Is Virtual And Augmented Reality The Future Of Learning?

Augmented and Virtual Reality: The Future of Learning Experiences

February 24, 2018 - Steven Wesley

Traditional educational activity systems have been implementing the same learning models for decades. Today, teachers are standing in front end of their students simply like they did a hundred years ago. Education is one of the few branches of piece of work that has non experienced substantial change in the 21st century.

Notwithstanding, this is going to change with the emergence of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). According to a recent survey, almost 70% of parents already think that AR tin drastically ameliorate instruction systems. Teachers too believe that new technologies can modify and raise the learning feel equally we know it today.

For instance, VR can be accessed through specially-designed goggles that project an interactive world to the viewer, which could transform classical schools and the education system as a whole.

VR classroom with a teacher and students

How volition kids react to such enormous changes? What practice teachers think about information technology? How about parents? Is it going to jeopardize work positions or slow down the socialization of future students? What about technical requirements of AR and VR classrooms?

There are plenty of questions to respond and a thorough analysis of this technology is needed. In this article, we explain why AR and VR stand for the future of learning experiences.

The definition of augmented and virtual reality

By definition, VR is the term used to describe a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person.

That person becomes office of this virtual earth or is immersed in this environment and whilst at that place, is able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions to make up one's mind what happens in the environment. VR engineering science relies mostly on headsets, also known equally goggles.

On the other hand, AR is an enhanced version of reality where live straight or indirect views of physical real-world environments are augmented with superimposed computer-generated images over a user's view of the real world, thus enhancing one's current perception of reality.

To put it simply, users encounter layers of digital data covering existent world images, which improves their overall experience of reality. The most common versions of AR are these:

Location-based AR: This system provides users with additional information based on his or her geolocation. It has an incredible awarding potential in automobile manufacture and transportation in full general.
Projection-based AR: In this case, AR software sends lite to the concrete object to create an interactive dashboard in the real-time surroundings.
Superimposition-based AR: This blazon of AR allows users to completely or partially replace the bodily image, calculation new elements to the viewpoint. It's perfect for the mode manufacture, architecture, and design.

Helen Hilton, the leading IT specialist at Best Dissertation, gave us additional explanations: "The AR model you cull depends mostly on the nature of your business organization. If you develop and sell gaming apps, you will probably stick to VR headsets. On the other hand, graphic designers volition utilise superimposition to create better images and 3D projections. Simply the number of possibilities is literally countless and depends only on your own creativity".

With so many ways to exploit AR and VR, information technology is no wonder that the new technology influences all sorts of industries, from healthcare and sports to existent estate and recruitment.

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AR and VR: The current state of affairs

Numerous studies prove that the VR and AR industry is on the rise. The potential in this field is enormous and companies are investing millions just to get a pes in the door. The technology will play an essential role in the virtually future:

The augmented and virtual reality market is expected to accomplish a market size of $215 billion inside three years. Facebook, Google, and many other tech titans are obsessed with this niche and they won't stop investing anytime shortly.
Due to the unstoppable progress, the number of VR and AR users will surpass 1 billion by 2020. This means that virtual users will be dispersed globally through all sorts of niches.
Worldwide shipment of smart augmented reality glasses is forecast to reach effectually 5.4 one thousand thousand units by 2020. It'south a simple but very practical gadget, which makes the product more popular each solar day.
Sales of the virtual head-mounted displays should grow from 200 000 to 40 million in five years. This figure solitary reveals the overwhelming power of VR technology and its bewitchery for the global audiences.
It seems like VR is getting cheaper and more accessible each twenty-four hours. Back in 2014, Google launched Cardboard, a kit for creating your own headset. It fits over an Android telephone screen and works with whatsoever software that has been made with the Cardboard SDK. You tin can buy i for $10.
At that place are more than 190 different VR headsets currently available on Amazon and their number keeps increasing.
Around 41% of survey respondents stated that, in their opinion, VR headsets are likely to be used in the field of pedagogy very soon.

Closed and open learning systems

Technology-based educational activity promotes personalized learning as a fashion of getting the best out of each student. It offers a customized learning experience, assuasive pupils to study at their own pace. Using AR or VR gadgets, everyone can take lessons both in and out of school, which is an fantabulous solution for kids who don't accept enough patience to follow the pace of their classmates.

