With more and more people using mobile devices to access information, the benefits of virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) for educational purposes are becoming well-known.
Both technologies offer opportunities for students to learn in new ways, challenging them to think creatively and solve problems from new angles.
With AR & VR technology becoming increasingly accessible to consumers and businesses alike, it is ideal for educators to implement AR & VR in their teaching practices.
5 Ways You Can Use Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps to Benefit Students
1. 5 Ways You Can Use Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
Apps to Benefit Students
2. Index
Introduction
VR and AR Apps Help Students Learn by Making Concepts
Tangible
VR and AR Apps Can Help Students Develop Important Skills
AR and VR Can Foster Collaboration and Problem-Solving
Skills
AR and VR Apps Offer Diverse Learning Opportunities for
Students with Disabilities
AR and VR Apps Help Educate Through Immersive
Experiences
Final Thoughts
3. Introduction
With more and more people using mobile devices to access information, the benefits of virtual and
augmented reality (VR and AR) for educational purposes are becoming well-known.
Both technologies offer opportunities for students to learn in new ways, challenging them to think
creatively and solve problems from new angles.
With AR & VR technology becoming increasingly accessible to consumers and businesses alike, it is ideal
for educators to implement AR & VR in their teaching practices.
We’ll take a look at 5 ways you can utilize AR and VR apps to benefit your students:
4. VR and AR Apps Help Students Learn by Making Concepts Tangible
Before we explore the how let's first examine the why.
VR and AR apps let students interact with concepts in a way that wasn’t possible before.
Students can learn what various biological components look like and how they work in the context of a
human body, for example. They can walk around in a digital environment and access information about
the environment’s architecture or historical significance.
This way, VR and AR apps can help students learn by making concepts tangible; they can take something
typically conceptual and make it real.
A student’s imagination is powerful tool, but it can rarely replace the real-world experience of a concept
in its full context. VR and AR technology can help close that gap.
5. VR and AR Apps Can Help Students Develop Important Skills
VR and AR apps can help students develop essential skills, including spatial awareness, problem-solving, and
adaptability.
Teachers can use VR and AR apps to immerse students in environments they would never be able to access
in real life, such as spacecraft or mountaintop observatories.
By letting students experience these environments, educators can give their students the chance to hone
their problem-solving skills.
VR and AR apps can also help students strengthen their spatial awareness and ability to visualize themselves
in three-dimensional spaces — skills crucial for disciplines like architecture or engineering.
Spatial awareness lets people make connections between objects and understand their relationships with
one another — for example, understanding that a bridge spans a river or that a road runs alongside a river.
VR and AR can help students strengthen these abilities by letting them visualize their relationships within
complex environments.
6. AR and VR Can Foster Collaboration and Problem-Solving Skills
VR and AR apps foster collaboration.
Teachers can use AR to create virtual boards on which students can collaborate and share information,
like a whiteboard that students can see and interact with no matter where they are.
Educational instructors can also use AR tools to bring virtual objects into the real world, enabling
students to collaborate on and learn from these objects in contexts that make sense.
7. AR and VR Apps Help Educate Through Immersive Experiences
VR and AR apps can help students learn through immersive experiences.
VR and AR have the potential to make learning collaborative and experiential, opening doors for
students to explore and interact with new subjects in new ways.
VR can safely put the user in difficult or dangerous situations to replicate the real world, such as a
spacewalk.
AR can put digital objects into real-world settings, helping students learn from and interact with these
objects in ways that make sense. AR can bring data or information into the classroom to make learning
through experience more interactive for students.
8. AR and VR Apps Offer Diverse Learning Opportunities for Students with Disabilities
VR apps can help students with disabilities learn by removing barriers that may prevent them from fully
participating in particular lessons. For example, VR can help students with hearing impairments learn by
providing captions. It can also help students who use wheelchairs navigate virtual environments.
AR apps can help students with disabilities learn in specific contexts.
9. Conclusion
VR and AR apps have already begun to make significant
changes to education, and changes will only increase as
technologists continue improving these technologies.
VR and AR apps can help students learn in new ways, challenge
them to think creatively, and solve problems from new
perspectives.