VR & AR Proving to be the Next Best Tool in Education’s E-Learning Arsenal
The demand for VR & AR technologies is at an all-time high.
Schools around the globe have seen serious shifts in the learning model over the past couple of years. Many classrooms have been forced to go all virtual and even upon return learning looks different, especially for K-12 institutions. Increasing demand for VR & AR technology in the gaming industry has actually driven traction in the education space as well as teachers and companies across the world introduce these digital tools as a learning mechanism with their students.
Ron Stefanski, host of the DisruptEd Podcast, believes VR is here to stay as a learning tool since it’s seeing so much promise with students.
“First and foremost, during the pandemic, we watched learning loss reach unprecedented heights, and students lost out a lot during Covid in terms of their learning. One of the saving graces of course was technology. Technology helps students stay on pace and to keep up with their learning when they couldn’t go into a physical classroom.
And now we look at other innovations in the world of tech and how they can actually change the way students are learning. And VR represents one of those technologies that’s going to have unprecedented impact on the way we learn and the way we teach. Citing a recent example from a small startup in Austin, Texas, Interplay Learning, they’re using VR to teach people skilled trades.
And so they’ve created a whole curriculum using virtual reality, simulations, video, and text to teach people how to work in the HVAC industry, how to work as an electrician, and these are powerful tools that can help people with their hand-to-eye coordination, that can help them in settings where you may not be able to have a tech or an expert or a teacher on site.
And virtual reality really helps and assists that student or that professional in learning how to do something very specific to add to their skills repertoire. So, I think we’re going to see a lot more VR in the classroom in the months and years ahead.”