Influencing the Future of Education with AR/VR

We often hear parents talking about getting ahead of their game to keep up with their technology-savvy kids. It’s because they feel they should learn certain things to talk to their children and influence them. 

Likewise, teachers try hard to make their teaching lessons interactive, exciting, and engaging. The teachers do that so that they are well-received by their students. 

Generation Y was easier. They have grown up seeing technology transitions. But, on the other hand, Generation Z has taken birth in the lap of technology, while generation alpha has been talking about technology since infancy!

This is the age of augmented reality and virtual reality. We are all over the notion of building a super Ed-Tech system that breaks the ordinary. Our parents learned from books, we learned from e-books, pdfs, and now kids learn from an environment that blends the virtual world with the real world.

What is Augmented Reality Vs. Virtual Reality

It is a phenomenon where the imagination or elements pop out to the real world and give a real-life experience to an individual.

Source: Google

Like a fish can be seen in a person’s garden through digital technology by overlaying the fish(digital world) onto the person’s garden(real world). Likewise, virtual reality can be experienced by putting a VR device on the eyes.

Virtual reality is the concept of incorporating oneself into a digital world. It is a virtual world far away from reality. Augmented reality is reality going one step further, while virtual reality is a step into a different world.

How AR/VR can affect Education

Research shows that the Ed-tech industry is growing annually by approximately 18%.

This means that people are thinking about education in ways that could only have been expected almost a decade ago. 

Learning about the human body through an augmented human body structure that can be seen from all sides is way more interesting than learning from a 2-D image in a book. Every body part can be extracted, magnified, and understood precisely.

Students in a design class can see which decor piece can look good in a particular corner by superimposing different digital decor pieces in a real corner on a digital device.

Bringing computer-generated graphics into reality can give students a real yet highly immersive experience. In fact, it can break their effort to imagine how something would look.

Virtual reality can take learning to another level. It can prevent the effort to go anywhere and learn simply through an eye-wear device.

Virtual reality does not bring a fish out of the ocean into our garden like augmented reality. Instead, it takes the person into the sea to see all the fish.

The extent of technology can go so far; we could only imagine it as kids. AR/VR can help students in a small town see the world virtually without going anywhere.

Why AR/VR is the answer to teaching the Next-Gen

Attention span is already compromised. Students can focus less on the text and carry shorter spans on visuals. AR/VR makes learning more colorful and closer to reality. Students like to learn through experiences rather than memorization. 

They would love to see how a man used to walk in the early days and write perfect answers on tests. On the other hand, they would detest learning how an early man looked and then describing it in detail. 

Visual memory is considered better and longer than verbal memory. So, for the students, especially the Gen alpha, AR/VR is one of the best ways to teach.

Tools for students to incorporate AR/VR in their learning

Students can choose from various tools from the digital libraries that can help them get an immersive experience in education. 

Apps like Quiver help students color objects and see object animation. Tools like Arloon Chemistry help to arrange and rearrange the molecules to understand chemical reactions and formulae.

Certain apps can induce an augmented reality experience for students, like the Blippar app. This app allows students to bring an object in a picture alive digitally. 

Medical students can benefit from HoloAnatomy, the application that helps to learn medical circumstances through AR simulation. It allows the students to understand the human body in depth with the visual experience.

Investment in AR/VR

There are specific free tools that students can conveniently use in their classes. However, some devices come with costs, and every student might be unable to afford these apps. However, a school might be able to invest in some of these AR applications, which enhance the learning and teaching experience. Schools can think of this as an investment. A teacher’s job would become less complicated as it would become more accessible for teachers to explain concepts to students and have all their attention.

It would only come to reason when the school districts and the administration care to unleash the power of technology and make it accessible to students to improve teaching methods.