Looking for an alternative to Google Expeditions?
Looking for an alternative to Google Expeditions?
The Google Expeditions app, offering educational 360 VR tours, will be removed from app stores on the 30th of June 2021. Google have said they will be porting many of their tours to their Arts & Culture app.
Google announced the news in a blog post, and explained that their decision was based around the aim to make tours more accessible to students during the Coronavirus pandemic:
“We’ve heard and recognize that immersive experiences with VR headsets are not always accessible to all learners,” says Jennifer Holland, Google’s director of education program management.
“As Arts & Culture will offer many of the Expeditions tours, we’ll no longer support the Expeditions app.”
With the Arts & Culture app currently only offering 360 experiences, this means that Google will no longer support their own Google Cardboard devices that they created to work alongside the Expeditions app.
Google is also ending support for their Tour Creator tool, which allowed teachers to make their own Virtual Tours using Expeditions.
Although Google have announced that their tours will be transferred to their Arts & Culture app, it’s still unclear how this new setup will work for schools and educators, and there’s expected to be a flurry of teachers looking for alternatives to Google Expeditions.
Are there any alternatives to Google Expeditions?
Not ready to say goodbye to immersive virtual field trips? Fortunately, education supplier Seymour & Lerhn have just the ticket, with a modern learning platform offering interactive and immersive 360 experiences, VR, and AR for primary schools.
With its user-friendly interface and high-quality content, teachers should have no trouble making the switch! The platform aims to unlock the potential that VR has for educating young learners, helping to facilitate further engagement in lessons.
So, how does Seymour & Lerhn compare to Google Expeditions?
Virtual Reality (VR)
What you need:
Any device with a web browser and internet connection
A subscription to Seymour & Lerhn (Sign up for a free trial today!)
Optional: Google Cardboard / Homido Grab / Phone-Based VR Headset
Explore the world, in the past, present, and future with super high-quality virtual tours and 360 experiences exclusive to Seymour & Lerhn.
And it’s not just photography, our talented team of designers build detailed CGI worlds, giving children the chance to visit places not accessible in the real world:
- Pudding Lane: the epicentre of the Great Fire of London
- Tiny garden micro habitats alongside human-sized snails and ants
- A street of Victorian slum housing: explore everywhere from inside the crowded homes to the outside privy!
- The front line trenches of World War One where you can safely peek into No Man’s Land with your virtual periscope
- Fly into space and visit the planets in our solar system
What makes Seymour & Lerhn different to other VR providers? Find out more here!
Everything is accessed through a simple-to-use online platform, allowing teachers to plan exciting and immersive lessons complete with teaching resources even the ability to share with pupils quickly and easily through the My Classroom lesson sharing tool.
Augmented Reality (AR)
What you need:
Any device with a web browser and internet connection
A subscription to Seymour & Lerhn (Sign up for a free trial today!)
Take a deeper dive into topics by bringing objects to life in front of your eyes. From a huge T-Rex to a Victorian camera, there’s something for everyone to discover!
Seymour & Lerhn AR is web-based, which means it works through the platform in the same way as virtual tours – no apps needed.
It EVEN works on laptops, whiteboards, and computers as a 360 model viewer, giving you complete flexibility to plan lessons around what you want to teach, not what tech is available.
Explore the Unexplorable
We’ve worked with experienced teachers to create a library of exciting and educational content which links to the UK KS1 & KS2 National Curriculum and covers multiple subjects including English, Maths, Science, History, and Geography.
- Build an Iron Age Roundhouse
- Experience an air raid in a WW2 Anderson shelter
- Take a rollercoaster ride through the human digestive system
- Visit cities, mountains, and coastlines around the world
Each 360 tour is compatible with most devices including interactive whiteboards, iPads and laptops, as well as with VR headsets such as the Google Cardboard.
Explore for free with a Free Taster subscription, giving you access to a selection of VR and AR – no usage limits and no credit card needed!
If you’re looking for more, the low-cost Teacher plan provides a single front-of-class licence from just £6 per month.
Schools can bring immersive learning to every classroom with 600 seats as standard. The School plan provides full access for teachers and pupils for just £959 per year.
