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Gen Z & Virtual Reality
184 Plays6 years ago
In this episode, Avery Wagar joins me to discuss the next frontier of technology: Virtual reality. We discuss what virtual reality is, augmented and extended reality, and his learning experiences that have been integrated with virtual reality technology.
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Transcript
Introduction to Gen Z and VR
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to hashtag Gen Z. I'm your host, Megan Grace.
00:00:19
Speaker
Welcome back. This is episode 16 of hashtag Gen Z. I truly could spend multiple episodes talking about technology's influence on Generation Z, especially how modern digital technology has influenced how they connect, learn, and navigate the world. From
Meet Avery Wagger and His VR Achievements
00:00:34
Speaker
mobile devices and social media to wearable technology, Generation Z is no stranger to a tech integrated lifestyle. But in this episode, we're exploring a new reality of technology.
00:00:44
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virtual reality, that is. Truthfully, until a few months ago, I didn't know much about virtual reality beyond the fact that it has been used for video games and mostly involved headsets. I think I can count on one hand, maybe even less than that, the amount of times I've actually used virtual reality technology.
00:01:00
Speaker
So when I met Avery Wagger at South by Southwest EDU in March, I had a lot of questions and I'm thankful for his patience and helping me learn more about this new frontier of technology that will certainly influence Generation Z and all generations as technology continues to grow and evolve. Avery Wagger is a sophomore at Ballard High School where he focuses his studies on computer science and digital filmmaking. He's been a virtual reality developer since 2016 and he's the founder and president of his high school's virtual reality club.
00:01:29
Speaker
He won the award for best overall engineering project in 2016 and 2018 for the Seattle Public Schools for his virtual reality astronomy simulator, Astro VR. Avery is not just incredibly skilled in the virtual reality and technology space. He's passionate about helping other young people engage with this technology. He serves as a student representative for the information technology advisory committee for Seattle Public Schools. He also serves as a virtual reality development instructor for Chick Tech.
00:01:57
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which is a year-long series of workshops and mentoring opportunities for young women in the Puget Sound area to gain hands-on experience with technology and exploring technology-based careers. I have no doubt in my mind that Avery will utilize technology to build something that changes our world for the good. So I'm excited to have him share his story so we can all learn a little bit more about virtual reality and the technology that Generation Z uses.
00:02:23
Speaker
I'm so excited to welcome my guest today, Avery Wagger. I was so lucky to actually meet Avery at South by Southwest EDU a few months ago. And we just met at one of the opening parties and he started talking about all the cool stuff that he does in virtual reality. And being someone who thought they knew computers, I was completely wrong until I started talking with Avery who
00:02:45
Speaker
Honestly, we have so much to learn from. And so I'm excited to kick off today's conversation. I'm actually going to turn it over to Avery so he can share a little bit about who he is and what he's doing in this space.
Avery's Journey into VR
00:02:56
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So welcome, Avery.
00:02:57
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Hi, yeah, I started getting into the VR community here in Seattle a couple years ago when I took a Unity 3D course, which Unity is a game engine, and you can use it to create VR experiences, video games, applications, whatever. And after I took the course,
00:03:19
Speaker
They put my little game I made in a couple hours into VR and it just kind of blew my mind and from there I went to a whole bunch of different meetups and met a whole bunch of really cool people in the industry. When I entered high school I started the VR club at Ballard High School and
00:03:36
Speaker
that's one of the reasons how i ended up at south by southwest and met you megan so so ever you talk about virtual virtual reality technology and let's be i just want to be completely honest with you it is still a little bit of a foreign concept to me and i know that some of my listeners who are educators and people that are of older generations might also feel the same way so
00:03:56
Speaker
My only experience with virtual reality technology is that I have nephews that are around your same age. You all would actually probably get along really well. They got virtual reality sets for Christmas one year, and they're like, Aunt Meg put this on mostly because I think they wanted to make fun of me. But for us that might not live in this space like you do, what exactly is a virtual reality technology?
Understanding Virtual Reality
00:04:18
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So virtual reality is a subset of extended reality and that's kind of a classification of immersive technology. Virtual reality is a display form and really a human interface format where you are more immersed into a virtual space than you would say using a mouse, keyboard, and monitor.
