Subaru has announced its partnership with Google's Expeditions Pioneer Program, an initiative designed to bring Google's virtual reality kits to schools across the globe, and Google is allowing for schools interested in the kits to request consideration for a visit.

The program will not only bring kits to the select schools it visits, it will also provide training for teachers on how to operate the easy-to-use technology in their classroom, as well on how to best integrate into lessons.

Launched earlier this month, the program "will canvas U.S. schools in California, Texas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut while also visiting schools in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and the United Kingdom. As part of the Pioneer Program, teachers at participating schools will be trained on Expeditions and use the technology to take their classes on virtual field trips," Subaru of America, Inc. said in statement.

"Google says it will bring kits with everything teachers need to run a virtual class trip to schools. This kit includes Asus Zenfone 2’s, a tablet for the teacher, Cardboard or Mattel View-Master viewers, and a router that allows Expeditions to run offline if necessary," according to TechCrunch.com. 

Google anticipates bringing its kits to thousands of schools and is allowing for schools to fill out a form in order to request being considered. That form can be found here.

The New York Times calls Google's virtual field trip technology totally "immersive," completely different from the virtual opportunities to explore that came before.

"Expeditions uses 360-degree views that stitch together photographs from Google Street View, a product that displays images of roads. The company is also using a 16-camera system, built by GoPro, to create three-dimensional images for the virtual excursions," The Times said.

In other words, Google Expeditions may very well become a staple in innovative classroom learning, but only time will tell.

Read more about Google Expeditions Pioneer Program here

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

09/29/2015