As technology continues to advance, so do the possibilities for new genres of immersive experiences in the classroom. To learn more about this potential, Camilla Finlay—GHELI’s Multimedia Administrative Coordinator and Learning Studios lead—attended the conference, Reality in Higher Ed (Virtual, Augmented, Mixed): Ready for Prime Time?, with collaborator Jake Waxman from the Center for Health Decision Science.
The conference focused on uses of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) for educational purposes, with a panel that discussed both the benefits and the challenges of implementing alternate realities in the classroom.
Alternate reality systems provide opportunities for distance learning and professional training. “The benefit of distance learning with the products associated with these technologies getting cheaper, is the probability that they could be used in the future to facilitate global classrooms, and bringing education to less-developed parts of the world,” Waxman shared. “However, it is important to be wary of new technological advancements entering pedagogy and to make sure that they are used to advance teaching methods, not hinder them.”
Finlay and Waxman both anticipate that some of the pedagogical questions surrounding VR and AR will continue to evolve alongside the technologies themselves. The field of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality seems to be the next step in educational technology advancement.
According to Finlay, the conference was a “fact-finding mission” to learn more about virtual reality technology more broadly. “The conference allowed us to see these existing programs and also think about how they could possibly be thoughtfully integrated with our interdisciplinary teaching and learning projects in the future.”
To learn more, explore the GHELI Learning Studio’s main areas of focus.