Adaptive learning technology: how is VR used in education?
How AI is reshaping the Education sector
For the past decade, technology has revolutionised education by transforming how we learn and teach. Digital devices and innovative software have opened up new possibilities for tailored learning experiences that are more immersive and engaging for students.
The rise of online platforms such as Coursera and edX has brought high-quality educational content to a worldwide audience - eliminating geographical boundaries while expanding educational opportunities.
Interactive whiteboards, tablets, and apps now make lessons more stimulating and engaging inside the classroom, encouraging students to be an active part of their learning process.
Additionally, virtual classrooms enable teachers from different locations to connect through video conferencing tools like Zoom or Google Meet, which proved vital in early 2020, with lockdowns forcing many institutions to embrace remote learning.
The rise of virtual classrooms & remote learning
Many institutions embraced digital technologies, substituting regular face-to-face lessons with online platforms like Microsoft Teams Education, Office 365 for Education, and Google Classroom.
Microsoft was quick to develop and implement functions to enhance online education. For example, the Reading Progress feature allows staff to assign reading exercises for students who can submit audio/video recordings and receive teacher feedback. Teachers also can obtain greater insights into student progress with data that includes correct words per minute, mispronunciations, accuracy rate omissions and insertions.
Google Classroom saw a vast uptake during lockdowns, doubling the number of users to 100 million. And Office 365 for Education was also one of the top choices for schools, colleges, and universities.
Both learning platforms offer budget-friendly subscriptions to help teachers and students communicate and collaborate without needing a physical classroom.
However, online learning isn't just aimed at remote learning; students with disabilities stand to benefit hugely from advancements in educational technology.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is also making its way into teaching methods using Virtual Reality (VR) for experiential learning and adaptive learning systems, transforming how the entire education system operates.
What is Virtual Reality learning?
Virtual Reality (VR) is a rapidly advancing digital technology that uses visual, auditory, and other sensory elements provided through head-mounted displays to create an illusion of being in a different setting.
The use of VR within primary, secondary, and tertiary education has seen incredible growth in recent years as its applications are becoming more sophisticated. It offers students an enhanced interactive experience while providing a safe and controlled environment.
VR allows students to experiment with real-world scenarios without any physical risk involved.
For example, it can be used in science classes for experiments or history lessons when recreating past events. It enables learners to experience these events virtually rather than simply reading them from textbooks or hearing lectures on the subject alone.
VR can make learning more exciting while helping them remember information due to the enhanced understanding from such immersive sessions.
However, VR's immersive power can also educate students on tougher issues for teachers to communicate and demonstrate through traditional methods. Social problems, such as racism and discrimination.
How can Virtual Reality help tackle racial inequality and discrimination
Facing conversations about racism can be uncomfortable, and teachers may feel intimidated tackling the issues on their own. Therefore, seeking the assistance of AI and Virtual Reality could be a game changer.
VR systems can offer learners a simulated experience of what life is like for other children and students in other parts of the world.
This may involve exploring a new city and observing other cultural norms, including how they live their interests, hobbies, and family values.
Through VR games, interactive activities, or virtual role play, students can interact directly with each other within a virtual world. This helps them obtain a deeper understanding of other cultures and discover everything they have in common.
When tackling racism and discrimination, creating immersive environments where students can have vivid, real-life experiences helps create powerful emotional responses that aid in developing empathy and understanding.
These experiences help them to appreciate and respect other cultures more and develop positive relationships and attitudes towards people of all backgrounds.
VR is particularly beneficial for students living in rural areas with fewer opportunities to connect face-to-face with other ethnic groups living in larger cities or other countries.
Overall, VR can enhance students' learning journey, giving them opportunities to learn complex concepts and better understand social issues that other generations never had.
How can teachers utilise VR in the classroom?
VR has the potential to revolutionise education with its ability to create immersive experiences that transport students to different places without leaving their classrooms.
There are two methods for implementing VR in the classroom: immersive classrooms and VR headsets.
Immersive classrooms involve projecting images onto the walls, creating an enclosed and virtual environment. Teachers can take students on virtual trips or tours to create exciting, imaginative experiences they'll remember easily.
This method allows all participants to be equally engaged in the experience and still interact with one another without the need for VR headsets, which some students may find uncomfortable. This is perfect for primary school students or students with learning difficulties who can benefit from augmented reality while still in a familiar classroom environment.
Using VR headsets is another option that can provide students with a deeper, more realistic level of immersion. A VR headset is required for each student, but they don't need to connect with any other device and thus require minimal classroom space.
How can adaptive learning technology enhance the way we teach?
Adaptive learning is another innovative, tech-based approach that tailors lessons to each student's learning needs. It offers a considerable advantage for teachers as it can flag specific subject matters that individual students struggle with and help students with disabilities to learn easier.
Adaptive learning platforms combine AI and machine learning to analyse a learner's performance in real-time and adjust the lesson accordingly. This ensures that every student has equal access to education regardless of their pace, learning style, or preferences.
