VR: a toy or a powerful learning tool?

Most of us probably know what VR is. However, how many people, so many different associations are associated with it. Some people associate VR with sci-fi movies, others with slot machines, some probably own their own headwear in their home, and everyone uses it in their own way. There can be a lot of associations associated with this technology, because it hides many applications. However, there are many that we don’t hear about every day, and they are a powerful part of the development of this industry. Such an example is the use of VR in training, meetings, or everyday work. It can also be used to analyze the user’s environmental impact and study their behavior in virtual spaces.

Education and VR

The development of virtual reality applications already at the beginning of its concept provided for the use of VR technology for educational purposes. The possibilities of this tool are almostlimitless. Especially in recent years, when the intensive growth of this industry has grown tremendously. New technologies used in virtual reality and the performance capabilities of the latest glasses make immersion in the world easier than ever. Therefore, more and more companies prefer to develop virtual training. This is due to the power with which this environment can influence our emotions.. This is m.in they contribute to better memorization of educational materials by participants. Stimulating the emotions associated with the VR experience makes the training experience more profound. This is especially evident when we compare the methods of practical and theoretical training with each other. Being able to recreate an action after it has been done before is certainly more effective than just learning the theory. This does not mean that we should downplay it, because it often complements the very foundation and purpose of learning. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to choose between one or the other method, and both the practical and theoretical parts should be cherished. However, in many cases, this is not always possible, and therefore employees are deprived of the opportunity to train in practice. This is due to the fact that there are restrictions related to costs, the risk of a new employee’s mistake, damage to the tool, machine, or simply the availability of alternative simulators for this job. However, keep in mind that there are certain professions that require practical experience, in which a single mistake can contribute to a disaster – putting the health of an employee or a third person at risk, damaging a device or line of equipment, causing an accident at the workplace, etc.VR allows you to minimize this threat, get rid of it. By creating simulations of the virtual world, we allow the user not only to experience a particular action, but also allow them to make mistakes in a safe and controlled environment. This is especially important because they show not only the elements associated with the correct execution of actions, but also the consequences associated with making a mistake. Not only that, it also allows us to actually test a person’s behavior in the event of a threat and analyze their behavior process in the event of its occurrence.

Virtual reality, and in fact its use by its creators, can show us completely different views related to the object of science. When designing, you can use many mechanics and features of this technology not only to reproduce reality, but also to create abstract scenarios. Creating these scenarios with a pinch of creativity and appropriate interaction can be a recipe for the perfect education. This is an ideal solution to the problems that the education system faces today. which can’t engage the student properly. Schools bombard students with thousands of dry and incomprehensible formulas. Often, unfortunately, children know the definition of things they don’t even understand because school doesn’t offer them opportunities for their experience. This is why learning, which is really meant to be revealing and inspiring, becomes a chore for children. The form it has taken becomes repulsive, and it should not be so.

The use of VR in education and training

Fortunately, the potential of virtual reality in education and training is becoming increasingly valuable in the field of science. On June 25, 2020, the PwC team published the results of one of the first-ever in-depth analyses of how learning in the virtual reality world affects the level of content memorization, engagement, and its translation into the use of acquired skills in practice.

However, even before the advent of these studies, VR has repeatedly proved this to us. Many training and educational applications have been created based on virtual reality technologies

An example of this would be applications like, for example:

  • InMind VR 2
  • Titans of Space
  • Anatomyou
  • ThingLink
  • KingTut VR
  • Learn Languages VR
  • Unimersiv
  • 4D Anatomy
  • Discovery VR
  • Number Hunt
  • Tilt Brush
  • Apollo 11 VR
  • Virtual Speech

These are applications that help science in subjects such as geography, math, history, plastic, physics, chemistry, and biology. Some of them also support learning foreign languages and developing soft competencies, as well as the ability to manage stress. Of course, these are just examples, but there are definitely more apps like this, and they will be coming. Interest in VR technology and its real impact on improving the level of knowledge acquisition is becoming a topic that can affect the future of education as we know it.

The Metaverse and the future of education

Virtual world of the Metaverse, this may be part of a revolution in the system of science. The universal space can be used to create virtual classrooms where training can take place. This allows you to fully transfer training to a virtual world with the ability to interact not only with the training objects themselves, but also with the participants of these trainings. This will allow you to increase the level of user engagement, contributing to the growth of their interest in this topic. Thus, it will improve the level of assimilation of knowledge gained in the virtual world, and help to improve the skills of their use in the real world. Thanks to this solution, people participating in this training will have the opportunity to learn and really get acquainted with this topic, which means that this would not be possible with traditional science. VR allows you to move the user to any location, which can be a simulation of reality or a complete alternative to the real world, truncated according to the needs of learning. The ability to edit or change the space in any way opens up a huge maneuver space in the world of education between the essence of science and the balance of the user’s concentration on a specific topic of learning, learning or just learning.

Maciej Fiałkowski, EpicVR