Brent Start

Virtual reality headsets help Brent Start, an adult education initiative, modernise teaching and learning by providing immersive real-life experiences.

Brent Start is an adult education initiative provided by Brent Council based in Stonebridge, London. The initiative provides a wide range of learning opportunities to local students from varied backgrounds to gain new skills and knowledge. This allows them to gain confidence to progress further with their education goals. The short courses provided by Brent Start range from arts and crafts to Maths, English, wellbeing and childcare.

The Challenge

Brent Start approached Croft to source suitable and reasonably priced Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) equipment to help them form an alternative learning initiative for ESOL literacy learners.

The new VR and AR equipment would help them to deliver a range of role play language-based scenarios through VR simulations, facilitated by a tutor during class time.

As one of London’s largest adult learning suppliers, Brent Start wanted to show their commitment to the digital skills strategy by launching a new ground-breaking facility ‘The Virtual Pod’. This new classroom would allow students to experience learning in a new and innovative way through VR and AR technology. They also required the equipment to be portable to allow for the delivery of adult education in community locations in and around the borough.

The Solution

To help them bring teaching and learning into the 21st century Brent Start were looking for a supplier with experience of providing VR and AR technology solutions for educational environments. This is where Croft was happy to step in. We worked with them from the initial assessment of their requirements to the procurement of the most suitable VR and AR equipment for their budget. Our expert knowledge helped them to realise what possibilities VR and AR could really offer both their teachers and learners. Once we fully understood the requirements of Brent Start’s project, we were able to advise on the most suitable VR and AR technology.

VR Headsets

Our recommended VR headsets offered an all-in-one solution with a truly immersive VR and AR experience and were robust enough to handle everyday use in an educational environment. The headsets provided are easy to manage with teacher-led simple web controls with access to over 500 VR and AR activities. Setup wasn’t a worry with full installation, classroom support and CPD provided.

36 Bay Charging Trolley

With the headsets chosen Brent Start needed a safe and secure way to store, charge and clean them while not in use. Our preferred mobile storage solution is specifically designed to safely store, clean and charge up to 36 Virtual Reality headsets. This revolutionary unit boasts a sanitising feature UVr™. Headsets are placed in the unit and are exposed to a continuous stream of antimicrobial Ultra Violet light, which helps reduce the formation of a wide range of bacterial and fungal pathogens, keeping the headsets clean and ready for shared use.

Mobile Site Charging Boxes

Brent Start required the VR headsets to be portable for shared use in the wider community. This meant they needed an additional storage and charging solution that was robust enough to allow safe and easy transportation of the equipment. We recommended a Mobile Site Charging Box especially designed to offer secure charging within a protective unit that can take the rough and tumble demands of transportation to different locations.

Croft made the possibilities of using Virtual reality in the classroom real! Through their expert knowledge we were able to really imagine how our teaching staff could use new ways of teaching and learning to fully engage learners.

Raymond Logue,

Brent Start MIS and Funding Strategy Manager

The Results

The Virtual Pod and its outreach classes were successfully launched by Brent Start on the 13th February 2019. It has offered learners an amazing opportunity to learn through the ability to be in any scene anywhere in the world, learning through real life experience.

Brent Start hopes to utilise the equipment further through AR to continue to deliver their extensive curriculum.