Education is ripe for the explosion in AR/VR learning

The education industry is more than ready for virtual reality and augmented reality learning. The explosion of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) for practical classroom use and higher ed research have implications for learning that haven’t been seen since the birth of the internet. Engagement with AR/VR, reveal that schools are truly shifting the focus back on students’ passions in learning.

As the world becomes more sophisticated and complex, the use of emerging technologies becomes more and more critical to education. Giving students a familiarity with the concepts and use of technology is one of the most important things a teacher can do.

Here is how Augmented reality and Virtual reality is making that kind of impact on education.

• Through the power of AR, students and educators can understand each other better than ever before. It opens doors to communication and learning that were, until now, firmly shut.
• AR is exciting and new, and nearly everyone who uses it immediately feels the sense that it represents a genuine change in the technological landscape.
• Enabling collaboration between groups of students.
• Students increasingly need grounding in VR and AR in order to learn advanced computer science or other disciplines.

While statistics on VR use in K-­12 schools and colleges have yet to be gathered, the steady growth of the market is reflected in the surge of companies including zSpace, Alchemy VR and Immersive VR Education solely dedicated to providing schools with packaged educational curriculum and content, teacher training and technological tools to support VR­-based instruction in the classroom.

In recent years, many schools have replaced black-boards and two-dimensional images in the text books with smart-boards and technology–enabled curriculum. Leading publishing houses have introduced curriculum to help achieve this goal. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are two such techniques that have gained huge popularity among the schools and educationists, as they have proved to create an interactive and immersive learning experience without using a text book. They facilitate and empower the learners to explore and discover things at one’s own pace, enhancing critical thinking, knowledge building, and increased retention of knowledge.

Conclusion

Revolutionizing the education system with VR and AR could truly be one of the biggest breakthroughs of the 21st century. Instead of students sitting in rows and focusing on the teacher and blackboard, these technologies would make things possible so that everyone involved can collaborate from any where the biggest benefit would be that students would learn by preference, rather than force. It would free the students from the confines of school desks, memorization and exams, and help improve learning through experience and active participation.