I think Virtual Reality will prove to be wonderful -- one of these days, when (a) good curriculum software is available, (b) high quality systems like the Microsoft's Hololens are more affordable and (b) they are used purposefully.

I had a look at a VR "solution" a few years ago. It was to teach maths, and involved picking up a virtual ruler and measuring a virtual table.

At this year's Bett show I spent 15 minutes doing a virtual chemistry experiment, in which I learnt one thing: if you add water to hydrochloric acid there's a big eruption, whereas if you add hydrochloric acid to water, there isn't.

So what? What sort of person goes around adding hydrochloric acid to stuff anyway? Why did it happen (or not)? Why is it useful for me to know? Why did I spend 15 minutes finding that out when someone could have told me, or I could have watched a 30 second video about it on YouTube:

My advice? Wait till VR hardware and software are much better before wasting time and money on it, although I do think it’s worth exploring apps and other low-cost solutions.

This article first appeared in the Digital Education newsletter.

Is The computing Curriculum Too Masculine? Revisited 16 years later!

One of the apparently insoluble problems of the age is how do you encourage more girls to take up Computing? I think a lot can be done, and have done so myself, but I wonder how far a lot of the effort fails to get to the heart of the issue, which could be the curriculum itself, the way it is taught, or a combination of the two?