Abstract:

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have spread into all spheres of life. Their existence has influenced the educational process in all its areas, changed or transformed the current setting of the learning process, which can be observed mainly in the education supported by electronic teaching materials. Traditional methods of education change because educational intuitions gradually take on new dimensions mainly because of modern technologies. The Internet and mobile communication change human life at an early stage as children already come into contact with ICT in kindergartens. Nowadays, virtual reality is coming to the fore and the virtual world is becoming part of the learning process. It can be assumed that the trend of using ICT in the educational process will continue to grow. Currently, the virtual reality is rarely being used in teaching process in Slovakia. Despite the fact that we live in modern times, many schools still do not have modern technologies and we often find only basic computer equipment. More than 80% of primary and secondary schools do not have tablets. There are no virtual laboratories, virtual goggles, and smartphones, etc. This problem is currently being addressed in part by the national project called IT Academy – Education for 21st century. This project responds to the demands of the IT sector to adapt the education system to the current and prospective needs of the labor market. Virtual reality can convey a visual experience to the pupils attracting them to better comprehend the selected topic. Moreover, virtual reality has a great potential, especially, in geography teaching as pupils can use it to teleport to different parts of the world to observe the virtual world from different angles or changing their perspective. In particular, the virtual world offers opportunities for pupils to interact with the virtual world, intensive participation, experience, simulation, role-playing and constructive learning. The aim of the paper is to point out the usability of virtual reality, its availability and accessibility not only for geography teaching. In the paper, we also present 360° videos created in virtual reality for teaching the geography of Slovakia as well as local landscape topics.

Keywords:

Virtual reality, geography, Slovakia, education, ICT.