00:04:40
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and you use HMD which is a head mounted display and it has kind of two lenses and one for each eye and it kind of lets you
00:04:50
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really feel like you're in a virtual space. You usually have hand controllers which lets you interact with virtual objects and it gives you this feeling of presence which you can't have in really almost any other format or interaction with the computer. There's a couple others under the extended reality umbrellas such as augmented reality
00:05:12
Speaker
where it's more like adding holograms to the space around you or mixed reality where you can see parts of your real world in virtual reality. So that's kind of a high level overview of all the different subjects that we might talk about. I wish you could see my face on the other end. I feel like I'm
00:05:34
Speaker
I'm mostly just trying to wrap my brain around all of this and maybe I just need to hang out with some VR a little bit more. But I guess I just use that old school old tech just on a computer kind of reality and sounds pretty boring. So you mentioned that you got started in working with virtual reality technology through developing a game, is that correct?
VR Development and Competitions
00:05:54
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Kind of walk us through your journey with virtual reality technology from the very beginning, if you wouldn't mind.
00:06:03
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Alright, so I ended up taking that Unity course that I mentioned, and after I'd built a little soccer game, which I controlled with my keyboard, one of my instructors kind of showed me how to put it into a VR world. So I was still using the keyboard, but I had a VR headset and I was looking around and I could see the
00:06:25
Speaker
field below me and the balls moving around as I like used the keyboard and so it gave me this feeling of presence that like oh this is something where I am like I'm right here in my game that I made um and it was something that really wanted me it inspired me to go out and kind of see what I could do with this so I took a couple more classes from uh those guys um who kind of become a mentor for me now um and so after I took
00:06:53
Speaker
Those unity classes I ended up at a hackathon and this hackathon for those of you don't know is a coding competition that tends to last 48 to 72 hours where people pitch ideas to the rest of the
00:07:09
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members and then people form teams and spend their weekend or break building cool apps and games and then at the end they get judged by industry professionals and you can win money and gift cards and other things. So I ended up at a VR hackathon and I had a hard time getting on a team. So I ended up getting on a team with a whole bunch of other students and we built this cool sword fighting game.
00:07:38
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and it just really in 48 hours like especially and I've been thinking about this for a while is that like we spend a lot of our time kind of learning um in school and you it's a really stretched amount of time like you spend 11 years of your life like talking about the same four subjects and when you go to a hackathon
00:08:01
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It's like a drinking a Red Bull when it comes to kind of the rate that you are learning it, right? And you learn so much so quickly that it just, it's exhilarating. So I've been to about nine hackathons now. But shortly after, like my third hackathon, I mentioned my eighth grade year.
00:08:22
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I started working on a science fair project and I really wanted to do something with VR. So I went to my science fair teacher and I asked him if he would be willing to let me build something in VR and I ended up kind of settling on this idea to build a stardom which is a tool we kind of use back in my middle school where you could kind of look at all the stars and
00:08:47
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you'd go into this like big gray dome. It was kind of cool but I wanted to build that in VR so I ended up spending the next three months building this VR project and I ended up winning both my school competition and the district competition. From there I met a lot of really cool people who were really excited about VR at the time and right and since I was kind of around the end of my school year I kind of reached out to them and we
00:09:12
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I did a lot more hackathons that summer and it was really awesome and I learned a lot. So then my ninth grade year when I was starting high school I started the BVR club at my high school and it stands for Ballard Virtual Reality. I go to Ballard High School so it's fitting. And at the BVR club for the first
00:09:31
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I don't know, three fourths of the year. So most of the year, all we did was talk about VR, we didn't have anything to show for it. I would maybe bring in my personal headset and see if we could get it to work, which was kind of an off chance. And so finally, with the help of my club advisor, who you I don't think you met.
00:09:51
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South by Southwest, but she helped me get some like donations and we ended up buying a VR capable computer. So from there we started having VR at more regular meetings and that kind of attracted like the student kind of led a portion of the club sort of attracting people like Oculus. And I can tell you a bit about that later. But I ended up starting in a partnership with Oculus and I ended up at South by Southwest and I met you and
00:10:21
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Now we're hanging out. We're talking about VR. Now here we are. I just want to say that I think your eighth grade and my eighth grade were very different in the sense that when I went to computer class, we were learning how to use Excel and Microsoft Word. And some of these were very groundbreaking and you were creating the solar system in a virtual reality. So I think about how much technology has changed and evolved
00:10:47
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And I'm kind of laughing over here on my end because you're like, yeah, I was learning to code. And I was like, the extent of my coding was on Myspace. Do you even know what Myspace is? Have you heard? I know what Myspace is. Have you heard of this? Yes. That's where our kids, when I was a teenager, we had to learn how to code and then we forgot all of that. So I was joking. I hear like young people today that are like coding at your age and even younger. And I was like, well, I had to do it because I needed to get my profile and tip top shape.
