Virtual and Augmented Reality

Understand the use of virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

Areas of use: entertainment, leisure and the media (tourism, games, museums), architecture, business (marketing, service and planned maintenance), education (e.g. textbooks, skills development, remote collaboration), health care and surgery (training, simulations), military (training, simulations), sport (live streaming of scores and other statistics, sponsorship images).

Potential impacts: visualisation of designs, simulations, training, demonstrations of concepts, virtual tours.

Future uses: possible developments of virtual and augmented reality and how these may impact on society (e.g. gaming, advances in treating injuries or disease, leisure activities, the environment, the home and education).

Assessment Criteria

• 1.1

  Explain the role of VR and AR technology.

• 1.2

  Evaluate future uses of VR and AR technology and its current and potential impact on society.

Understand the features, functions and components of VR and AR.

Technologies: hardware, processor, display (e.g. handheld device, head mounted display, eyeglasses, head up display), sound (e.g. speakers, headphones), sensors (e.g. optical, accelerometer, GPS, compass, RFID), input devices (e.g. camera, microphone).

Software, range of products available, features of the software, image registration, Augmented Reality Mark-up Language.

Assessment Criteria

• 2.1

  Explain the hardware components required for VR and AR.

• 2.2

  Describe the software used for the development of VR and AR.

• 2.3

  Analyse the technological functions of VR and AR.

Be able to design, develop and evaluate a VR or AR prototype.

Design: aims of the product (e.g. intended outcome, success criteria, information to be delivered, where the product is to be used), financial plan, quality plan, target audience (e.g. age, gender, income), nature of the product (e.g. single user product, multiuser product), content including resource plan, design tools (e.g. storyboarding, mind mapping, mood boards), trigger image(s) and the stage(s) that follow on from the trigger being accessed, hardware and software requirements.

Develop: create the trigger point of interest, create the layer(s)/overlay(s).

Testing: create a test plan, testing during development, end user testing, review against original success criteria.

Evaluation: identified suitable success criteria, has the project deviated from the original scope, deviated from the budget as defined in the financial plan, has the project delivered business benefits identified in the business case, achieved the objectives in the terms of reference, deviated from forecast resource levels as per the resource plan, conformed to the management process as per the execution phase, identify potential improvements.

Assessment Criteria

• 3.1

  Design a VR or AR prototype.

• 3.2

  Develop a VR or AR prototype and show the stages of development.

• 3.3

  Test, refine and evaluate a VR or AR prototype.