In terms of teaching methodology, we can distinguish betwixt two different systems – closed and open up learning. One arrangement is based on VR headsets, while the other relies on AR solutions. Let'due south talk over the essentials of both methodologies.

AR classroom with a student learning about a tiger

Airtight learning arrangement

A closed learning organization uses VR headsets as the mean of studying. The logic is unproblematic: students put on their headsets and enjoy interactive 3D lessons on their ain. We call this didactics method closed because information technology isolates the subject from external influences, putting emphasis on individual work.

Such a system has numerous advantages but also a few setbacks. We will go through its nigh important features:

Focus on ane subject: VR headsets completely overwhelm students and forcefulness them to concentrate on i subject field of studying 100%. This is great because kids don't lose attention and recall most of the data immediately.
Connects theory and practice: VR engineering enables young learners to see or feel everything they've read about in theory. For example, they can watch how cells divide or atoms split, which sounds almost unimaginable even today.
Gamification elements: Children learn well while playing, which makes VR equipment the nearly agreeable studying tool in the history of instruction.
Alienation: If students spend a lot of time learning through VR headsets, they will forget that interpersonal advice is 1 of the cornerstones of successful education. Schools don't only teach kids math and languages but also prepare them for existent life experiences and human being interaction.
VR takes over control: What is the role of a teacher if pupils can consume VR content all day long? Professors are still the ones who should assess and evaluate the cognition and personalities of their students, while headsets should remain but an musical instrument of studying.
Limits decision making: In a closed learning system, students follow the path predetermined by the developer. They tin rarely get outside already established patterns, ask questions, and initiate real-time discussions with classmates. This is not proficient because the whole purpose of education is to form rational and costless-thinking individuals.

Open learning organisation

An open learning organisation is based on context-driven algorithms, using AR engineering equally the tool to support and ameliorate everyday studying. Such applied science is able to collect external data coming from teachers, peers, and individual users. Doing and so, AR keeps improving the learning processes and adapts so as to fit the requirements of each child individually.

AR adds value to the courses because it recognizes when it is time to prove contextual data related to the studying subject. For instance, AR tools tin add layers of digital data to give further explanations almost the formula a math teacher wrote on the blackboard. This mode, kids who didn't pay attention or couldn't figure out everything at once tin can go dorsum and reconsider an unabridged mathematical expression.

Just AR has another purpose and that is to collect and analyze data about the progress of every student, sending valuable reports to teachers, psychologists, counselors, and career advisers. At the same time, AR applied science can design a quick test or quiz to keep an eye on the overall level of knowledge in the classroom.

In case teachers want to adapt the program for some students, they can give input to the AR system to increase or decrease difficulty. This will help weaker pupils to learn as much as possible or allow excellent kids to larn even more and fulfill intellectual potential.

Nonetheless, teachers are not the only ones who can requite feedback. On the contrary, students can also express their opinions and say when the pace is also fast or too dull, requesting adjustments to the class. Since we've discussed the traits of the closed learning system, we'll now encompass the benefits of the AR-based methodology:

Studying support: Unlike VR headsets, open systems do not take full control over teaching procedure. Instead, AR helps both the teachers and young learners to study more than productively by displaying a variety of contextual information whenever necessary.
Boosts interaction: If VR applied science is isolating users, AR is doing exactly the reverse. The system actually boosts interaction because it allows all kids to engage and make comments nearly the current topic of interest.
No command loss: Even if schools take AR applied science, it will not diminish teachers' function in any mode. They get to stay in accuse and brand all important decisions, while digital projections of course-related information can only make the learning process more interesting and highly-seasoned.
Feedback tin exist wrong: We mentioned that AR devices should also collect information from teachers, counselors, and students. This could sometimes cause a little defoliation because no one can brand certain that all participants will ever give correct and reliable information. This is a small concern but definitely not plenty to make you worry near the efficiency of AR in education systems.

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Real life examples of AR and VR usage in the classroom environment

The practical value of AR or VR in the learning experience means nothing without examples. Everyone should empathise how new technologies will help teachers to share knowledge with their students more productively.

