HoloLens bereits in zahlreiche Klassenräume.

Immersive Bildung mit Microsoft HoloLens

Lifeliqe führten an der Renton Prep in Seattle, Washington, und dem Castro Valley Unified College in Californien Pilot-Unterrichtsstunden mit der HoloLens durch. Mit Hilfe interaktiver 3D-Modelle konnten die Schüler den menschlichen Körper mit samt seinen Organe und Blutzellen erkunden. Viele der Schüler hatten bereits mit Lernapps für die Virtual Reality Erlebnisse, bevorzugen aber die Mixed Reality der HoloLens, so Michelle Zimmermann, Direktorin des Innovative Teaching and Learning Sciences.

Lifeliqe möchten mit ihrer App und der HoloLens die Schüler der Klassenstufen 6 bis 12 ansprechen und zu einem neuen Lernerlebnis verhelfen. An eine Umsetzung für jedes Klassenzimmer ist in nächster Zeit allerdings noch nicht zu denken. Das aktuelle Entwicklungs-MR-Set von Lifeliqe kostet 3.000$ und eine Version für reguläre Kunden wird wohl erst in mehreren Jahren entwickelt werden können. Allzu schnell wird die Schultafel, oder mittlerweile auch das Whiteboard, also nicht obsolet für den Unterricht werden.

Die Zukunft der Bildung

Die Pilot-Unterrichtsstunden von Lifeliqe zeigen aber bereits, welches enorme Potential für den Bildungssektor in der Augmented Reality liegt. Viele der Schüler geben an, auf diese Art Gelerntes besser zu verstehen und sich besser merken zu können. Auch das eigene interaktive Erkunden und Erschließen von Unterrichtsthemen erfreut sich großer Beliebtheit. Mit weiterer Verbesserung der aktuellen Technologie und einem wachsenden Interesse an dieser, werden wir in nächster Zeit viele weitere Projekte und Ideen sehen, die mit Hilfe von VR, MR und AR unser Bildungswesen revolutionieren werden.

(Quelle: Upload VR)

Der Beitrag HoloLens: Lifeliqe lässt die AR-Brille ins Klassenzimmer einziehen zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

April 6, 2017

Lifeliqe Is Bringing HoloLens To The Classroom

Microsoft’s HoloLens and other mixed reality devices have enormous potential to inform and educate, arguably even more so than VR. Immersive education startup Lifeliqe is looking to capitalize on that potential.

You may have already heard of Lifeliqe; last year the company partnered with HTC to make educational VR experiences for the Vive headset. With HoloLens, though, the company is looking to move into the classroom. In fact the company has already run pilot lessons using the headset in classes at Renton Prep in Seattle, Washington, and Castro Valley Unified College in California. You can see a video of the student’s impressions below.

Lifeliqe’s HoloLens apps used interactive 3D models to provide a new kind of visual learning for students. They got to explore the human body, bringing up 3D models of organs, blood vessels and more. In a statement, Michelle Zimmerman, Director of Innovative Teaching and Learning Sciences said it actually looked like students preferred using MR for education over VR, which the school had also been working with.

HoloLens isn’t the only headset that could one day take over the classroom; Google has been pushing VR into educational territory with its Expeditions initiative, which uses mobile-based headsets like Cardboard to take students on virtual field trips. We expect to see plenty more examples of VR, AR and MR in schools as the technology continues to grow in popularity, too.

Lifeliqe is designing HoloLens experiences for grade 6 – 12 classrooms. However, with the developer edition of the kit costing $3,000 and a full consumer version still likely years away, it’s probably going to be a long time before we see MR commonly used in schools across the globe. VR will be a good stepping stone in the meantime, and Microsoft has that angle covered with its upcoming Windows 10 headsets.

Tagged with: education, HoloLens, lifeliqe, microsoft