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Performing arts learners are using a Virtual Reality room to study the feet positioning and movement across the stage of performers during Broadway shows.
The IoT course in Immersive Performance Practice at Blackpool and the Fylde College sees classes using the immersive Igloo to transport themselves to theatre seats to see shows they wouldn’t usually get chance to see.
The equipment, at the college’s University Centre, allows learners studying for the Certification of Higher Education to get right into the thick of the action as they see actors enter and exit the stage all around them. They can walk around the stage as the performance happens, using the industry-leading technology to transport them to the theatre.
While more digital courses, such as software and games design, are making use of the space, the high-tech room can be used by learners and staff across the curriculum.
For example, learners on the IoT’s HNC in Art and Design (Graphic Design and Illustration) course use it to show art installations. “We had one student use it to create a meditation space with artwork and sounds as part of her dissertation,” says Christopher Willitts, Curriculum Manager – Higher Education at Blackpool School of Computing.
“She invited different people to spend time in the space, including me. When I came out I commented on how the pictures around me had been moving, but they hadn’t, it was all part of how she’d used the space to create an environment for meditation.”
Degree apprentice Harry Smith is one of the learners who gets the opportunity to use the cutting-edge technology on a regular basis.
Harry, who is halfway through his three-year Digital Technology Solutions (Network Engineering) course, delivered as part of the IoT. Employed by the college, he spends four days a week working and one day studying and is proving a real asset to the college, partly due to the time and effort he can spend exploring different uses for the digital equipment like the Igloo.
He said: “The best part of my course is getting to work with this amazing equipment.”