Yesterday brought the meeting of part time vocational teachers for English in Vienna. Usually these meetings are nothing more than meetings in a room, talking about useful things regarding teaching English. This time it was special: Invited by the CEO of VRTours Vienna we had the chance to do a virtual reality tour through the first district of Vienna, listening to an audio guide giving us in a rather entertaining way information about the history of Vienna, taking us to six stops starting with Stephansplatz, ending with Staatsoper.

During the walks we listened to the guide. The stops were used for connecting to the virtual side of reality. Put on the glasses and here we go: At first we saw different pictures of the past, mainly rather prominent figures of history. Next came the step into virtual reality: A 360 degree set, movielike, 3D, rats running across the ground, buildings in flames collapsing, people watching a catholic procession, Franz Joseph rolling by on what would later become Heldenplatz. The VR-scenes lasted for about 4 minutes each, the tour itself took about 90 minutes. A great experience, a cool way to gather knowledge and information and quite an outstanding experience. The students we took with us also enjoyed the experience.

Further info: VRtours Vienna

Fotos & text: Jürgen Neckam