Adaptive learning aims to enhance teaching but not to replace teachers themselves.
For example, in schools with many students, it can be difficult for teachers to give each student the attention they may need. Therefore, adaptive technology can assist in creating personalised lessons tailored to all types of learners - from those who are struggling to those at advanced levels.
Furthermore, Adaptive Learning relies on big data, so the more data a system has, the better it can provide for the end user. For teachers, this means enhanced analytics about student coursework, attendance, and assignments data can be rapidly processed to help schools provide more personalised lessons for students or offer comprehensive individual feedback, enabling teachers to better understand student performance.
What does the future hold for technology in Education?
With the advancements of AI and machine learning, learning is set to become much more digitised in the near future.
AI can enhance the way teachers help students grasp complex subjects by explaining and demonstrating concepts in more imaginative ways. As AI enters the classroom, more possibilities lie ahead with machine learning and virtual reality.
As the educational landscape shifts and progresses, educators must recognise the potential of virtual reality to revolutionise teaching methods. This can open a world of possibilities for students, providing an engaging and inclusive learning experience.
Where is classroom technology headed?
Adaptable, digital and future-focused, ahead are EdTech trends experts foresee as essential to the modern classroom.
Personalised learning:
As the centre of the learning day, the student experience continues to be a major focus going forward. EdTech makes it possible for educators to tailor their teaching and share information while keeping with the pace and methodology that best matches the individual learner.
Big data:
The more data an educator has about their classroom, the more effectively they can teach. Of course, simply collecting mountains of student attendance records, engagement with online coursework or graded assignments throughout one’s educational career won’t do teachers much good if they don’t have an efficient way to analyse it. That’s where big data comes in. It can help schools plan and personalise better lessons for the year ahead and spot potential outcomes for individual learners.
Artificial intelligence:
AI benefits both learner and educator in different ways. On the student side, it can take hard to grasp lessons in difficult subjects like trigonometry and transform them into a tangible experience that engages all their senses. Teachers can say goodbye to remedial, time-consuming tasks like grading and other administrative activities, something they spend approximately 31% of their time doing according to one Telegraph survey.
Learning analytics:
Whether teachers are looking for a tool to help them give more targeted feedback or want to empower students to keep track of their own class prep, learning analytics is a deeply resourced tool used for a wide range of class activities and educational stakeholders. The goal is to optimise learning from every angle, be it testing an individual lesson’s efficacy or evaluating an institution’s org-wide approach to lesson planning.
Digital classrooms and e-learning:
Over the last two years, all schools and students have had some brush with e-learning. While it may have initially come with its fair share of challenges, the benefits are ensuring it persists. Whether learning a foreign language with native speakers in another country or attending a professional development seminar across the country, there will likely always be a place for digital classrooms, at least part time.
Video content:
Between the TV and the internet, students are video natives. Primed from a young age, it’s a reliable way to engage learners and let them set the pace. Educational videos can be re-watched again and again to gain new insights. They can also be paused or rewound, unlike lectures. Reinforcing key concepts through video can be a highly strategic way for educators to break up the learning day or assign homework that actually gets done.
Blockchain technology:
In the classroom, this decentralised method of sharing information has more to do with storing data safely than transferring currency. Content can also be shared transparently with anyone in the world, making educational resources more widely available without compromising their security.
Gamification:
Throughout time, educators have been attempting to make learning fun while ensuring it sticks. With gamification, the fun and immersive qualities are built-in, rewarding student actions with digital incentives that encourage concept mastery.
Nano learning:
The pressure to learn can be huge for students. With this bite-sized approach to education, mini lessons and modules are used to teach complex concepts in an immersive environment by breaking them down and building on one another.
STEAM approaches:
Learning and understanding aren’t always interchangeable. By balancing lessons from each core subject and helping students make an emotional connection, it encourages exploration and experimentation of new material.
Social learning:
Creating social networks is one way educators can prioritise social learning, a phenomenon where peers can learn from one another in an organic way through avenues like discussion forums or document sharing.
Smart campuses:
Using IoT (Internet of Things) technologies, institutions are making learning and teaching a more seamless experience. It joins people, devices, and applications and allows universities to make insight-driven decisions to improve security and maximise resources.
Not only do these EdTech trends encourage a genuine love of learning, they also prepare students for their tech-focused career tracks, a goal all school stakeholders need to prioritise.
How can we help?
We are are proud supporters of educational technology. We support institutions and schools by assisting in implementing and optimising educational technology to suit your specific needs, from supplying hardware to managing IT infrastructure catering to budgets of all sizes.
We want to play our part in creating equal access to education. With innovative tools like Adaptive Learning, and Virtual Reality, we can improve education as a whole while tackling serious societal issues in ways we've never done before.
Contact our highly experienced team to discover how we can help improve the educational experience of both students and teachers.