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Lucubrate Magazine, February 16th, 2023
Instead of writing an introduction, let me introduce you to the idea of immersive technology. This concept refers to integrating technology into daily life to create closer interactions between people and machines. For example, teachers can use apps to engage their students. Students can play games and have fun while learning. All of these interactions may make learning more engaging and effective.
Incorporating immersive technologies into our daily life may create fun interactions between machines and humans. This is particularly helpful for educators; technological advancements make lessons more engaging for students and teachers alike. More importantly, technological innovations make it easier for those with disabilities to participate fully in society.
What is Immersive Technologie?
In online learning, the positive effect of using multimedia continues to grow gradually with the use of interactive video and interactive multimedia. Parallel to virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and extended reality, known as immersive technologies, are becoming popular. The point of view for online learning has been improved and expanded. This context opened an opportunity for the concepts like immersive learning, immersive learning environments, and immersive scenarios to emerge.[1]
Immersive technology refers to new ways of creating, displaying and interacting with applications, content and experiences. Immersive technology has transformed the digital experience by combining the virtual with users’ sight, sound, and even touch.
The goal of immersive learning design is to create engaging and interactive learning experiences that immerse learners in a virtual environment where they can explore and interact with the subject matter in meaningful ways. [2]
The Use of Immersive Technologies
Today, immersive learning design is used in many settings, including education and corporate training. It is increasingly being recognized as an effective way to engage learners and enhance the learning experience. [2]
Teachers have access to apps that help them engage their students better. For example, an app could play patriotic music during morning assemblies so students can get patriotic and patriotic songs in their heads. Alternatively, an app could display a visual diagram of theorems for students to trace with their fingers. These are just a few examples of how immersive technologies benefit teachers and students.
Education is much more effective when it’s fun and engaging, so educational apps and games would do that. These apps help transform lectures into entertaining lessons by allowing the teacher to interact with the app or game himself. For example, the teacher could highlight parts of the task using voice transcription or add audio clips to enhance it. Students would be thrilled to complete interactive assignments instead of tedious written worksheets.
Immersive Technologies Use the Recourses in New Ways
Educational tech also saves physical resources like paper and time. Teachers no longer need to photocopy notes or wait for students’ papers to arrive in the mail. Instead, they can use digital tablets or smartphones for everything their classes need touch-screen access. Plus, games don’t require players to wait for completed missions; they can immediately jump into a new stage or level whenever they like. All these savings allow schools to expand what they offer students, which is why our country has an excellent educational system compared to other countries.
Technological advancements are beneficial for students with dyslexia or visual impairments. These apps provide auditory or haptic feedback so the students can self-learn without an instructor helping them out every step of the way. In addition, educational games make learning easy by breaking large tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks. This makes lessons more effective and reduces stress for students. Games also encourage lifelong studying habits by awarding points for completed homework tasks and providing rewards for higher scores.
Immersive Technologies May Lift Education
A study published in 2023 provides empirical evidence that validates the methodological model developed to explain key concepts and improve students’ motivation and acceptance of AR technology. The proposed model can induce improvements in educational processes in STEAM when used with an immersive AR technological resource and an adapted digital evaluation system. It also demonstrates that teachers require specific training in creating and relatively using AR educational resources and digital evaluation systems. The study results have important implications for the field of education, demonstrating the potential of AR technology to improve learning outcomes and the need for teacher training in its use.[3]
These technologies allow learners to experience and interact with the virtual environment more realistically and immersively than traditional methods, such as lectures or reading materials.
Will immersive technologies affect the learning experience through motivation, curiosity, cognitive benefits, reflective thinking, and the perception of value? If immersive technologies increase learning in the classroom through virtual reality technology, we should expand their use.
References
[1] Özlem Soydan Oktay and Volkan Yuzer, Immersive Learning, Immersive Scenarios, and Immersive Technologies, ResearchGate, January 2023
[2] Gonzalez-Argote J, Gonzalez-Argote D. 10 Best practices in Immersive Learning Design and 10 points of connection with the Metaverse. Metaverse Bas. App. Res. 2022 Dec. 28 [cited 2023 Feb. 16]
[2] Delgado-Rodríguez, Santiago, Carrascal Domínguez, Silvia and Garcia-Fandino, Rebeca: Design, Development and Validation of an Educational Methodology Using Immersive Augmented Reality for STEAM Education, Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research – 2023, Vol. 12, No. 1
Lucubrate Magazine February 2023
The photo on the top of the article: Adobe Stock
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