How VR is Revolutionizing Education
When you have your first virtual reality experience what becomes completely clear the first time you slip on that headset is just how different the feeling of VR is from real life. It’s not a good or bad thing; it’s just different.
And it’s because of this difference, something that feels so removed from the everyday that your brain is constantly working, forced into finding a new balance. It’s not scary, or it’s not something that will completely freak out you, but it’s obviously different and while you do get used to it, the sensation of virtual reality is something that needs to be experienced to be fully understood.
This immersion and the impact it can have on the user is limited only by the content. Depending on the experience, it can be scary or exciting or soothing and relaxing. It can also be highly educational and developers around the world are now beginning to see the opportunities that exist for creating worlds and opportunities geared towards learning.
Whether you’re checking out museums or otherwise dangerous locations, virtual environments can immerse a student in a professional or life experience without ever having to leave the classroom. Students could be afforded the opportunity to dig as archeologists, or be trained for high stress roles under conditions that are too dangerous to be replicated in real life.
And while virtual reality is perhaps most widely known for its gaming uses, something that has been known in education circles for a long time is that game-based learning increases students’ motivation, something that is amplified in a virtual environment, which contributes visual and kinesthetic experiences to learning that you just don't get in a classroom.
But rather than be just another fancy gadget that can distract, VR has the power to allow its users to create, and be extension allow students who choose to do so, to learn through creation, something that kids have long obsessed with, whether it’s Lego or Minecraft. The virtual reality platform OpenSimulator is a perfect example of a tool that exists to empower students and allow them to unleash their creativity, so much so that teachers are using it already to build historic recreations in a collaborative building environment.
And collaboration isn’t limited to building. When the MissionV Schools Pilot Programme used virtual reality technology as a way to address students’ social issues, it was quickly found that the technology allowed students with differing needs and styles of learning new opportunities not only for group work and peer teaching but positive social integration amongst students for whom social interaction was difficult.
Just like that feeling you had when you first slipped on a headset, students too can be stimulated when placed into new environments and situations. And just like your own first VR experience, learning in a virtual world is just as you might expect: different.