Creating a Better Age of Learning Using Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

The craze for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) has taken most industries by storm, and the education sector is no exception too. The productive environments in which the students get to work on projects that are genuinely enjoyable to them and topics that spark their curiosity and desire to learn. Incorporating VR as part of a blended learning environment intrigues students’ interest which molds the path for an increase in student engagement, empathy, and learning. It would enable more students to achieve their full potential as the process allows educators to focus on those students that need additional attention. Due to its engaging and experiential nature, it enables educators to cover a topic in lesser time than usual as the use of such technology speeds up student learning and increases the chances of information retention.

Various applications available online such as Discovery VR and Google Expeditions boost student achievement in the classroom by enabling them to think more critically and visualize the experiences. Allowing students to create their own stories using VR software will give them a real-time experience and the thrill of writing stories and creating a visual background for it in VR. Students can also re-imagine existing stories and explore different parts of the story as their perception. For instance, they can retell their version of any story in virtual reality, by creating a short cartoon. Students can use AR for storytelling to bring the pages of textbooks to life by using a smartphone and books encoded with AR technology and hence make the learning process more interactive and engaging.