Why VR and AR Are the Future of Education

Virtual Reality 1

There are different learning styles such as visual, verbal, auditory, logical, physical, solitary, and social learning. Each student learns in their unique way with any or a combination of these learning styles, as some are more effective for certain people than others.

The teacher already has many roles to play in the lives of the students, such as organizers, controllers, creators, assessors, and prompters. Add this to the fact that most schools are currently overcrowded, and this problem is only on the rise. This makes it very evident that teachers are desperately in need of tools to help them ease the learning process, modernize it, make it more attractive to the student, and make it such that all students with their different learning styles are going to find the lessons beneficial and valuable to them.

This is the role that technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) now play in education. The introduction and implementation of these technologies help educators achieve their goal of easy learning for the students.

Many high schools and colleges have started making the change from the traditional teaching method with these technologies. It is certain that with AR and VR, teaching and learning will no longer be the same in the education sector, and these technologies will revolutionize learning and development in students.

There have been several changes in the education sector in the last few years. However, there has not been any massive change in trend until the introduction of AR and VR.

With these technologies, students are going to enjoy the interactiveness in learning like never before. Also, there are no age limitations to these technologies. So, everyone across all age groups can use it to learn interactively and enjoy the experience. Although it is not in many schools yet, we expect that it will be the norm for teaching across colleges and high schools in the coming years.

Before we go further into how these technologies impact students’ learning and education as a whole, let’s briefly explain both technologies.

VR Games

Augmented Reality

A significant question that is asked around commonly is which of the technologies is better? Which one has more capacity to affect our future? However, according to the specialists of custom writing, both technologies have their advantages and impact education differently.

Augmented Reality relies on the surrounding environment, overlaying its animation on the information it finds around. So, it technically adds to the reality of the user’s environment. A significant benefit of this technology is that it does not require a dedicated device to display. Many other benefits mark VR out as one of the mainstream technologies of the new industrial revolution.

AR provides the students with a meaningful and interactive experience through smart devices by projecting the computer-generated content over the surroundings.

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality, unlike Augmented Reality, exists within a completely artificial environment. Therefore, developing a Virtual Reality app requires the developer to establish an environment before building the animation around it. Although it is called Virtual Reality, it feels more real than AR. However, one downside to this technology is that it requires a dedicated VR headset before any application can run.

In education, VR gives the student a real immersive experience by creating a digital learning environment that is 360 degrees and consists of computer-generated content.

How AR and VR are Changing the Education Sector

These are some ways that Mixed Reality (combination of AR and VR) is changing the education sector for students and teachers alike.

  • Eliminates language barrier

School, significantly higher education, is a multicultural society, and a significant challenge that students can face in this environment is caused by language differences. Some students may not understand the materials given to them or have issues with their assignments due to language problems, which will ultimately affect their academic performance.

However, a feature that can be built into the VR software is language translation. This will give all the students the ability to experience immersive and interactive learning with VR in any language of their choice. This will eliminate the language barrier and other difficulties from learning or studying in a foreign language.

  • Improves learning process and makes it easier

Averagely, a student only tends to remember 20% of the things they see and 30% of what they hear in the traditional classroom. This is because the teacher uses only auditory materials and images. Most times, these students only understand as much as they can from the explanations and pictures, especially with complex subjects, theories, and concepts.

The reason for this is that; even though they are seeing what you are explaining in the image the teacher is showing, the visualization is up to them. They also have to create their perception of it within their minds.

However, AR and VR allow them to easily explore the different angles and realities of what they are learning. So, they are not just reading, hearing, and staring at a 2d picture; they are experiencing it and are learning the material through their experience. Some statistics confirm the claim that students tend to remember 90% of things they learn through experience. This further proves how AR and VR are making learning better.

VR

  • Contribute to inclusivity

These technologies may also add to the effort to create more inclusiveness within classrooms because of their benefits to students with different disabilities. There are models of these technologies designed specifically for different disabilities. So they enable the student to regulate the device, blend in with their classmate, and not get left behind or feel left out.

For example, VR Augmented Aid has several applications, such as adding audio commentary, altering text sizes, and manipulating contrasts to help students according to their special needs to take part in the class. Another example is SignAloud gloves that use VR and allow the student to pass a message in the sign language that translates to a human speech.

  • Engages students and revitalize their interests

Gamification of the education sector with the help of AR can make the attitudes of students more positive. According to the latest reviews of the best disertation writing service, learning becomes more fun, exciting, and effortless for the students, and it also improves their capabilities and collaboration. It also provides a massive opportunity for the classes to be less tiring as it infuses unmatched interactivity through its computer-generated environment. eLearning often involves students within an enhanced environment to help them see the concepts as it happens. This engages the students more and increases their interest. To create this type of application, companies have to hire developers that are adept in AR development.

  • Improves student outcomes

The combination of VR and AR technologies in learning improves the outcomes of students, according to a study. Students who used mixed Reality during the biology classes scored higher than the other students during the study. This further proves that the combination of these technologies impacts and improves students’ recall abilities and memory retention. The same study also claims that using VR alone improves the students’ memory, but it is not as effective as the combination with AR. Being able to leverage these technologies is a growing trend in education and will continue to evolve.

Conclusion 

There are several benefits and advantages that AR and VR bring into the education sector. As these technologies continue to grow and evolve, they will have more use in education. The potential of these technologies in education is excellent, and they are the future of education.

 


About the author:

Tiffany Harper is a training guru who’s been working in the corporate sector as a technology expert for several years now. She is a management graduate and loves to share her experience through blogs and expert articles with assignment writing services. For her love of writing, she provided online consultations for research paper writing services uk while working with Aussiessay. Please do not hesitate to contact her on LinkedIn.

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