Virtual reality in education
Have you ever heard of a profession and go wow! I wish I had heard of this while in school! If you ask students in underdeveloped or developing nations about the profession they want to pursue, the answers will be the typical lawyer, doctor, soldier etc. You will hardly find students wanting to become SEO specialists or other professions created by the digital age. Some of these students might have never heard of these professions. As child rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman said, you can’t be what you can’t see. Fortunately, we now live in a time when emerging technologies may help us to solve this problem. One such demonstration is the extending reality programme created by education activist Jessica Ochoa Hendrix and her team. The programme enables middle school students from across the United States to take on the role of a marine biologist, even if they’ve never seen the ocean before.
The programme started when Jessica met Mandy Holford, marine biochemist and Lindsay Portnoy, an educational psychologist. All three shared a passion for getting students excited and comfortable with science. Ultimately, they decided to start an educational game company because research has indicated that students felt comfortable taking risk when playing video games. They choose to use virtual reality (VR) because it is a relatively low-cost way of increasing access to the world of a marine biologist. In addition, academic research has shown that virtual reality may lead to increases in learning retention. This was perfect for them as they wanted to be in schools so that they could reach the greatest number of students possible, particularly students who have been underrepresented in science.
With funding from the National Science Foundation, they began developing their extended reality programme that combined virtual reality with personalised digital journaling. they worked with teachers while developing it to ensure that it would fit seamlessly into existing curricula and empower teachers to use cutting edge technology in their classroom. They designed the virtual reality with Google Cardboard, which requires only a smartphone and a $10 VR viewer made of cardboard. With this inexpensive headset, students were transported to an underwater expedition. Students used their digital journal to write down their notes to answer questions, to construct models and to develop hypotheses. Students then go to the virtual world to test their hypothesis, just as scientists go to the field for testing. When students returned to their digital journal, they shared their observations, claims, reasoning, and evidence. The students’ written answers and virtual interactions were updated live on the educator assessment dashboard so that teachers could follow their progress and support them as needed.
This example of VR in education centres on science, but virtual reality could support students in any area. Virtual reality can improve education by providing students with memorable and immersive experiences that would otherwise not be possible. What’s more, it can all take place within the classroom. Virtual reality is accessible to every student and can be easily monitored by teachers. Virtual experiences have the power to engage and inspire students in a unique and powerful way.
Micromoments is a technology company to the core, born out of a strong desire to change the narrative about software development in Jamaica.
