VR, AR, MR in education- the new eXtended reality of education?

During the dawn of electronic media and rapid development of information technology -their applications in education were linked to securing digital equipment for the school labs and ensuring quality access to the Internet. 30 years later basic hardware foundations for immersing in the digital world are mostly guaranteed in many countries, but the number of available devices and quality of connectivity varies significantly. Furthermore, the technology meaningful use for educational purposes is not a universal or a fully established practice.

Reality has become elusive. With modern technologies allowing to construct the authentic digital versions of the perceived realities and metaverse arriving soon, the border of real and not real becomes vague and subtle. Scholars, policy makers and technology evangelists might have different understanding of the promises and current application of the new Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Realities (MRs), and our kids or students also have different educational experiences. And these experiences mostly depend on the proper design and understanding of teachers of the new possibilities and challenges. So how are VRs, ARs and XRs entering the education world?

Let’s start with definitions – VR stands for Virtual Reality. The technologies behind it allow to create immersive experiences for the user based on video, audio and sometimes tactile sensors in the virtual environment.

VR applications boosted the gaming industry. Numerous combat multiplayers compete in designing the battlegrounds and characters in a finest detail, learning about 3D mechanics a lot. Initially presented through flat monitors, and later with curved ones, the VR expanded to 3 dimensions through special glasses, lenses and kits.

The applications in education process evolved from educational games to simulations that serve teaching and learning purposes. Simulators become popular in some TVET specializations. E.g. crane simulators in construction, or in a seaport freight operations.

Further development of VR is closely interconnected with headsets and other virtual environments that could recreate the real working conditions in different specializations or fields. In general education VR content is efficiently provided in geography, biology and other STEM subjects, where direct experimentation might be hazardous. Some applications are oriented on a passive watching and analyzing, others offer interactivity by changing the parameters of variables to simulate experiments.

AR means Augmented Reality, where the “common” or real-world reality is augmented by the digitally created content overlay. According to one definition “Augmented Reality (AR) overlays digitally-created content on top of the user’s real-world environment, viewed through a device”.

AR could expand further than VR in education, especially in terms of interactive components.

A good example is Google Expeditions, which was replaced by Google arts and Culture that brings 3D objects to the classroom and offers a variety of explorations tours of STEM, Arts, Culture and Geography.

Examples of AR in TVET education could include wearing of AR glasses in practicing engineering and mechanical construction work, e.g. assembling a car, and getting on screen instruction on the sequence of operations or popping virtual tips in the real background. And vice versa, students could explore and practice fitting virtual 3D models to real places before doing it for real.

AR and VR could bring more engagement and fun into education. Also they bring benefits to students with special needs, that seems to be a whole new and promising direction.

MR stands for Mixed Reality where the real world objects and environments are blended with virtual one creating a blend of audio-visual and tactile experiences. In other words:  “Mixed Reality (MR) seamlessly blends the user’s real-world environment with digitally-created content, where both environments can coexist and interact with each other.”

I recall Microsoft Hololens as one of the first implementations of MR. Merging virtual and dynamic objects with the real environment opens up a breakthrough potential in many subjects, e.g. in human anatomy and medicine. As some impressed educators admit the ability to interact with 3D holograms while also seeing instructors and classmates provided extraordinary learning opportunities. As Microsoft claims, it brings 22% improvement in test scores and 35% increase in student engagement and retention.

^{Image source: Microsoft}

With advancement of technology the experiences and research has also matured. There is a website solely dedicated to AR and VR in education – ARVREdTech.com. There are various blog type articles about usage cases, benefits and challenges of AR/VR in education. Topics include: How to Apply Virtual Reality to Enhance Learning Experiences.

How Virtual Reality Can Help Students in Challenging Courses?

Best Examples Of VR And AR In Education

^{Image credit: arvrtech.com}

What about XR? It stand for Extended Reality and is a concept unifying the previous concepts in a holistic way. There is XR news aggregator website https://www.xrtoday.com were you can get immersive understanding of what future holds. One of the examples of XR in automotive industry training is that it “can empower new drivers, allowing future learners to experiment with the features of a vehicle and learn skills before” actually riding it.

^{Image source: Envision Innovative Solutions}

Of course there are constraints for development and use of the AR/VR applications. First of all, the hardware costs money and that could be a barrier. But more importantly relevant content should exist that serves educational needs. Unlike other digital applications that teachers could master, meaningful VR content requires advance coding, UI/UX and instructional design teams involvement. Thus big tech companies usually develop such content and offer it, often in combination with hardware. Microsoft is offering some mixed reality application for free, while mixing them with the paid ones. Some universities are investing in creating VR learning objects repository. E.g. Drexel University Online has created 250 000 augmented, virtual, and mixed reality learning objects in different disciplines.

There are lots of videos and content with examples of AR/VR/MR freely available on Youtube or other online destinations, that could also create information overload.

But there are even more important questions that were also discussed during our innovative educators community meetup (add a link to the event). Technology expands quicker than education systems responses, and often ability of young students to manipulate new devices outclasses teachers’ knowledge of education technology.

Rather than focusing on changing new technology headsets it worth changing pedagogies, aiming to answer the question: does the new technology offer also new educational models? It seems many educators are embracing student-centered approaches and explore new ways to teach, however the overload of information and lack of guidance often prevents innovative practices to reach the classroom. And that is true for the brave new world of the eXtended reality.

Let’s hope with help of industries and academia we shall find the best solutions to eXtend our teaching practices and learning experiences in an effective and impactful way.