Virtual Reality (VR) in education

Education is the foundation of a thriving society, and knowledge transfer has been a top priority for societies from the very beginning. People are constantly looking for ways to make knowledge transfer easier, faster and more effective.

In the age of digital devices, we have the opportunity to learn better with technology. Virtual Reality (VR) seems to be the natural next step for the evolution of education.

In this article, I show how Virtual Reality can change the way educational content is delivered.

How we learn today

Before going into the details of how VR in education will help improve learning, it is important to understand why we need to improve the quality of education in the first place. Historically, most technologies designed for learning have focused on enabling access to Information - facts and observations about the world. Before Computers, we had a powerful tool that helped us preserve and convey facts: books.

In the age of digital technologies, books are turned into eBooks. Modern search engines make finding facts very easy - with just a few clicks you will find answers to many questions.

While knowledge has become more readily available to more people, the current approach to education has two main problems:

It's based on the same old format: fact preservation.

Teaching methods focus on providing facts; however, accessing and recording a lot of Information is not the same as learning. Being informed is not the same as being educated.

Many people have difficulty with understanding Information.

Too much Information received in a short time can easily overwhelm students. As a result, they become bored, disconnected and usually not quite sure why they are learning about a topic in the first place.

What makes VR attractive in education?

Virtual Reality can be used to improve student learning and engagement. VR education can change the way educational content is delivered; it works on the premise of creating a virtual world - real or imagined - and allows users to not only see it, but also to communicate with it. Being immersed in what you learn motivates you to fully understand it. It requires less cognitive load to process the Information.

Here are just a few of the features that make Virtual Reality so powerful in education:

Better sense of the environment

When students read about something, they often want to experience it. with VR they are not limited to word descriptions or book illustrations; they can explore the subject and see how things work.

The sense of presence (immersion) provided by VR allows students to learn about a subject by experiencing it. It's easy to forget that VR experiences aren't real - the body really believes it's in a new place. This feeling engages the mind in a remarkable way.

Virtual Reality setting of Rome
Instead of reading about Rome, VR headsets move students to Rome.

Scale learning experiences

Technologies like science labs are great - they allow students to understand how things work based on hands-on experience.

A relatively small VR device can even function as an entire science lab.

But such technologies are expensive and nearly impossible to scale. They are also limited in the number of things they can do.

To learn by practise

It is a well-known fact that people learn best by doing; however, if you inspect modern education, you will see how little learning actually happens by doing. Students are focused on reading instructions rather than using them in practice.

VR in education provides an experience anchor for instruction. with VR education students are inspired to discover for themselves. Students have the opportunity to learn by doing rather than reading passively.

A virtual medical laboratory where there is no danger of anything going wrong. [image]

Emotional response

Visceral responses to what we experience are fundamental to the formation of memories. VR in education makes it easy to engage students all the time and make experiences memorable.

Develop creativity

Having Virtual Reality in education is useful not only for using content, but also for content creation. By giving students powerful tools, such as Tilt Brush, you help them stimulate their creativity.

Visual learning

Many people are visual learners - VR is really helpful for this group of learners. Instead of reading about things, students actually see the things they are learning about. Being able to visualize complex functions or mechanisms makes them easier to understand.
Users are ready to embrace new technology
The first idea that comes to everyone's mind when they think of VR technology is an entertainment experience. Many designers see VR as an extension of the game industry. It's true that VR has traditionally been dedicated to gaming, but things are changing. According to a recent survey conducted by Greenlight VR, the need for education outweighs the desire for game content - 63.9 percent versus 61 percent.
Categories of Educational VR Experiences
Where can we apply Virtual Reality in education? The answer is almost everywhere. VR creates an infinite number of possibilities for people to experience. Here are some types of experiences you can create with VR.

Virtual excursions

VR technology can be used to engage students in topics related to with geography, history or literature by providing a deeply immersive sense of place and time. Imagine geography classes where you can visit any place in the world - this kind of experience is much more enriching than just reading about it.

with VR are not limited to word descriptions or book illustrations; they can explore the subject and see how things work.

Google Expeditions is a great example of an app that offers such an experience. Expedition is a library of with excursions available to common smartphone users. Each journey consists of VR panoramas and the journeys range from the Great Wall of China to Mars. People all over the world can visit places that are virtually impossible to visit physically.

Google has tested this app in hundreds of schools around the world. The project was extremely successful: Google took more than 1 million students in 11 countries on expeditions.

Google Expeditions enables virtual excursions around the world. [Image]

Of course, Virtual Reality will never, and shouldn't, replace real field travel and other travel. But VR enables experiences that would otherwise be impossible.

