Exploring the power of Extended Reality Technology in Education.

The dream of becoming Indiana Jones and exploring hidden temples in remote lands is now possible.

Virtual, Augmented, along with Mixed Reality technology, collectively known as Extended Reality, or XR, is making this life-long fantasy come true.

The development of modern-day XR has come a long way since its introduction in the late 1960's when Ivan Sutherland created the first actual VR Head Mounted Display (HMD) in 1968. However, when looking at the modern-day version of this tech, we’ve seen outstanding progress and use cases just in the past decade.

So, with XR becoming a cornerstone in today’s digital culture, we must also consider what opportunities this technology can have, and will have, on the next generation. How will this technology be integrated into the lives of the youth and what trends are we already seeing, specifically in education?

Through smartphone applications or full head sets such as the Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard, students can have a better understanding of what life is like on other parts of the world, walking through famous museums, such as the Louvre using YouVisits, or stepping inside iconic paintings like Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night to explore the methods behind the artist’s work.

However, these experiences don’t stop at present. Students can virtually travel back in time to see how the Romans built their empire or watch Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in The Globe Theatre.

But more importantly, through this exploration, students gain a profound understanding of real present-day problems that are otherwise hard to conceptualize, such as visiting a refugee camp in Syria and see the lives of the residents.

While the opportunities XR brings for classrooms are endless, one of the predominantly discussed topics which are driving forces behind this technological development is learning by doing. 

Learning by Doing
 

Finally, one of the more discussed reasons for educators to adopt this technology is the idea of Learning by Doing. You may have heard about the initial use of this technology in education — medical students having lessons through VR or AR mediums. Whether it’s for virtually performing delicate surgeries, treating real-life illnesses, or exploring the human anatomy, XR has created an advanced method of learning that effectively saves lives every day.

The same principle of Learning by Doing can be applied to other areas of education. Studies from the Medical Virtual Reality group at the University of Southern California show that children and students learn best by doing or by being.

“So, they shouldn’t just read about history — they should ‘be’ historians. They shouldn’t just study archaeology — they should ‘be’ archaeologists.” — James Corbett, Medical Virtual Reality Group.

A different, more social learning by doing subject includes building students’ foreign language comprehension. A VR conversation exchange with a class from the language being studied can amplify the learning process by having this “real-life” experience and one-on-one exchange with those who are native speakers.