00:11:14
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you all are doing it probably to save our world. So different lives. So I love that you have been able to integrate VR into your schooling and really found what I imagine was an extracurricular
00:11:27
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kind of hobby and passion into what you're doing in school and that you found support within your high school to pursue this even further. And so I was able to listen a little bit in at your soft buy session, which I thought was great, but I'd love to talk about how virtual reality has impacted your school experience and specifically learning. Like how has that broadened what you're able to do in school?
VR in Education
00:11:49
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So that's an interesting question because what we started with the VR Club really kind of
00:11:55
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took a turn and started moving into the classroom a lot faster than I think any of us had estimated or ever thought it would. And a funny part of that is that I've only used VR in any of my classes other than computer science once, and that was my history class. But whenever I go into the library, I see Ms. Chambers
00:12:19
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rallying kids and putting VR headsets on them and they're using it to learn content. And there's been a lot of studies recently about how virtual reality affects how we retain information.
00:12:33
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And it proved, it's kind of proven that when you're really immersed in a event or subject and you're kind of, you have that feeling of presence, like that you're there and this thing's happening, you tend to remember what happens to you a lot more than you would if say your teacher was giving a lecture or you were watching a documentary on Netflix. I mean, it just really.
00:12:57
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changes how we like perceive these events right and so it's a really powerful tool for teaching kind of topics in school and so we used it in a bit more of a touchy subject and we were learning about world war two and the holocaust so i won't dive into
00:13:15
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what we did in VR, but it was a really powerful tool. And I think it's leaving a lasting effect on a lot of students at our school and hopefully a lot of students kind of in the whole scheme of things. That's such an interesting thing that you brought up about the immersive nature of it because our research that we've been doing
00:13:36
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on Generation Z, you and your friends, is that your generation prefers this immersive learning. And it's not that previous generations didn't, but we have all these different tools that are afforded to be able to provide that. And we've found, and again, we're studying some people that are a little bit older than you, and this preference for video-based learning was so prominent that people are going to YouTube to learn new skills, and people are
00:14:01
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wanting video-based tutorials. What I'm hearing from you and what I'm listening to you is that virtual reality technology could be that even next level of immersive learning, even beyond video-based learning. Is that true? I mean, I can't imagine learning about events in history through VR and feeling like you can be there.
00:14:19
Speaker
Previously, you just had to kind of imagine what it would be like or maybe go to a war reenactment or something like that, not being able to feel like you were there and feel the human impacts of that.
00:14:32
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So one of the really cool VR experiences is Google Earth VR, which takes your Google Earth, and then you can really start traveling in VR. And it's really detailed, and you can definitely feel like you're there. And you mentioned historical events, and there's a lot of 360 video, which is really prominent on, like you mentioned, YouTube and kind of like
00:14:58
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people wanting like video learning 360 video a lot of teachers have been making playlists to share with students in the headsets and there's a lot of like educational content for history with the VR headsets and you can definitely learn about something a lot faster and understand kind of those historical events in a much more like prominent and deep way than you would just like with a lecture
00:15:27
Speaker
But I mean, I can't even imagine again, like this is still said, like I'm sitting here. I don't want to say dumbfounded, but I am like very curious. And I think this is incredible. And I get really fired up when I hear that there's really cool ways to teach young people.
00:15:39
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how to learn, because some people would say, history, ugh, so boring. You just read books, right? This is, I think, a really cool way that we could re-energize young people around some topics that might not be as seemingly on the surface as exciting. So I think there's so much promise with this, and I hope that we're able to find ways to make it affordable and accessible for more educational spaces to have these, because it sounds like what you and your fellow students are able to do is really bringing it to the next level. And that's something I really think is awesome.
00:16:09
Speaker
Kudos to you for doing that for your high school and bringing that into the culture. I'm sure other people are really interested in this. If you had to boil it down, what do you think? We've talked about the immersive learning component of it, but what do you think are some of the biggest benefits of virtual reality technology?
