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Virtual reality opening up new job possibilities

It’s like exploring a whole new dimension, or building a new world on your own. Virtual reality is looking less and less like science fiction and more lik...

It's like exploring a whole new dimension, or building a new world on your own.

Virtual reality is looking less and less like science fiction and more like a fresh new tool.

"We used to struggle with it, but now I think it has arrived," I.T Coordinator Lori Walljasper said.

Students in the I.T program at Scott Community College now have some of the latest virtual reality gear at their fingertips.

A pen and some glasses can help build the perfect engine, a suit can help create a 3-D model to help with your golf swing, and the Oculus Rift can give you a virtual tour of a building so real, you think you're actually there.

"They can make it in 3-D, they can project it in 3-D, they can use it in 3-D and actually make their product better," student Uriah Brock said.

Things like the Oculus Rift may look like games on the surface, but it's a way to transform technology and job creation into a whole new world.

It's a pitch they're hoping pays off.

"We can work with companies, maybe in their training department," Walljasper said.

If businesses have a use for 3-D models and virtual reality, these students will have jobs ready-made when they graduate.

"We're going to try and teach our classes around that so that we can have real hands-on experience that someone can actually have a job with," Brock said.

It's jobs that a younger generation can jump into when they're older, and it's a new reality based in a virtual world.

The Virtual Reality Lab in Davenport is also designed to offer inspiration for student programmers who want to enter the workforce and create their own products.

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