VR classroom lecture in the Engage VR application

A virtual lecture in the Engage VR awarding. Students from around the world tin attend and larn together.

Below you lot will observe a listing of fields and the respective examples of AR and VR usage in the classroom surroundings.

Healthcare: Not so long ago, the only way to acquire how healthcare works was to join the game in existent life and become an apprentice in the local infirmary. Today, it is possible to accept function in virtual surgeries and other medical treatments to earn valuable experience without hurting anyone. Thanks to VR and AR applied science, healthcare learning is gradually becoming much safer and faster.
Chemistry: Children can hardly retrieve of anything more than abrasive than mind-boggling lessons about molecules and subatomic interactions. In the age of augmented and virtual learning, things volition change quickly. Kids volition go the opportunity to comport experiments on their own, mix substances, and learn about chemistry through first-mitt experiences. This is not only safer but besides cheaper than traditional laboratory experiments because schools won't have to pay for diverse chemical substances anymore.
History and Geography: Students often enjoy stories about ancient Greece, Egypt, or Mesopotamia but it's hard to learn and memorize and then much information about people, things, and events substantially unlike than those we know today. However, if you add a little bit of AR magic to history and geography lessons, it will be interesting even for the about demanding pupils in the group. Virtual field trips require less time than traditional field trips - usually 30 minutes to an hour. They as well need less planning and less money. Just endeavor to remember how an average high school kid would feel visiting the Bang-up Wall of China from his classroom in Boston, Massachusetts. Amazing, right?
Physics: Information technology'southward important to teach kids classical mechanics and Newton'due south law of movement, merely what if you could give them a chance to put theory into practice in the VR surround? If you teach almost astronomy, light years, and faraway galaxies, why don't you take kids to interstellar journeys? This may sound like a scientific discipline-fiction scenario simply it's not far away from becoming a reality. AR engineering science tin can brand it happen in a thing of years, so our kids will definitely experience more impressive studying methods than us.
Manual piece of work: Manufacturing involves some serious tools and heavy machinery, which is not really practical for the traditional classroom environment. Using VR headsets, you tin let children drive trucks, drill holes, or build homes without being agape that someone will get injured in the procedure. The same goes for firefighting missions, declension guard activities, and a broad variety of similar jobs.
Fine art and Culture: There is a mobile app called Prisma that transforms photos and videos into works of art using the styles of famous artists such as Edvard Munch, Vincent Van Gogh, or Pablo Picasso. It's a perfect example of how superimposition-based AR can stimulate people to play and simultaneously learn about the history of art and culture. With VR goggles, you tin can too attend a ballet, opera plays, concerts, and other events remotely to go the notion of current cultural trends. Even more, you tin can well-nigh go back in time to watch the original Shakespeare play in the 16th century London - there are no limits for new technologies in education.
Languages: The easiest linguistic communication learning method is going away and talking to native speakers. So far, this type of studying was the privilege of individuals coming from wealthy families simply fifty-fifty they couldn't spend too much fourth dimension abroad. Tomorrow, everyone will have the opportunity to 'visit' French republic or Nippon and larn foreign languages and local cultures on site.

The list of potential applications of AR and VR in education cannot be reduced only to these vii fields of interest. On the reverse, there are many more things and subjects to consider in that regard only nosotros only wanted to give you the first impression.

We will, however, add an extra note here – AR and VR can be used to blueprint a virtual classroom with students from all over the world. This classroom could welcome the most respectable lecturers, elevating long-distance learning to the whole new level. Nosotros are however far away from making it happen on a regular basis just the idea itself sounds incredible.

Pros and cons of AR and VR driven learning

Nosotros take so far defined virtual and augmented realities, saw the current state of diplomacy in this field, explained the mechanisms backside both models, and discussed some of their basic applications in education. Let's now give a final overview and reveal pros and cons of using these technologies in modern classrooms.

