Education
AR VR – The Next Revolution in Education
Anushka Yadav shares her thoughts on the need for introducing Augmented and Virtual Reality in Education – The Twenty First Century Classroom.
Put three generations together in a room and ask them about their education experience. It won’t be a shocking revelation that they’ve been educated with the same old methods.
For decades the focus of Indian education has been on instruction based teaching and rote learning. Educators and often parents instruct students to memorise texts and vomit them out on the exam sheet. The ancient methods of education have been rewarding accuracy instead of curiosity.
Nonetheless, the education ecosystem has experienced varied waves of change; from traditional pedagogical methods to the use and evolution of Educational Technology or EdTech. However, we’re miles away from creating a classroom that our students deserve.
We, as educators, often feel bedazzled with such advancements in technology. But don’t we also feel fretful at the thought of inculcating EdTech in the syllabi? However, computers adapt to humans in the world of augmented and virtual reality; not vice versa.
Are you an educator who believes in the constant evolution of education? Then, continue reading and journey through the miraculous and magical land of altered reality.
Two Sides of A Coin: What is AR and VR ?
Remember dissecting a frog in science class? Our children can still do it and understand the functioning of a living being’s body without harming it. How? Through the revolutionary Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality technology.
Two sides of a coin; Augmented Reality (AR) is simply projecting the digital data in 3D form on real-world surfaces. The technology enables the world to become its interface as users exercise more intuitive control.
Think! For a minute, think whether you have used this technology at any point of time in your life. If you have played Pokemon Go with your child or used face filters on snapchat, instagram or whatsapp, you have experienced the magic of augmented reality.
Virtual Reality (VR) is itself a whole new environment which can give a completely immersive experience to the user. It’s simply a computer generated simulation or replacement of one’s environment that’s substituted by the digital world to fool our senses. What’s VR in one word? It’s Mental Teleportation.
However, unlike VR, AR doesn’t rely on a dedicated device for display. Thus, it adds more to the reality, making it mainstream to the fourth industrial revolution.
FUN FACT: The term Augmented Reality was coined by Boeing researcher Thomas Caudell in 1990.
What kind of devices are required to set up an AR VR Classroom?
Image Courtesy: zSpace
To set up a magical classroom for your know-it-all students, you need “smart devices”. What are these devices?
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Smartphone or Tablet with internet and camera
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Smart Glasses such as Googleglass, Vuzix M3000 or Headsets offered by HoloLens, Meta2, Magic Leap
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Headphones offered by Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung
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VR technology requires head-mounted display (HMD) like the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, connected to a powerful desktop computer or a Sony PSVR connected to a PlayStation. Check this month’s TechItOut to discover some new and interesting AR & VR Apps you can download for free!
These devices are often accompanied by smartpens, stylus and/or remotes that help the user access the information and “object” presented. The user can download additional apps to explore the varied advantages of the AR-VR world.
Who can use this revolutionary technology?
The answer to this question is ANYONE & EVERYONE. From educators teaching a class using the revolutionary technology to parents helping out their child with a techno-based homework, altered reality as edtech will bridge the gaps between parents, educators and student in an interactive and entertaining way.
Ankit Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, Pytorq Solutions Pvt Ltd says “AR/VR technology has the strong potential to be a standard tool in education and can revolutionize the way schools are giving education to students. Teachers, as well as parents, can use AR/VR to make the student experience the knowledge instead of just listening and watching it.”
The Future of Education: Why we need AR & VR in Education?
Having trouble in understanding a topic? All of us face difficulty in grasping certain topics, subjects and complex concepts. When reading doesn’t suffice, AR & VR come to the rescue.
AR helps in visualizing the subject because a picture is indeed worth a thousand words.
“AR/VR lets students and teachers interact with each other in a three-dimensional environment. It uses AR/VR to create real-life scenarios exposing kids to distance education, education through games, visualize complex theories, and virtual campus visits etc. All of this leads to prolonged memory and interest development of students.” says Ankush Sharma, CEO, Yeppar.
Image Courtesy: ZSpace
Students gain practical experience with better insight and understanding. And it’s easy on the pockets of education institutions as AR doesn’t require heavy investments on hardware. All you require is a smartphone or tablet with camera; place the camera in front of your textbook and experience a 2D image transform and come alive into a 3D object.
However, virtual reality apps require a headset to function. Nonetheless, the headsets provide a transformative experience. Availed with immersive content, VR allows the student to focus on profound details with a 360 degree realistic view.
“Isn’t it going to be exciting to see the formation of the sun while flying in the space and the reactions like nuclear fission & fusion happening in the book? Why are we still aligning our fingers to know the directions of current, magnetic field and electrical field if all of these can be easily projected on a real wire with a very high accuracy using this technology?” Ankit Singh added.
Image Courtesy: Magic Leap
He further stated “The technology is so powerful that a report estimates AR/VR to be a $90 Billion industry by 2022 and expected to grow at CAGR of 76% over the next 6 years. Engineering, military, retail, and entertainment industries are already being disrupted by it. AR/VR can make infinite unimaginable as well as imaginable things possible. Many of these unknown beauties are already sparkling inside a child’s brain which deserves to come out with no limits and no boundaries.”
