PHD student John Muñoz and the designer Sandra Olim give workshops about VR for kids— on the beautiful archipelago of Madeira. We spoke to John about their experience.

John Muñoz, originally from Colombia, does a PHD in human-computer interaction on Madeira, exploring how games can help elderly people with their fitness. In his free time, he gives VR workshops for kids.

How did you, as a Colombian, end up on Madeira?

John: I came here for my PHD. The university has an institute for human-computer interaction, where I help to develop video games for elder people — to make exercise more fun for them but also to optimize it.

The topic sounds quite far from giving workshops about VR for kids.

John: Well, we do use virtual reality for our research. For some things, it’s really helpful: Through the immersion things feel a lot more real.

For example, I used VR last year when I did my course on game design. I created a game in which people can exercise on a stationary bike and, at the same time, feel like they’re steering one of Da Vinci’s flying machines.

That sounds like fun!

John: It was also a lot of fun to create. But at the same time very challenging — even for me, with some programmers on my side. So I kept looking for new tools to make VR simpler.

I am a VR enthusiast. This is mainly something I engage in for fun.

Stationary bikes are boring? Not if you have a VR app that makes you feel like you’re steering Da Vinci’s flying machine! John Muñoz developed this application with some colleagues from University. You can download the Android app here.

How did you get the idea for your workshop?

John: Back in Colombia, I have two little brothers that were always in my room, playing with my technology stuff. Sometimes, just for fun, I did projects with them, like making a game. To show them how to create something with technology — not just be its slave.

I thought about doing programming workshops for kids here on Madeira for quite some time; maybe with Scratch or Makey Makey. However, I never conducted one of these workshops.

Why not?

John: A problem with platforms like Scratch is that the graphics are really antiquated. It looks like nineties technology. But if you want to get the kids’ attention, it’s not that easy. If you do it with the wrong tool, the effect might be contrary: You won’t be introducing them…

… but scaring them off.

John: Exactly. I think virtual reality has great potential for learning because it has good graphics and is very immersive. If you combine it with small elements of programming, it will be educative and a lot of fun at the same time.

That’s why I am really excited about Blockly in CoSpaces. We are looking forward to use it in order include some programming in our next workshops.

Spreading VR enthusiasm: John Muñoz (far left) and Sandra Olim (far right, back row) with participants of their virtual reality workshop.

Can you tell us more about what your workshops look like?

John: We knew from the beginning that we didn’t only want to show one half of the story — which is creating the VR content. We also wanted kids to build their own VR glasses.

So in the first session of the workshop, all the kids made their own cardboard headset, using a template. Then we asked them to paint their headsets — already with the story they were going to create in mind.