360 – in 360
Journalism students focus on virtual reality and 360-degree video, which allows viewers to rotate the screen to experience a location from all angles.
As journalism and media shift to adopt virtual reality and 360-degree video, Carolina’s Steven King wants to make sure his students are ready to lead the way.
“It’s pretty much just-in-time learning,” said King, assistant professor of Interactive and Multimedia at the UNC School of Media and Journalism. “We are figuring this out, teaching it in class and the students are executing it. And the students are teaching me.”
This is the first semester MEJO 660 (“Mobile Application Design and Development”) has focused on virtual reality and 360-degree video, which allow viewers rotate the screen to experience a location from all angles (try it with the video that accompanies this story, using Google Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer). There are 28 students in the class, including Madison Walls, a junior from Charlotte.
“When I have to describe this class, I have to describe it so much because no one else has done it, and no one else has heard of it,” Walls said. “I think it’s great that I’m doing something that so few people get the chance and opportunity to do.”
The students are focusing much of their effort on group projects that showcase the skills they’ve picked up in creating immersive virtual environments and shooting and editing 360-degree videos, among other things. King hopes the work he and his students do makes an impact far beyond the classroom in Chapel Hill.
“At UNC, we want to be on the cutting edge and leading the industry,” King said. “It’s important that our students not only have skills to work in these new technologies, but they can learn stuff here and then take that in to the newsroom.”
Click and drag with your mouse or move your mobile device to experience this video in a full 360-degree view. You’ll also need to use Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer to enable 360 video features.
