February is Black History Month and to support and celebrate it, I decided to create a virtual museum using CoSpaces. Staff at my school need to, who opted in, create a short video on their role model, in which it was and will be shared with the students on the school channel each morning. The information was saved in a Google Sheet.
So, I decided to take the role models that were submitted and make a virtual museum, showcasing each person with their picture and facts about their contribution, accomplishment or milestone to the African American community. Additionally, I created a 20 question Google Forms quiz to make students accountable while viewing the virtual gallery.
As I mentioned, I used CoSpaces to create a 360° virtual reality tour that mimics a museum. I used a building template that was available in the CoSpaces library. First, I found pictures and facts of each role model that was in the Google Sheet. I uploaded the pictures into the project then placed them into the building. I resized them and the text to fit proportionally on the wall.
Next, I changed the appearance of the walls in each room by adding color and texture. I also added wall art to fill in the empty spaces. On the outside of the virtual museum, I changed the texture of the wall to bricks and added more wall art. I included my school symbol, the paw print, and a sign for the building. Then, I added some characters into each room, some were animated, and some were not, to make the experience more authentic.
Finally, the placement of the camera was a bit challenging. I did not know where to place the camera. Every time I played the scene, the camera was not in a place where it would allow me to easily see the entire tour. Also, at first, I was not able to pan through the tour. Then, I discovered the 'orbit' mode on the camera and that solved that issue. The orbit setting allowed me to move through the virtual museum as if I was walking. It made all the difference in the world. Afterwards, I found placing the camera high above the building was the best placement for the students to be able to view the entire building.
So far, I received a lot of positive feedback. I am so glad I was able to created a resource that both the teachers and students enjoyed. I can't wait to create my next project.
Check out my virtual museum. Click the link or view it within the blog post.
