Virtual reality at school.

It is understandable that most educators back in the ‘old days’ would be excited about a calculator or computer making its first appearance in their classrooms. Nowadays, there’s no need to be surprised by a digital pen in the classroom or interactive whiteboards. Digital laboratories are the norm and technology education includes basics of robotics and 3D modeling.

Technology and science magazines have recently been talking about this new innovation, and now it’s beginning to show up everywhere.

Virtual reality is a hot topic for many people these days. VR technology can be used in education in a number of different ways and its applications are endless, but what is the physical hardware that facilitates virtual reality experiences?

Gaming technology has been booming in recent years and VR is no different. Its uses in education aren’t as popular as other fields but it can be very helpful for things like simulation training sessions.

Virtual Reality brings a number of advantages with it, including feeling immersed in the environment, being able to focus on the task at hand without distractions, becoming deeply involved in whatever scenario you’re part of and being able to interact with virtually anyone / anything.

What is VR?

Virtual Reality (VR) is an environment which is generated with the help of special digital equipment and software. The user can interact with this virtual environment, in a fully or partial way.

For educational organizations, VR gadgets can be found in a variety shapes and sizes – from simple cardboard glasses to multifunctional helmets. However, just buying such headsets does not guarantee success. For their full-reaching work, you will also need controllers (joysticks and pointers), which help the student interact with objects of the virtual world, and batteries (batteries) for them; beacons that are installed indoors, pick up signals from the helmet and are responsible for the orientation of the student in space; tripods for beacons; docking stations for charging helmets and controllers, as well as for some helmets and glasses.

Do educational institutions create barriers for technology?

Of course it is:

• – relatively high cost
• – A conservative approach to the administration of schools and the autonomy given to teachers may lead to a higher rate of success.
• – an important consideration when developing an internal technology strategy is including all the tools you might use in your job. A good way of achieving this is by reviewing all the applications for which you have access.
• – lack of tailored educational content, etc
• – One of the less obvious barriers to entry is the question of how viable it is to use this technology: relatively few studies have been conducted confirming the undeniable pros of VR.

How can VR be used in school?

The use of virtual reality at school is opening up a lot of new opportunities for teachers: To “penetrate” together with students into micro- and macro-worlds, safely conduct risky physical experiments, speed up or slow down chemical reactions and biological processes, move in time to observe historic events from a different perspective all you need is intelligent robots. Plus, VR can make communications more immersive and diverse. So it’s not just for playing games or watching movies- you can learn at the same time.

We can use VR technology in classrooms, which has a huge number of benefits: to “penetrate” together with students into micro- and macro-worlds, safely conduct risky scientific experiments, speed up and slow down chemical reactions and biological processes, move in time and observe historical events through the eyes of eyewitnesses. VR can invite people from all over the world to be a part of your virtual network and communicate with them more easily than in the real world.

The easiest way to use virtual reality in the classroom is to watch a 360° video with students. When they put on goggles, they are experiencing things firsthand while the teacher is still present and able to guide the discussion. For example, if Machu Picchu was talked about in a geography lesson, students can explore Peru on their own, and studying Tesla’s laws in physics lessons and find themselves in a scientist’s workshop.

Perspectives on VR at school

According to the data of a market analytical company, VR/AR tech is already being used by 21% of Russian companies on the list. The emergence of VR in schools opens up terrific opportunities for teachers to improve their education, make it more practical and interesting.

Some of the children’s educational projects are still at the testing stage, but it is expected that next year it will be possible to introduce VR in more schools and highlight the first results.

In the following years, technological piloting took place in the form of projects with varied goals and scales. It is expected that new methodological developments both from the state and in terms of research will provide a significant contribution to improving not only safety, but also efficiency.

As technology continues to improve, the next stage is refinement. This occurs when existing solutions are revisited and made better. Along with this, users’ experiences should be taken into account to make things easier on them. The results of recent research should also be considered in order when refining something new.

There are two opposing views as to how VR can be used in education. For some, it should be a way to relieve boredom and provide entertainment; for others, the focus should be on boosting results and raising scores.

The first method of using VR in education is to use it as an additional means. It doesn’t have to be any more effective than current means and can be just considered a ‘toy’ if required. If a school has the funds to do so, and if their students are enthusiastic about the content, then they often decide to implement it. A cultural issue that is often ignored, but equally important is the attitude towards mental health. It’s no secret that our environment influences us, so it’s worth focusing on this matter.

Schools that focus on educational outcomes are slow to adopt new technologies – like expensive software for classroom. However, when the time comes to use it – the staff is more open and receptive, new methods have been shown to improve the final results of schoolchildren. When introducing a new teaching method, it’s vital to make sure you’re doing so in line with the goals and objectives of your class as well as any state-mandated educational standards.

Educators are debating whether or not to use VR as a learning tool. There are two sides to this argument; some say VR is more efficient than Skype, for example. One advantage of AR is its ability to be used as a learning tool. For instance, it can simulate the surgery experience or allow us to explore new worlds. This is different from VR which involves complete immersion into other worlds and is on the whole less interactive than AR.

Considering how difficult it is to surprise students with modern technologies, it’s no surprise that the reactions to new technological developments are usually not as positive as many have anticipated. The truth is, not all money you spend goes towards engaging students. A lot of the time it just feels like you’re buying more of the same thing.

Yes, a few people may try to stop this from happening so their expensive equipment isn’t scattered in classrooms. Technology is becoming more prevalent everyday and yet at the same time there are a lot of concerns about the cognitive overload it causes.

Teachers play a role in the introduction of AI technology and should be encouraged to do so by those in leadership positions. Partnering with local schools or colleges is one way to help ensure that children are learning and progressing.

This year, VR is being used in schools to help teachers bring their lessons to life. A virtual mentor will help motivate students by getting them personally involved in the lesson. Moreover, they’ll see that the teacher is an expert on tech and know how to effectively use it.