00:16:27
Speaker
So yes, you mentioned the immersion that's a big one but the another part of it is kind of Especially for people who haven't done a lot of VR before is that like when they put on the headset for the first time there's just a lot of shock and awe that goes on and people really kind of adapt to it quickly because When it comes to like trying to training people to use VR at least the students, right? I mean like you you mentioned
00:16:55
Speaker
that you guys were doing Microsoft Word and stuff, you have to learn how to use those tools. But with VR, especially for some of the more intuitive controllers and ways you can interact with the app, it's just like being there. And so the onboarding process, a lot of the time, is much more simplified than it would be for trying to make a slideshow in PowerPoint or some of the other tools that are common and kind of
00:17:22
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the digital classroom, I guess. And so being able to really quickly have someone be immersed in something is powerful. The ability to have this platform, this medium almost, to have a whole like a wide variety of content across multiple subjects in this kind of similar
00:17:43
Speaker
if not exactly the same format and way for interacting with them. And it really just brings people kind of into what they're learning because everything feels so natural about it. And I think there's a lot of like applications of XR as well, like including augmented reality for education.
00:18:02
Speaker
For those who are, it is me. It is not for those who don't know. For me, what is XR? Like I mentioned, XR is Extended Reality. It's kind of short, like how we call virtual reality VR, non-virtual reality AR. It's just kind of that umbrella term, just the acronym for it. I didn't know if there was another acronym I was missing. So I really do think that there is this really interesting component of your generation
00:18:27
Speaker
in the fact that you definitely have the most advanced integrated technology that any generation has ever experienced. I think that the way that we've exponentially changed technology even in 20 years is incredible and it's a huge shaping factor of
VR's Influence on Gen Z Culture
00:18:43
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your generation. How do you see VR being a part of your Gen Z pure culture?
00:18:48
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Do you see it as a part of your Gen Z peer culture? Does it have a potential future growth in that area? I definitely think it does. With VR, six-stop standalones like the Oculus Quest, and six-stop means you can move around and it'll track like your movement, not just your head position. That'll push VR further into the mainstream.
00:19:07
Speaker
But you can also see a lot of applications of XR today. And what's interesting is a lot of times people won't really notice that they're using XR. Like for instance, Snapchat filters, like where it kind of puts something over your face. That's an example of augmented reality. And that's become really popular with like our generation. And then there's a lot of, I have a feeling that a lot of it is going to be coming in the next couple of years.
00:19:32
Speaker
We're right on the verge of VR and XR and AR or MR all converging into this one tool and platform where people can really immerse themselves in a virtual or digital world.
00:19:52
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similar to like, I mean, I think that in the next 20 years, it's no longer gonna be a smartphone, it's gonna be a pair of glasses that you wear on your face. I think screens kinda are going away, or at least they will be.
00:20:05
Speaker
I feel like what you just said, I'm living in a futuristic sci-fi movie of what you're describing, but I'm going to keep you close so you can guide me through this because it's going to be a lot. Beyond VR, which you've talked about how it's starting to permeate into Gen Z culture in ways that we might not even notice. I had no idea that a Snapchat filter and Instagram, the face filter on some of them would be considered an augmented reality.
00:20:31
Speaker
I just thought that that was really cool. So what are some of the other prominent like what are the prominent technological tools that you see are kind of on the rise maybe or that are really prominently used by Generation Z? So my reply might be a little biased because I'm like a lot more immersed in the more technical side of things with my programming and filmmaking experience but I think that there's a big
00:20:58
Speaker
big part of it is kind of both using like computers and technology to share information and their learning in the classroom and then at the same time it's about having a connection with people. Social media has kind of taken over and it's a has a big part of like our our generation's lives and I think also
00:21:20
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going back to VR, that social VR experiences are going to really be the next iteration of like social media, like being able to be in a VR experience with someone else and talk with them and like hand gestures, face gestures, like that really like immersive digital world or meeting space.