VR classroom with solar system and student

Pros

Testing: We mentioned already a few great examples of AR grooming, medical surgeries included. Students can exercise as much as they desire and keep repeating until they are 100% sure about how to perform the chore. Education will produce high-quality workers, while the number of human errors will be reduced.
Interaction: AR learning doesn't but help pupils to report. Information technology gives them the opportunity to engage, too. With then much contextual information displayed effectually the classroom, it is getting easier to follow lectures, understand complex themes, and speak your heed about it all.
Learn anywhere, anytime: Long distance learning is non a new thing simply AR and VR have taken it 1 step further. Tomorrow's students will be able to attend virtual classes and online courses from the comfort of their homes. They besides become to choose the timing, setting the studying pace that fits a specific daily schedule. All this makes the future learning experience cheaper, faster, and more productive.
Career choices: In the age of virtual reality, each high school kid will go the opportunity to examination diverse industries and decide what seems to be the ideal career for him or her. Making a career choice volition not be as stressful every bit it used to be and students will brand less wrong decisions along the fashion.
Gamification: Gamification elements increment engagement rates in classrooms, stimulating kids to participate in practical tasks and the corresponding debates. Studying through games already proved to enhance children'south learning capabilities just the results are expected to be fifty-fifty ameliorate with the aid from AR and VR tools.
Variety: VR and AR allow personalized learning but they also enable students to choose from a wide multifariousness of courses. They don't necessarily have to selection the existing courses in any given school since in that location is a bunch of credible online classes that can suit certain pupils more than traditional courses.

Cons

Isolation: Learning based on VR goggles tin alienate students and reduce interpersonal communication among peers. For this reason, information technology is better to utilize headsets occasionally as part of the learning experience, rather than using it for the whole day.
No control: New applied science enables teachers to share knowledge with their pupils much quicker and more than efficiently. However, tools based on bogus intelligence are getting smarter each day and there is a danger they could make professors experience unwanted or obsolete. Of course, this is not the problem at the moment but VR and AR are evolving quickly and information technology could happen relatively soon – possibly in 10 or 15 years.
Subject area: Equally students will go the possibility to learn anywhere and anytime, it could reveal the trouble of cocky-discipline. Namely, it is difficult to force kids to study even with the aid of the most advanced Information technology tools. Teachers volition have to pay special attention to this upshot and control the learning process continuously.
Affluence: Modern pupils will learn things faster using AR or VR gadgets just they will receive and memorize much more information than today'southward kids. With such an abundance of learning materials, information technology will be important to leave enough time for real life unplugged communication.
Accreditation: Education systems are changing very slowly and it will take a long fourth dimension before schools, systems, and unabridged countries begin accepting the benefits of AR technology in everyday instruction practice.

Students socialising in VR

Social VR will play an important function in reducing educatee isolation while in a VR headset. Screenshot from BigScreen VR application.

VR/AR may accept some downsides, all the same there are so many features that make this technologies bonny - at that place is no reason not to start gradually involving and trialing them in education systems. The process will be slow and probably painful on some occasions but information technology will bring incredible benefits to the educational organisation in the long run.

Conclusion

Didactics systems traditionally refused to take technological changes and most of them still rely exclusively on the 'teacher in front end of the kids' strategy. However, the fourth dimension has come up to comprehend new pedagogy models, where virtual and augmented reality can play an important role.

Using AR tools or VR headsets, students volition be able to experience learning in a completely new way. They tin organize virtual field trips, visit historical places, conduct experiments, and test a wide range of devices. VR and AR technologies add together gamification elements to classical education, making the whole procedure more appealing and engaging.

At the aforementioned time, learning becomes more inclusive, accessible, and affordable. Shortly enough, AR gadgets will be so cheap that well-nigh everyone can utilize them on a daily basis. Only at that place are likewise a few side effects too.

As well much of VR tin can isolate pupils and affect their socialization with other children. Additionally, professors will at least partly lose command over the teaching process. The applied science withal needs to acquire accreditation from state government to become fully operational.

However, all these obstacles cannot change the fact that AR and VR volition play an of import role in the future of learning.

About the writer

Steven Wesley is a creative writer and ESL instructor. He is interested in public relations, tech and educational bug. Besides, Steve believes in the mighty power of the pen to modify the modern world. Experience gratis to drib him a line on Twitter and Facebook!