Extended Reality In Education: The 5 Ways VR And AR Will Change The Way We Learn At School, At Work And In Our Personal Lives

1. Extended Reality In Education:
The 5 Ways VR And AR Will Change The Way
We Learn At School, At Work And
In Our Personal Lives

2. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
Introduction
Introduction
Extended reality (virtual and augmented reality) is set to transform the
education sector and change how we learn. In this article we look at the
impact of virtual reality and augmented reality on learning in schools and at
work.
Extended Reality In Education: The 5 Ways VR And
AR Will Change The Way We Learn At School, At
Work And In Our Personal Lives

3. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
It’s fair to say that a lot of teaching is based on presenting students with facts.
This means successful students tend to be those who retain facts easily, while
students who struggle to process large amounts of information at one time can
quickly become disengaged. This arguably applies to all types of learners,
whether it’s in a school setting, on a workplace training course, or in lifelong
learning.
Some people are visual learners, after all, which means the ability to “see” a
process (rather than read or hear about it) is far more impactful for them. This is
where virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can add real value to the
learning process. These “extended reality” (XR) technologies can create
immersive worlds where students can visualize concepts and learn new skills and
information in an interactive way.

4. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Here Are 5 Ways VR And AR Could Transform Education
1. Creating a more immersive experience for schoolchildren
Thanks to its highly immersive nature, VR can transport students to different
places, and even different times. One great example comes from 1943: Berlin
Blitz, a VR experience produced for the BBC by Immersive VR Education.
Recreating the events that took place on September 3rd 1943, this experience
portrays the true story of a Lancaster Bomber on a mission to Berlin.
Alongside the regular crew, the plane was also carrying BBC reporter Wynford
Vaughan-Thomas and his sound engineer, Reg Pidsley. The VR experience
recreates this historic event, using a mixture of VR simulations and real archive
recordings from inside the plane (which were broadcast on UK radio following
the team’s successful return). What a fantastic way to bring history to life, and
make historical events more accessible – more human, even.

5. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Here Are 5 Ways VR And AR Could Transform Education
2. Enabling exciting new field trips
As a parent, I know that school trips can be expensive, which means they aren’t necessarily
open to all students. But with VR, field trips could become a lot more accessible,
affordable, and, dare I say, more interesting. After all, in theory, any kind of experience is
possible with VR. Walking on the moon? No problem. Seeing polar bears in the Arctic?
Sure.
Google is removing the typical barriers to field trips and creating amazing experiences for
students through its Google Expeditions app. Designed for teachers to use with their
classes, the app offers hundreds of adventures – some using VR and some using AR –
spanning history, science, the arts, and the natural world. In the VR experiences, students
embark on an immersive simulated experience to destinations like the Louvre or Mount
Everest (and this can be done using super-cheap Google Cardboard VR headsets).
Meanwhile, the AR experiences bring abstract concepts to life in the classroom – for
example, the teacher could project a swirling tornado or beehive into the classroom, so
students can get a closer look.

6. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Here Are 5 Ways VR And AR Could Transform Education
3. Transforming hands-on learning
Did you ever have to dissect a frog in high school? I did, and I hated it. (The frog
had a worse time, obviously, but it was pretty traumatic for me, too.) Now, this
gruesome experience can be replaced by AR.
Froggipedia is an AR app that lets students study the internal organs of a frog.
Students can either study frog organs individually, or there’s a dissection option,
which lets them poke around the complex internal structure of frogs’ organ
systems – without harming any poor frogs. Plus, students get to see the
incredible transformation that frogs go through, from egg to tadpole, then from
tiny froglet to a fully formed frog.

7. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Here Are 5 Ways VR And AR Could Transform Education
4. Improving workplace training
In the future, I believe all manner of workplace training will be enhanced with VR and AR.
VR can be especially helpful when it comes to simulating dangerous situations, or
scenarios that are difficult to recreate in real life.
One great example comes from Australian company FLAIM Systems. Australia has been
devastated by wildfires in recent years, as have parts of America. Now, some fire
departments in Australia and the US (as well as the UK, Netherlands, and other countries
around the world) are using FLAIM to train their firefighters. The VR technology immerses
firefighters in virtual scenarios that are just too dangerous or difficult to recreate in the
real world – including wildfires and airplane fires. Amazingly, the VR tech realistically
renders all the fire, smoke, water, and fire-extinguishing foam – as well as the heat, thanks
to a special heat suit that can heat a firefighter up to around 100 degrees Celsius (212
Fahrenheit), depending on their proximity to the virtual fire. The system even replicates
the powerful force firefighters feel from the water hose.

8. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Here Are 5 Ways VR And AR Could Transform Education
5. Enhancing the lifelong learning experience
Whatever you want to learn in your everyday life, AR or VR could improve the experience.
Take public speaking as an example. Award-winning VR provider VirtualSpeech has
created a VR tool to help people practice public speaking in a more immersive, realistic
way.
Whether you want to master speaking in front of a large audience, become more
confident in networking settings, or simply deliver better pitches and presentations to
smaller audiences, VirtualSpeech’s VR e-learning courses can help. After donning a VR
headset (remember, these can be very inexpensive), you find yourself in front of a
simulated audience (there are a range of audience sizes to choose from). You can then
practice your speech or presentation (with your real presentation slides, if you want), get
real-time feedback on your delivery, and monitor your improvement over time. The tool
can even be used by corporations to train their teams.

9. © 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Here Are 5 Ways VR And AR Could Transform Education
An impressive 95 percent of VirtualSpeech users said practicing in VR helped
them better prepare for real-world situations.
From elementary school right up to university level, in lifelong learning and
corporate training, extended reality technologies have the potential to make
learning more effective, more engaging, and more relevant for today’s tech-
driven world.
Read more about extended reality in my new book, Extended Reality in Practice:
100+ Amazing Ways Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality Are Changing
Business and Society. It’s packed with real-world examples from education and
many other industries.

10. Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2020 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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© 2020 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved