TAMPA, Fla. — Call it an out-of-this-world teaching tool.
VU Tampa Bay, a state-of-the-art virtual production studio in Tampa's University Mall, has used its Hollywood-level tech to help Jack Daniels, John Deere and Mercedes.
But a recent creation — unveiling, in spectacular Star Wars fashion, the entire solar system on a 100-foot LED screen — was for a very different clientele.
Middle-schoolers at Dayspring Academy in Pasco County.
"We love a challenge," said Daniel Mallek, one of the innovative wizards at VU. "We use all the same technology that's found in virtual reality goggles, but we scale it up to the size of an IMAX screen."
VU was tasked with the planetary dazzle by Scholar Education, a local educational technology startup that piloted a Space Camp program for students at Dayspring.
They needed a wow factor, an informative but spellbinding video that matched what kids were gawking at in the movies and on TV.
"There are so many technology advancements and entertainment at home, but it's not really being done in the classroom," said Scholar Education's Marlee Strawn.
School and space just got a whole lot cooler.
