Uses and trends:
Education is a key component of life in this world. Everyone should have the right to pursue an education because knowledge is perhaps the most powerful thing that a human can possess. As we continue to become a more technologically advanced society, education also continues to improve. With the innovative technology of virtual reality, we are seeing a brand new way to educate kids in the classroom and beyond. In the video below, we see teachers using virtual reality to teach a young class a complicated mathematical lesson. Jay Shannon, one of the teachers, explains how VR allows you to draw out these functions three dimensionally, which helps student visualize them in a way that is impossible without VR . He says that it took him a year or two to learn how to visualize them when he was studying this before VR, which means these students are years ahead of where they would be thanks to VR.
Another use for VR in a education setting is to explore places you would not normally be able to experience in person. With VR, you can explore and interact with things in the dangerous depths of the ocean or outer space without actually being in any danger. The class in the video below uses VR to travel places without having to get kids on a bus and travel. They put on the headset and are immediately immersed in an environment of the instructors choosing. VR makes learning fun because of the experience.
Disruptive impact:
According to a Pew Research article, Stories From Experts About The Impact Of Digital Life, Shahab Khan engineer and CEO of PLANWEL said, “With the advent of AI, VR [virtual reality]/AR[augmented reality] the educational deliveries will greatly change and teaching methods improve. Online education resources and digital resources bring value to the classroom. Students become more involved and knowledgeable.” VR has a disruptive impact in the classroom. The use of VR in classrooms is proving to be much more effective and more impactful than the traditional use of textbooks.
According to Will Augmented and Virtual Reality Replace Textbooks? Michael Mathews from govtech.com explains that we are seeing textbooks being disrupted by VR in classrooms today. Mathews writes that replacing the cost of textbooks with virtual reality is something that has started happening and will catch on with more schools around the world. “This concept is becoming more realistic as countries and K-12 systems around the world are buying entire AVR experiences” (Mathews, 2018).
Predictions:
For virtual reality within education, I have several predictions. I believe that within ten years, every school in technologically advanced countries will at least somewhat utilize virtual reality in the classroom. Some schools will have enough headsets for entire classrooms and teachers will teach lessons while fully emerged in virtual reality. Because of this immersive and interactive virtual environment that the schools will provide, more students will value education, creating a society that not only is eager to learn, but enjoys learning like never before. I also believe that VR systems will seen in more households worldwide, encouraging people to educate themselves away from the classroom. While recognizing the pattern highlighted by Michael Mathews, I also predict that over a significant amount of time, textbooks will eventually become ancient history. No schools will implement textbooks in their curriculums because VR is a more effective way to teach.
Virtual Reality has Become a Reality 