Creative VR can transport users to the Arctic, outer space or seashore and wander, as an avatar, around a series of themed galleries to view information on VDUs.

The software is generic and up to five different forms of information (image, audio, webpage, document & video) can be attached to each of the 36 VDUs scattered around the five galleries. Each gallery is linked and the textures of the walls, floors and ceilings changed to reflect themes. For example you could walk into a gallery find out about Henry VIII's wives, habitats or world weather.

Visiting schools make a VR project based on their own theme; with 36 VDUs there are sufficient for each child to take ownership of a topic. During the visit each child creates a webpage, records a piece of voice-over and finds a suitable image to be displayed on their VDU. At the end of the session pupils can immerse themselves within their project and walk around the galleries to view their work. The finished project can be exported into a format that can be viewed back at school without the software.

Creative VR covers a range of ICT skills and is a great way of combining lots of information about almost any subject. It has been used to assemble collections of images and poems (as webpages and voice-overs) as part of an ‘Old Masters, Young Poets‘ topic; as a verbal appraisal of public opinion on paintings in the National Portrait Gallery; and as a revision aid about body systems.