High-tech training

VR is a good solution for highly technical training fields such as the military or medical industry. For example, the main challenge for medical students learning anatomy is understanding the body in three dimensions and how different systems fit together. VR education can help solve this problem.

A good example is the VR system used by Mendel Grammar School in Opava City, Czech Republic, which helps students in biology classes learn more about the anatomy of the eye. The team working on this project used a Leap Motion controller and custom Oculus Rift headsets to provide an innovative way to learn anatomy.

Internships

Getting exposure to different careers is an essential part of the learning process. From early childhood, we dream about what we want to be when we grow up, and those dreams are usually inspired by the professionals in our lives. We often gain this insight through internships.

“I never teach my students, I just try to create the conditions in which they can learn.” - Albert Einstein

Another advantage of Virtual Reality in education is its ability to increase students' exposure to careers. It improves people's ability to see themselves in the shoes of others. Carrier expeditions show what it's like to work in a field: Students can explore a day in a person's career, see what a person is studying, and understand what a person likes or dislikes about their job. As a result, the experience becomes familiar to students.

with VR allows students to explore any profession, such as being an astronaut.

group education

Some of the most important knowledge we gain comes not from what we hear from teachers, but rather from collegiality and debate. VR education offers the opportunity to make learning experiences social by letting students with communicate with each other. with avatars and mapped facial expressions allow people to come together to discuss, synthesize and learn from each other.

Distance learning

with VR we can bridge the gap between teachers and students. with VR can bring distance learning tools teachers and students together in the same room with digital representations of themselves - teachers can teleport into the VR world and guide students through their experiences.
Design Challenges for VR Education Experiences
It is clear that the future of Virtual Reality in education is very exciting and full of potential. We are only at the beginning of this powerful technology and designing for VR is full of with challenges to overcome.

5 important qualities of good VR learning experiences

VR edu apps must have the following properties:

Immersive

Designers should strive to create the sense that users are living an experience. For example, if you're developing a history app, you're bringing history to life for students.

Easy to use

Eliminate the need to have special skills to communicate with a VR app.

meaningful

Meaning is very important to students. You can't create a good VR learning experience without a good story. That's why it's so important to promote the art of storytelling. Stories simply provide the best means of delivering messages that are not only heard and understood, but also inspire and provoke action.

Customizable

As Albert Einstein once said, "I never teach my students, I just try to create the conditions under which they can learn." VR experiences should allow students to explore at their own pace. The app should provide full control over the difficulty level. Designers need to identify how students learn and then use this knowledge to design VR products that enable effective learning.

Measurable

Every educational resource should have a measured impact. Teachers should be able to track the metrics of education so that they can measure the resulting knowledge of a subject. When designing experiences for VR education, it is essential to choose appropriate metrics and clarify which criterion will be used to measure success and failure.

Creating a new role for teachers with VR education

The transition from analog teaching practices to digital ones will change the way teaching looks like. The role of a teacher will change from content delivery to content facilitation. Teachers will focus on creating conditions for exploration, rather than delivering ready-made knowledge.

Our Changing Understanding of Immersive Experiences

Obviously we are in the early stages of VR - and it will continue to change. However, technology will continue to push the boundaries of how immersive VR can get. We will even see improvements in eye tracking and body tracking in the coming years. What we consider an immersive experience today will be considered table stakes in the not-too-distant future.

VR make accessible

VR has a high price tag which is a significant barrier for many users. Analyzing the success of Google Expeditions, it's clear that Google was able to reach so many students because the hardware was really accessible. To make VR education accessible to the majority of users, it's important to focus on creating VR experiences for devices users already own and turning them into powerful tools for education. A phone we have in our pockets and €20 - €100 headset devices - such as Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR - should be enough to give students good VR experiences.

Open New Horizons with VR Education

Virtual reality in education is on the horizon and it will undoubtedly change the world as we know it. Twenty-first century classrooms will become technologically advanced learning spaces, with VR technology significantly increasing student engagement and learning. VR experiences will inspire a whole new generation of young and bright students, ready to innovate and change the world.

At the same time, the next big thing in education no longer depends on technology, but rather on a teacher's decision to go ahead and use these technologies in the classroom. The global goal should be to make knowledge available, accessible and affordable to everyone on Earth.

Would you like to talk about integrating VR in education or ask your practical questions about VR hardware. Feel free to contact with us by phone +31 (0)85 1302 742 or by e-mail. We also have a showroom where we would like to welcome you. For more Information and contact.