A Simple Guide to VR in Education

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Once or twice a millennia, a new technology arrives and revolutionizes the realm of education. In 1438, it was the printing press. Centuries later, a little thing called the internet burst onto the scene. And if you’re anything like us, you may have a burning curiosity for what comes next. We’re here to tell you: it already has. So what new technology is revving its engine, poised to transform the education sector yet again?

We have two words for you: virtual reality. 

A fledgling powerhouse, the VR education industry is expected to reach $640 billion by 2023. Top educators and research professionals are racing to become early adopters of this technology. 

In this guide, we’ll present a detailed breakdown how VR is currently being leveraged in classrooms and labs, the benefits of VR in education, and who to partner with when you want to launch your own education-focused VR solution. 

How VR Can Be Used in the Classroom

In one poll, 97% of students expressed interest in taking a course that employs virtual reality. Educators naturally need to be meeting that demand. So how exactly can VR be applied in the classroom? Applications of VR in education are fairly limitless, but the examples below can paint a picture and offer ideas that you could expand upon with your own VR solution:

  • The Mendel Grammar School in the Czech Republic is leveraging VR technology to enhance biology classes, teaching students about the anatomy of the eye with a Leap Motion controller and specially-­adapted Oculus Rift headsets. With VR, educators are able to provide a fresh new way to learn anatomy.

  • Lockheed Martin’s educational subsidiary created a “field trip to Mars” experience for students, by replacing the windows of a school bus with transparent 4K displays and switchable glass film.

  • In a joint effort between Harvard and Zhejiang University, Chinese and American students journeyed together through 3D models of Egyptian tombs, collaboratively studying hieroglyphics and pyramids in a detailed digital setting. 

  • Remote learning does not need to hinder activities that once demanded a physical lab. Students and researchers alike can participate in simulated VR clinical trials, and investigate any number of scenarios they may have done in a physical lab, like how exercise affects the human body, or how brain chemistry shapes human behavior.

The Benefits of Virtual Reality in Education

By embracing VR technologies, education institutions unlock a number of benefits for their students, including:

  • Consequence-free experimentation - Whether you’re performing a virtual surgery or piloting a digital aircraft, virtual reality environments allow students to freely experiment with skills and procedures that might otherwise be too expensive or dangerous.

  • Strengthening emotional reactions - Educational experiences that invoke a visceral, emotional response are far more likely to form a lasting memory. By using virtual reality, educators can increase engagement, making every lesson more memorable.

  • Visualizing complexity - When it comes to complex fields like biology or physics, it’s hard to wrap your head around certain subjects with just a lecture or a textbook. VR allows students to visualize the systems that they have a difficult time understanding.

  • Increasing accessibility - Although VR makes unique experiences accessible for everyone, it’s an especially impactful tool for special education, unlocking mobility and convenience for students who might otherwise be unable to explore the world and have certain experiences.

  • Personalized experiences - When teaching at scale, it can be tough to design a lesson that appeals to all of the different learning styles—but with VR, educators can easily offer customized learning environments for every student.

How VR Can Be Used In Academic Research & Labs

While virtual reality can provide students with a variety of intriguing experiences, the technology also holds great utility and promise for the more rigorous realm of academic research. In fact, for many universities, VR is being leveraged far more in their labs than in their classrooms. 

VR enables academic researchers to create controlled and repeatable experiments, manipulating variables that would have otherwise been impossible or far too expensive to execute, if not for VR:

  • Brown University’s Center for Computation and Visualization launched ‘The Yurt,’ a VR lab that allows researchers to “interact with a wide range of virtual environments, from Mars to plankton to chambers of the heart.” In one case, CCV worked with archaeologists to recreate ancient artifacts or even entire archaeological sites, allowing them to further analyze objects, buildings, and landscapes outside of the field.

  • University of California Santa-Barbara’s Center for Virtual Environments and Behavior is using VR technology to improve how low vision patients see and engage with the world. VR allows researchers to simulate how people with different degrees of visual impairments respond to various image processing strategies, offering insights that guide their efforts to build a bionic eye. 

  • At the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL), researchers are pioneering the use of VR headsets for a number of novel use cases, using the tech to study subjects such as climate change, empathy and perception, design thinking, and even meditation. 

How to Leverage the Benefits of VR in Your Academic Institution

With VR, a student’s environment for learning can be expanded into a far larger, more immersive universe, making novel experiences, collaborative research, and unrestrained creativity accessible in every classroom. As VR becomes increasingly easy to implement, these platforms will quickly become the norm at every institution. Still, for schools and universities that are uncertain about how to begin integrating these solutions, the path forward can feel uncertain. The team at MACE Virtual Labs would like to eradicate that uncertainty, serving as your unequivocal partner in the launch and implementation of your VR classrooms and labs. 

With onsite installation and training services, MACE offers a fully turnkey VR solution that ensures the seamless launch of your academic VR program. We’ll help you select, set up and integrate the VR software and hardware you need. Our team of VR experts simplifies the imposing process, walking you through every step of scaling up your virtual education environment.

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