GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Andrew Vanden Heuvel is the first non-Google employee to get his hands on the company’s new prototype for a wearable computer, Google Glass. Using the prototype, he taught a class from the tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, an international organization, which operates the world’s largest particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.
His pupils were seated in a classroom at South Christian High School in Grand Rapids. It is the first science class taught from inside the LHC tunnel: “The fact that I was able to share this experience with students, even answering their questions in real-time, is simply mind-blowing,” he said.
Google made a video of his experience, which, to date, has had more than 350,000 views.
Vanden Heuvel, who teaches online astronomy courses at Calvin, is one of 8,000 Google Explorers serving as the test group for the Google Glass prototype. He’s the only Explorer thus far to handle the technology.
Now, back in Grand Rapids, Vanden Heuvel is already busy thinking of ways to incorporate the new prototype into his Calvin classes. One of his strategies is to make hands-free, first-person recordings showing students how to set-up astronomical equipment and experiments.
In 2010, Vanden Heuvel was recognized as Michigan’s Online Teacher of the Year and was a finalist for the national honor.
To learn more about Vanden Heuvel’s work, visit http://agl-initiatives.org/
