Virtual Reality (VR) in education

Education forms the cornerstone of a thriving society, and the transfer of knowledge has been a top priority since the dawn of civilisation. Continual efforts are made to facilitate, accelerate, and enhance the transmission of knowledge.

In this era of digital devices, we have the opportunity to augment learning through technology. Virtual Reality (VR) appears to be the natural next step in the evolution of education.

In this article, I will demonstrate how Virtual Reality can transform the delivery of educational content.

Before delving into the specifics of how VR in education can enhance the learning process, it is crucial to understand the 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. Prior to computers, we had a powerful tool to help us store and transmit facts: books.

In the age of digital technologies, books are being converted into eBooks. Modern search engines make finding facts exceedingly simple—with just a few clicks, you can find answers to numerous questions.

Although knowledge has become more easily accessible to more people, the current approach to education faces two major issues:

Teaching methods focus on providing facts; however, having access to and absorbing a lot of information is not the same as learning. Being informed is not synonymous with being educated.

The influx of information in a short period can easily overwhelm students. Consequently, they become bored, disengaged, and often do not understand why they are learning about a subject in the first place.

Virtual Reality can be used to enhance learning and student engagement. It can change the way educational content is delivered; it operates on the principle of creating a virtual world—real or imagined—and allows users not only to see it but to interact with it. Immersion in what you are learning motivates you to fully comprehend it. It requires less cognitive load to process information.

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

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

Thanks to the sense of presence (immersion) that VR offers, students can learn about a subject by experiencing it. It is easy to forget that what they see is not real—the body truly believes it is in a new place. This sense engages the mind in a remarkable way.

Virtual Reality Setting of Rome
Instead of reading about Rome, students can be transported to Rome.

Technologies like science labs are great—they help students understand how things work based on practical experience.

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

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

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

VR in education provides an experiential anchor for the instruction. With VR, students are inspired to discover things on their own. They can learn by doing instead of merely reading.

Visceral reactions to what we experience are fundamental in forming memories. VR in education makes it easy to engage students all the time and make experiences unforgettable.

Having Virtual Reality in education is not only beneficial for consuming content but also for creating it. By giving students powerful tools like Tilt Brush, you help stimulate their creativity.

Many people are visual learners—VR is extremely useful for this group. Instead of reading about things, students actually see the subjects they are learning about. Being able to visualise complex features or mechanisms makes them easier to understand.

The first idea that springs to mind when thinking about VR is an entertainment experience. Many designers see VR as an extension of gaming. It is true that VR has traditionally been devoted to gaming, but things are changing. According to a recent study conducted by Greenlight VR, the need for education outweighs the desire for game content—63.9 percent versus 61 percent.

VR can be used to engage students in subjects related to geography, history, or literature by offering a deeply immersive sense of place and time. Imagine geography lessons where you can visit any place in the world—this type of experience is far more enriching than merely reading about it.

With VR, they are not limited to word descriptions or book illustrations; they can explore the subject and see how things fit together.

Google Expeditions is a good example of an app that offers such an experience. Expedition is a library of field trips available to ordinary smartphone users. Each trip consists of scenes, and the trips range from the Great Wall of China to Mars. People around the world can visit places that are essentially impossible to visit in person.

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

Of course, Virtual Reality will never replace actual field trips and other travels, nor should it. But VR enables experiences that would otherwise be impossible.

Of course, Virtual Reality will never replace actual field trips and other travels, nor should it. But VR enables experiences that would otherwise be impossible.

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

A good example is the tool used by Mendel Grammar School in Opava City, Czech Republic, that helps students in biology classes learn more about the anatomy of the eye. The team working on this project used a Leap Motion and specially adapted Oculus Rift to offer an innovative way to learn anatomy.

Gaining 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. Often, we gain this insight through internships.

I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

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

Some of the most important knowledge we gain does not come from what we hear from teachers, but rather from collegiality and debate. VR-onderwijs offers the opportunity to make learning experiences social by allowing students to interact with each other. With avatars and mapped facial expressions, people can come together to discuss, synthesise, and learn from one another.

VR edu-apps should have the following characteristics:

Designers should strive to create the feeling that users are experiencing something real. For example, if you develop a geschiedenis-app, you bring history to life for students.

Eliminate the need for special skills to interact with a VR-app.

Meaning is very important for students. You cannot create a good VR-leerervaring without a good story. Therefore, it is so important to promote the art of storytelling. Stories simply offer the best means of delivering messages that are not only heard and understood but also inspire and drive action.

As Albert Einstein once said, 'I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.' VR-ervaringen should enable students to explore at their own pace. The app should offer full control over the level of difficulty. Designers should determine how students learn and then use this knowledge to design VR-producten that facilitate effective learning.

Every educational tool must have a measurable impact. Teachers should be able to track the educational metrics so they can measure the resulting knowledge of a subject. When designing experiences for VR-onderwijs, it is essential to choose appropriate metrics and make clear what criteria will be used to measure success and failure.

The transition from analogue teaching practices to digital will change the way teaching looks. The role of a teacher will shift from content delivery to content facilitation. Teachers will focus on creating the conditions for exploration, rather than delivering kant-en-klare knowledge.

It is clear that we are in the early stages of VR - and it will continue to evolve. However, technology will keep pushing the boundaries of how immersive VR can become. In the coming years, we will even see improvements in eye tracking and body tracking. What we consider an immersive experience today will be regarded as basic in the not-too-distant future.

VR has a high price tag that poses a significant barrier for many users. If we analyze the success of Google Expeditions, it is clear that Google was able to reach so many students because the hardware was truly accessible. To make VR-onderwijs accessible to the majority of users, it is important to focus on creating VR-ervaringen for devices that users already have and turning these into powerful educational tools. A phone that we carry in our pockets and a £20-£100 accessory, such as Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR, should be enough to provide students with good VR-ervaringen.

Virtual reality in education is visible on the horizon, and it will undoubtedly change the world as we know it. Eenentwintigste-eeuwse classrooms will become technologically advanced learning spaces, significantly enhancing VR-technologie student engagement and learning. VR-ervaringen will inspire an entirely new generation of young and bright students, ready to innovate and change the world.

At the same time, the next big thing in education is no longer dependent on technology but rather on a teacher's decision to move forward 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 discuss further integrating VR into education or have practical questions about VR hardware? Please feel free to contact us by phone at +31 (0)85 1302 742 or via e-mail. We also have a showroom where we would be happy to welcome you. For more information and contact.