Creating an Immersive Virtual Reality Representation of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy for use in the Oculus Rift, a Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display

Previous studies have indicated the potential of head-mounted displays such as the Oculus Rift for use as education tools, due to increased immersion and perception of realism within virtual settings compared to standard digital displays such as computer monitors and TVs. 3-dimensional models of architecturally significant areas in the Academy building were modeled using Blender and Google Sketchup, two architectural visualization programs. These areas were programmed into a cohesive walking tour of the building with the development engines Unity and Unreal Engine. A software development kit (SDK) for the second iteration of the developer-only Oculus Rift was used to incorporate head positional tracking, head rotation, and 3-dimensional graphics. We plan on utilizing this demo for outreach purposes by taking the software and the Oculus Rift to under-resourced schools and libraries for students who are unable to visit the Academy in person. We will simultaneously display IMSA to prospective students through an immersive, cutting-edge medium, as well as show some of the technological opportunities available at the Academy such as Virtual Reality. The utility of this program will be assessed with a short survey that users will fill out immediately after the conclusion of their experience within the VR IMSA demo