Tuesday, 7 April, 2020 UTC
Summary
We have been trying different ways and means to improve the way we teach, from E-learning, M-learning and now A-learning, we are constantly looking for ways to make knowledge transfer more efficient.
The main problem does not lie on the hardware we employ, but the system itself. In typical classrooms, students are not taught to be life long learners but to learn a set of knowledge and skills that may no longer be relevant in 10 years. The world is changing faster than ever, what we teach today may no longer be relevant when students graduate. What has to change is not simply how we teach, but also what we teach.
Before discussing how VR improves the way we teach and learn, we should throw an eye on what and why changes are required.
How did we teach and learn yesterday and why?
Traditional school curricula have remained unchanged for centuries, which was designed when the Industrial Revolution began. They suited to facilitate standardized mass education and disregarding the need for individualized learning.
It was the time when there was a sudden demand for workers, and the job requirement inclined on task execution than problem-solving. What they needed at that time was a routine specialist, who can apply knowledge to repetitive problems. To meet this need, they have designed a system that moves the learners within the same age groups at the same pace, and learn the same things passively at a fixed time.
Teacher is the sage on the stage. He or she is a knowledge transmitter and a content expert.
Students learn passively at the same pace, following ready-made recipes as no changes or evolution was expected. It is a teacher-centered instruction focusing on facts provision. The teacher, in most cases, is simply following the curriculum, and the curriculum doesn’t cater to student needs.
It makes sense at that time, given that knowledge was not easily accessible nor for everyone. There was no internet and access to knowledge was difficult due to time cost and tuition fees.
How do we teach and learn today?
Today, knowledge is everywhere and easily accessible to everyone thanks to the internet.
From chalkboard to interactive whiteboard, from classroom learning to Zoom meeting, E-learning / M-learning allows us to learn anytime, anywhere with almost any device. Technologies have effectively improved the way we obtain information, and provide learners with more freedom in deciding what they want to learn.
Yet, very often, besides digitalizing the content, our school curricula have remained unchanged. On one hand, the teacher’s job is still to deliver knowledge as if they were the only source in the classroom. Students, on the other hand, are mostly being fed with knowledge, read instructions rather than explore and practice in real-life.
“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.”
― John DeweyPhoto by mentatdgt from Pexels
Technologies and the internet have effectively aided learning by enabling easy access to information. Yet, having access to and consuming a lot of information isn’t learning. Being informed and being educated are two separate concepts. To well-prepared the students for this fast-changing world, adding more modules into the current curriculum doesn’t help.
Why changes are needed?
Technology is evolving at a faster pace than ever. Some skills you’ve learned at school will be obsolete in a few years. We are now in the era of automation and digitalization. AI is doing a better job than humans in processing data, carrying out standardized tasks and solving routine problems. More than ever, critical thinking and problem-solving skills are crucial for learning and job execution. This is an important factor that traditional schools don’t take into account.
The world is changing rapidly, but curricula barely change. To ensure that students remain relevant after graduation, we need to fundamentally change the way we educate our youth to keep up with the pace of technology.
Instead of providing them with the knowledge and skills, we should prepare them with a growth mindset that will allow them to adapt and learn in this volatile era.
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More importantly, educators must become not only knowledge experts and transmitters but also learning facilitators.
Why VR?
Virtual reality can be used to enhance student learning and engagement. VR education transforms the way educational content is delivered. Whether it is on 360° or 3D animation based, it allows learners to not only see it but also interact with it. Being immersed in what you’re learning motivates you to explore and to fully grasp the concepts.
Here are several reasons that VR has changed the way, and the content we teach:
1. Learn by doing
VR transforms the way educational content is delivered as learners have the occasion to apply theories to practice, it favors memory formation. It also requires less cognitive load to figure out real-world connections and applications.
When learning takes place by the learners carrying out physical activities and interacting with the actual environment, rather than passively listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations, learners will be actively involved in building up the new knowledge base, discover knowledge instead of being fed with information.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels2. Visualizing knowledge and concepts
VR can make the unseen be seen. Intangible concepts and locations that are physically impossible to reach, such as human anatomy, neuroscience, magnetic fields, and Mars can now be shown in 3 dimensions and interactive way.
There are no more reality constraints. Learners can learn at their pace, explore and make sense of the knowledge in their own way. Teachers can serve as the guide on the side to ensure success for all students. This is more impactful and captivating than traditional informing-teaching.
3. Mistakes are welcome
Even with the perfect lesson plan and educator, an unmotivated student will not learn.
We need motivation to promote learning and success, and confidence builds motivation. Being encouraged to explore, to make mistakes and to learn, our confidence will be boosted and growth mindset will be built.
“Mistakes are the best teachers. One does not learn from success. It is desirable to learn vicariously from other people’s failures, but it gets much more firmly seared in when they are your own.”
― Mohnish Pabrai
VR allows room for mistakes. Students can practice chemical mixing and blending in VR, without worrying about spilling chemicals on the spectrometer or causing accidents. They can also practice making decisions and understand the consequences of their choices before applying them to real life.
Being encouraged to learn from mistakes enables students to see failures are important parts of growth. They will be more willing to try new things, which is the key to success in this fast-changing world.
4. Adaptive yet Scalable
A good learning experience is not only about how we deliver it, but also who deliver it. The quality of teaching staff plays an important role.
No matter how advanced education technology is, without a good teacher as a facilitator, the learning outcome cannot be optimized.
VR allows us to provide standardized quality teaching with adaptivity in a scalable way. A well-designed VR experience with branching narratives put full control in learners’ hands. Their performance decides how their learning scaffold, dynamic pathways motivate students to learn, and it also increases engagement levels which improve knowledge retention.
5. Instant Corrective and objective Feedback
On-time feedback is crucial in any kind of learning. It allows learners to understand and assimilate the content better. It also encourages self-reflection, deepens learners’ understanding and enhances knowledge retention, this allows learners to correct the incorrect ideas or behaviors before it has become a habit.
VR technologies together with Artificial Intelligence makes feedback on-time, evaluative and informative. Instead of a simplistic, robotic pop-up of “try again” after a failure, personalized and informative hints, or even branching narratives can be provided according to students’ learning pathways.
Sometimes, AI can even identify the smallest, almost unnoticeable detail that we humans may just let it pass. Learner’s performance is being evaluated with no unconscious biases /subjectivity.
With the analytical and behavioral data that AI provides, teachers are freed from doing mundane tasks and can provide deeper, constructive and personalized feedback without cognitive distortions.
Combining Artificial Intelligence and Human Expertise is the best way to achieve synergies, and the best use of technology.
6. Everyone can be a creator
Learning is not only about remembering and understanding. With VR technologies, students will be able to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned to new contexts by creating and evaluating, thus achieving higher-order learning. The National University of Singapore has a very innovative approach in using VR in education, by giving Forensic Science students the right to create their own crime scenes.
If you empower learners to create their learning module and experience, that is a higher-order learning process, rather than just experiencing it passively.
Conclusion:
Education should not be a task that you do for a specific period of time simply for a certification. It is the means to achieve lifelong learning and self-discovery.
To train up our next generations to be lifelong learners, building their growth mindset is essential. Simply changing the hardware we employ for education is not enough, we need to improve the means and the content we educate students and prepare them for the world of innovation and uncertainties.
It is time to make learning even more fun and engaging.
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https://medium.com/media/1e1f2ee7654748bb938735cbca6f0fd3/hrefHow VR improves the way we teach and learn was originally published in AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.