Future of Social VR Experiences
00:21:40
Speaker
So would that be like FaceTiming, but in VR, like in theory, you and I could meet up in a virtual reality coffee shop and have this conversation as opposed to
00:21:50
Speaker
Yeah, I was on another podcast, actually at South by Southwest, where I did the podcast in VR. And so I was meeting with Matt Chacon, and he does some cool VR like podcasts as well. I was in a virtual meeting space called Rumi. And I could see him and he could see me and I was moving my hands and he could see moving my hands and like, I could
00:22:15
Speaker
use emojis and we had a whiteboard in VR where we could share web pages and it was really cool but the future of that is going to just be able to like I have a feeling that like kind of the gaming aspect and the social aspect and
00:22:32
Speaker
all of it's kind of gonna convulge into this one very similar experience where you could be meeting with someone in a virtual world experience and you're wearing a VR headset. Well, they're wearing an AR headset and they just see a hologram of you, but you see them kind of in this more immersive state. I think it's all gonna like kind of mix and merge together and people are really going to feel presence with one another regardless of distance, right? And so,
00:22:58
Speaker
Another thing we've been doing at the VR Club is working with Franklin High School, which is, Ballard High School is in kind of North Seattle, and almost on the other end of the cities, Franklin High School is down in South Seattle, and we've been working through VR experiences, social experiences, like alt space or rec room. We've been able to collaborate and like kind of
00:23:21
Speaker
like have these relationships and being able to talk to people that we probably wouldn't have ever met or Nonetheless like play chess with right? In our lives other than this ability to communicate through this virtual world and I think it's gonna do a really good job bringing people together and Connecting the world globally
00:23:45
Speaker
Again, I'm sitting over here just completely with my brain blown because it is just, I'm trying to imagine all of this and I'm so thankful that we have people like you that are going to be able to help all of us navigate this and bring this to life because I do, I think it's so incredible the things that we could do with technology and the component of connection that you bring up is, I think, going to be really important.
00:24:07
Speaker
As much as we feel divided in a lot of different ways, I think it could be a way that we bring together people of different communities that would have, as you've mentioned, never been able to meet or hang out or spend time together in any other setting. So I love that. Well, Avery, I've learned so much from you and I probably going to need technology tutoring down the road, so I might have to hire you out. But I ask this of every one of my guests. It's one of my favorite things to hear.
00:24:34
Speaker
What is your favorite thing about your Generation Z peers? Good question. I really think, and I don't know, this might just be kind of with everyone, but I think the ability to communicate both across distances and not both in person and online, being able to communicate with one another, I don't know. It's kind of always been a little awkward, but I think people have gotten pretty good at it online.
00:25:03
Speaker
I think it's true. I think that in some ways, if I had to believe it, you said that sometimes in-person can be awkward, but I think that there's a tenacity to reach out to people in online settings that your generation is really good at and finding and building relationships with people that they would have never otherwise. I think that that actually humanizes a lot of the online experience and finding connection in places we wouldn't have thought.
00:25:27
Speaker
I like that. And I've found that now I get to hang out with some Gen Z in digital spaces and there's some of the best like supporters, cheerleaders, pump you up kind of people. So I'm a big fan of y'all. So keep it up. Keep up all the good stuff.
Looking Ahead: Avery's VR Impact
00:25:42
Speaker
Well Avery, this has been beyond informing for me and I got a lot of learning to do. I'm excited to do that though.
00:25:49
Speaker
I wanna thank you for hopping on, having a conversation and sharing. Really, you are an expert in this area, and I'm really excited to see not only where you take this within your high school career, but where this takes you in life and what you're gonna do with all of this, because we're gonna definitely need technological leaders like you. So thank you so much for being here and sharing a little bit. Thank you, Megan. No, this was awesome.
00:26:15
Speaker
Thank you again to Avery for sharing his story and experiences with virtual reality. He's definitely one of the smartest people I know, and I'm excited to watch his future unfold. I'm thankful for his knowledge in the VR space, but also for his ability to explain these highly technical concepts and everyday language that most people can understand. He's truly gifted in computer science, and I feel like he's going to invent something that'll change our world for the better. And of course, thank you for tuning into this episode. If you enjoyed this episode,
00:26:42
Speaker
Make sure that you rate, review, and subscribe on your preferred podcast listening platform. We're nearing the mid-season point for season two of hashtag Gen Z, and you don't want to miss out for what's in store. And your reviews and feedback helps me improve the show and helps other listeners find the show. The show is all about learning about and from Generation Z while sharing their stories. So if you have a topic you'd like to learn more about or know of a member of Generation Z that I need to connect with, head over to my website, meganmgrace.com and send me a note.
00:27:12
Speaker
You can also connect with me on social media at Megan M. Grace on Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Thanks again for hanging out. Let's continue this conversation and we'll chat soon.