Three VR stations were on a stage at the library’s 4th floor Giglab. Students had plenty of room to move and gesture while seated. The classroom-deployable VR experience was developed during prior NSF-funded work on teacher-guided educational VR.

The Kvasir-VR demo was available to the library’s patrons and staff in the 4th Floor’s Giglab from June 27th to July 3rd for 8 hours a day. They all gave helpful feedback on the learning environment, and we were able to collect some preliminary data.

Here are some of the main highlights from our visit:

• On June 27th, we met with educators from Hamilton County schools. The teachers are interested in deploying VR in their classrooms and sought our input on logistics and course topics.
• On June 28th, we welcomed our first groups of students from the day’s library patrons.
• On June 29th, we joined with a Machine Learning summer camp and led their students through a virtual tour.
• On July 2nd, we also tested standalone version of Kvasir-VR on the library’s VR PC with an HTC Vive. The experience was on par with our VR stations, and we plan to provide an updated permanent demo for their patrons on the 4th Floor.
• On July 3rd, just as we were about to pack everything to leave, a rush of two groups arrived at the end of the day, helping us to end on a high note.

A deep thank you to all of the staff and patrons at the Downtown Chattanooga Library for their hospitality, assistance, and participation during our visit. Including: Rob Wichtman, Meredith Levine, and Kristen O’Connor (Chattanooga Public Library); and Geoff Millener (Enterprise Center).

Teachers from Hamilton County Schools seeing Kvasir-VR used in an educational setting.

A student from Chattanooga learning how water is chilled and re-circulated in a cooling tower.