Virtual Reality in the Classroom
As technology continues to improve and become more prevalent in each and every classroom, one of the areas that is still relatively untapped is virtual reality. Using virtual reality in the classroom is something that has many advantages for students and can increase the learning that takes place in the traditional classroom.
There are many advantages to using virtual reality within the classroom setting. First, it provides the students the ability to see things within the classroom that otherwise wouldn't be possible in the traditional classroom. This helps students to gain an interest in the subject that is being taught because it allows the opportunity to interact with the environment which they are learning about. Virtual reality also allows the opportunity for students to engage in a field trip like atmosphere. This helps the students to feel excited about their learning and takes away the "working" feeling. The following video shows the feeling many students have about using virtual reality.
There are also some downsides to virtual reality. Many times virtual reality lacks flexibility. Students are frequently unable to interact with people or ask questions that they may have about a specific topic. Everyone knows that at times there are issues with the functionality of an internet based learning platform, so teachers must be ready to troubleshoot or have a backup plan in place. Another issue that teacher's have reported is the addiction students can develop to a virtual world as opposed to experiencing things in the real world, and there is also the concern about expense. Many times virtual reality can be quite expensive, especially trying to implement virtual reality through headsets and interactive software. One of the last concerns is a teacher's ability to implement virtual reality in an effective way. In the next video you will see Alex Faaborg address some issues with virtual reality and some ground rules for implementing virtual reality in the classroom:
For more on the advantages and disadvantages of virtual reality check out the following article from Paula Hicks.
Overall, the possibilities of using virtual reality are extremely promising. It is a growing field with endless possibilities. Over the next few years I strongly believe we will see the field experience an explosion of use in the classroom. The question becomes, what exactly can we do with virtual reality and how can it help to improve the learning that takes place in your classroom?
