Current Applications

Is Virtual Reality the Future of Education?

Forward-thinking players in the education and training industries believe virtual reality (VR) is a viable solution for today’s 21st century-learners. While industries cannot afford the time and money to experiment with every new digital learning tool that comes along, forward thinkers see VR as a technology that can be leveraged to meet goals and objectives and in the long run become a cost-savings opportunity.

The education industry, in particular, has been in a flux for quite some time now and EdTech entrepreneurs and researchers are working hard to develop meaningful learning tools and services for today’s digital learners that need flexible, personalized models of learning.

Learn by Doing.

VR is not a passive experience. It’s a kinesthetic learning experience, a mental transportation that engages the mind to use all of its senses. And as a result, learn by doing deepens the learning experience. The tremendous value of VR can be seen in its flexibility to enable a learner to have an fully immersive 360° experience at a personalized pace or become a mixed reality collaborative experience where educators and learners work together to solve a problem or create something new.

Yes, there are significant upfront costs associated with the development of VR learning tools; however, VR has the potential to offer a significant reduction of time and expense as compared to traditional education and training programs.

In the world of VR, seeing is believing and its value as a cutting edge learning tool runs the gamut from virtual field trips to musical instrument and sound engineering instruction to professional training in the health and medical fields (think skill-based training on virtual cadavers and surgical simulations).

Here are three examples of VR that add tremendous value in today's education and training industries: