Education is instrumental in the development of social and economic progress. It helps people generate more ideas, be more productive, and contribute to society. It applies to careers, entrepreneurship, or advancements in technology. It comes as no surprise why people constantly find ways to make education more effective.
Unfortunately, current educational methods revolve around fact-retention, where educators provide factual information to students. But being informed does not equate to being educated. The common issue with this method is information overload. Students can become overwhelmed with the amount of information they receive, leading to students ending up bored and losing their interest.
We can take advantage of modern-day technology to transform the way we educate and educate more effectively. One of the technologies that can potentially do this is virtual reality, most commonly referred to as VR. It can place you in fictional virtual worlds. There are endless experiences that VR can achieve, and it’s in that potential where we can build upon to make learning more effective and engaging.
Humans Are Better Visual Learners
Multiple studies show that about 65% of all people are visual learners, and that of all information retained by the brain, 90% of it is visual. It can be because 40% of nerve fibers connect to the eyes. In contrast to text documents, people absorb visuals 60,000 times faster. Our brains respond quickly to visual information presented to us, only needing 13 milliseconds.
Then what better way to take advantage of our ability to retain visual information than through VR. We can constantly expose students to visuals in VR by generating virtual experiences tailored to different subjects and curriculums. It could then help educate students more effectively, especially in topics best learned through visual and practical applications.
Immersion, Emotion, and Meaning
Through VR, we can create meaningful learning through immersive environments. Transporting students to virtual field trips can help them explore and develop a sense of different places and explore cultures. Suddenly, descriptions and visual representations no longer have a limit. It allows them to experience their education.
Being able to experience the settings in books or virtually hold artifacts in VR will give students a deeper understanding of the things discussed in class. These experiences provoke emotional reactions. Emotions are critical in forming memories. If students can be visually and emotionally engaged while learning, it helps their education be more memorable.
Creating immersive environments while provoking emotional reactions to what they usually just read in books will be a game-changer.
Applied and Engaged Learning
It is well-documented that people learn skills best by doing. Observing classrooms in the current landscape of education, it is unfortunate that there is not much doing. Students instead are focusing on reading books on theories of the skill they are trying to learn. While learning theories isn’t a bad thing, it alone won’t prepare you for real-world applications.
VR allows applied learning to become more efficient for students. It gives them a safe space to fail, like a virtual environment in VR where they can practice and develop specific skills. They can learn without limitations. It provides students the confidence to perform tasks that require the application of the skills that they have learned due to the constant and similar exposure to them in VR.
Hands-on Distance Learning
VR allows distance learning, providing a hands-on approach for everyone involved. It can bridge the gap between students and educators, transporting them to a virtual space where they can be in the same room or workshop. Educators can then guide students in real-time through experiencing practical applications.
It can even apply in working environments where interns and employees can access learning opportunities from their company’s resources. It also allows professionals in their industry. Companies can even set up virtual experiences of their products so that customers have a better purchasing journey. The applications of VR technology are truly endless.
Creating Possibilities, Generating Potential, and Growing Talent
Virtual reality in education and training is fast approaching. It will be a transformative tool that new users will openly incorporate into their lives, as the first thing you think about VR is an entertaining experience. That fact alone will only help the cause of VR to establish itself as the new way to learn, both as a learning tool and an education method.
It creates endless possibilities for all people, helping them discover their creativity and potential. Producing more curious minds will help generate more talented and creative problem solvers. VR will be the perfect environment for these minds to express themselves without boundaries, exploring the impossible in hopes of making them possible.