With every year, we’re causing more damage to the planet. Thus, using the technology will enable our children to have eco-friendly classrooms. They’ll be learning subjects in real time at the click of a button.
Sounds like magic? It is the education our children deserve.
The AR VR Experience: Straight from the Educator
Avnita Bir, Director-Principal, R. N.Podar School, Mumbai shares her thoughts and experience with the powerful yet simple technology of AR and VR.
“There’s no denying that technology is revolutionising education.Emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are increasingly becoming the buzzword in education conferences. However while their popularity in the gaming sphere is undeniable, given the immersive experience they provide, their use in education is still rhetorical and at the preliminary stage. This is expected given that any new disruptive technology first impacts the entertainment industry while education as a sector generally responds to change only in a linear manner and at a slower pace.
My first brush with VR was at the Google HQs in Mountain View when Google Expeditions, using the Google Cardboard, was being launched. The promise of experiential learning, not limited by classroom boundaries, was as fascinating for adults as for children. More recently I had the opportunity to try the HTC Vive that provides a much more interactive VR experience.
The extensive benefits of viewing content in an entirely immersive environment, or layering digital elements over real life, are quite evident.There’s so much potential for bringing the curriculum to life using virtual and augmented reality experiences, from visiting far off places in the world to holding the human heart in your hands.
Mixed Reality blends virtual objects with real world views and allows students to physically interact with a huge range of exciting 3D models. Hold a human heart in your hands, get up close and personal with the Sun or any other planet, or step inside a medieval house. Students can even create, upload and view their own 3D creations.
The lessons using VR/AR enriched curriculum leave them with memories and experiences that help visualize and understand even the most complex of subjects, and engages and motivates them like never before.
One of the less frequently considered benefits of VR in the classroom is the unparalleled opportunity it gives students to truly understand the perspectives of others, thus building life skills like empathy in students. Imagine the understanding and emotional experience a student could gain from standing in the trenches during World War 1, or the insight into life in other cultures.
More and more teachers are adopting edtech to enhance their teaching methods to motivate their students. However, emerging technologies are not being optimised outside of STEM classes; science, technology, engineering and mathematics.There is very little use of technology across core subjects such as history, English and geography, and softer subjects like art & design. There is a considerable gap and therefore hugely untapped opportunity in pedagogy.
While the prospects of AR/VR in education are promising, its use on the ground is limited by the inherent nature and pace of change in schools. The issues of cost, space, access and logistics compound the inherent challenges of large class sizes. There is also the issue of developing suitable VR content and structured lesson plans to guide teachers in their use of this new edtech tool. While AR/VR simulated experiences can satisfy the need for instant gratification in the gaming sector, such is not the case with education.
VR is set to make waves in education. The number of free applications and platforms designed specifically for virtual education is increasing. Some teachers dismiss VR as too complicated, too expensive or simply irrelevant to their teaching methods.
Virtual Reality, with a little bit of creativity and some planning, is a simple but underused edtech channel for teaching subjects that are not traditionally tech-focused. Not only can VR bring locations to life, give students the chance to experience history through their own eyes, it can also encourage artistic, and photography skills.
The Google Cardboard is a viable tool that can solve some of the issues of affordability, access and logistics. Google Expeditions provide a huge database of imagery and information, converted into a one-stop teaching tool. Places of historical, geographical and political importance are highlighted and additional information is provided on the screen to supplement the learning experience. Schools using the BYOD model can easily introduce these experiences in their classrooms. The tool allows teachers to take their pupils on VR field trips around the world, through the Google Cardboard viewer. Students can go on self-guided tours, allowing more scope for homework projects and non-class based activities.
The future of education will definitely be shaped by the advent of AR/VR technology. However, it will go through many iterations before it can be fully customized for schools and teachers to embrace the same. Again, as with all edtech tools, it will be at the intersection of educators, technologists and enterprise that this innovation will bring the best results. No meaningful change can be effected in silos.”
What does the future hold for AR/VR in the education system?
“Till now, only 5% of schools are making use of AR/VR in their classrooms. But with the dropping prices of AR/VR devices and an increase in awareness about this technology will lead to a positive response from school faculty to immerse head-first into the reality world. In future AR/VR in schools would offer personalized learning to weaker students, prepare students for real-life experiences and self-defense, and teachers fully acquainted with AR/VR. AR/VR is on the doorsteps of education, and ready to change the education system as we know it.” Ankush Sharma added.
Today, millennials are part of a world with infinite distractions. Therefore, it is imperative to keep students excited and interested about learning through interactive experiences. These twenty first century solutions actively engage learners to produce fruitful results in the form of rapid learning and improved retention.
However, for students to feel at home with EdTech, it is the responsibility of educators to understand the relevance and importance of introducing AR & VR in the classrooms.
“Technology will never replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers is transformational.” – George Couros