3 Uses of AR and VR in Education

AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) are used for advertising, branding and customer experience in many industries. They also improve learning by offering immersive digital experiences that surpass traditional teaching methods. AR overlays digital content over the real environment. VR fully immerses viewers in a digital environment.

AR and VR in education help students engage better with learning material beyond lectures through active participation. It bridges theoretical knowledge and real-world experience.

Educators can use AR VR education in many contexts: institutional and public education, professional upskilling and school learning journeys. Let’s explore 3 uses and benefits of AR and VR in education, featuring projects from True World Studios (TWS), a Singapore-based AR and VR solutions provider.

1. Institutional Education

Improving Motivation and Retention

Gamification is one proven way to get students to pay attention. It puts the fun back into learning.

Gamification improves student motivation, satisfaction, and engagement. Students feel psychologically rewarded from gamified educational material through the game’s dynamic elements, such as prizes and competition. It incentivises students to learn and master the game’s educational content.

Additionally, students are more engaged in interactive and immersive AR VR gamified environments, leading to better information retention.

According to Devlin Peck, nearly 50% of students worldwide learn online. 70% of them preferred virtual lessons. Institutional education should leverage more AR VR gamification to transform classrooms and enhance learning.

For example, interactive virtual environments are ideal for learning science. Scientific inquiry is exploratory, hypothesis-based, and inductive. Similarly, virtual worlds are fluid, dynamic, and full of choices. The investigative nature of science is well-suited to experimental digital learning environments.

Learning in New Environments

Travelling to Mars sounds like a fun idea, but how does one even get there?Now you can, with AR VR road trips.

AR VR education enables students to travel to new environments they may not visit in real life, such as uninhabited areas, outer space, and dangerous zones.

It provides helpful visuals and sensory experiences to increase engagement and memorability. For instance, Google Expeditions offers virtual field trips to many places. Viewers can visit the International Space Station, Everest Base Camp, and Mars in 360° videos and images.

Travel anywhere you want for free, from the comfort of your seat.

Collecting Learning Data

AR VR gamification focuses on what students learn and how they learn. Teachers can collect student learning behaviour data to improve lessons and assist students who need more guidance.

School Learning Journeys

AR and VR in education are excellent topics and teaching methods for school learning journeys.

TWS hosts learning journeys to teach students about the gaming industry and AR VR business applications. Students are also treated to a live VR demonstration to understand the fun and appeal of virtual environments.

These learning journeys help inspire and train the next generation of industry professionals!

 

2. Public Education

VR and AR in education offer remote museum experiences to make learning more accessible and affordable to the public. People from all over the world may visit the museum and interact with exhibits.

AR and VR technologies transform the physical environment into a dynamic location that brings audiences on-site. Visitors can use them at home or in physical exhibitions.

Check out these 4 AR VR public education projects by TWS, Terminal Eleven, Onix Systems and Madame Tussauds Singapore:

National Museum of Singapore VR Archeological Dig (TWS)

This project by TWS presented a VR experience of a 1990s archaeological dig project in Singapore. Two players could experience the digital environment simultaneously using traditional VR peripheral equipment and VR trackers on mockups.

The project accurately showcased what happens during an archaeological dig. It also provided information about unearthed artefacts.

SkyView App (Terminal Eleven)

Enjoy stargazing but don’t know the names of the constellations? Now, you can identify any constellation in the sky simply by pointing your phone at it.

SkyView App is a location-based AR app that helps users identify constellations in the sky. It projects facts and images of constellations, planets, stars, and satellites through the camera viewfinder based on the user’s GPS coordinates. StarView App makes stargazing more accessible without visiting a planetarium or observatory.

Timescope Project for Somasoft (Onix Systems)

Onix Systems’ VR Timescope Project is archiving historical places online, for posterity.

This project hosts a virtual museum with recreations of historical sites, museum exhibits, and places that no longer exist. It also offers a digital learning journey led by a virtual tour guide. The project makes public education accessible to people who can’t visit museums in person.

VR Racing Experience (Madame Tussauds Singapore)

Here’s a fun, action-packed experience for young ones.

The VR Racing Experience at Madame Tussauds Singapore introduces young drivers to a realistic and immersive F1 racing experience. Children get to race with top F1 drivers like Lewis Hamilton and learn more about professional racing.

 

3. Training and Upskilling for Employees

Organisations can use AR and VR in training or upskilling programmes for employees. AR and VR immerse employees in realistic, interactive environments.

It’s suitable for practising skills in risky and high-stakes situations, resource-intensive processes, or large-scale events. Some examples are surgical procedure simulations for medical professionals, hostage situations for emergency response teams, and equipment assembly practice for mechanics and technicians. Organisations can reuse and upgrade virtual programmes without material wastage and reduce training costs.

These 4 AR VR training and upskilling projects by TWS and Varjo Aero show that workplace training can be fun too:

Molex Quality Assurance Training VR (TWS)

Molex Quality Assurance Training VR is a virtual training simulation for Molex’s Quality Control Department. It trains remote employees and reduces teaching staffing. The VR environment recreates different product defects without using actual defective products.

Wilhelmsen Welding Simulator (TWS)

Wilhelmsen Welding Simulator recreates a realistic welding experience for training staff. It includes dynamic visual and audio feedback.

The simulator reduces training overhead costs, physical resources, and staffing. Junior employees can practise skills with virtual tools and materials.

HSCA AR Cookbook (TWS)

HSCA AR Cookbook trains junior chefs with readily available recipe information. It reduces costs and effort spent engaging senior chefs.

It offers a more immersive training experience than watching instructional videos or reading recipes. The viewer can participate in the cooking process to practise culinary skills or review unfamiliar recipes.

Varjo Aero Flight Simulator (Varjo)

Varjo Aero is a realistic VR flight simulator headset that immerses pilots in a realistic cockpit environment to train for long-hour flights. Junior pilots can safely practise their skills without flying a real plane.

 

Conclusion

Interest in AR and VR increased within the last decade (2011-2022) and will continue to grow in future with remote learning. Its realistic and immersive learning experiences improve engagement, information retention, and attention.

Educators looking to incorporate AR VR technologies into programmes can consult solutions providers like MIU for customised projects.