What defines immersive technologies?

Immersive technologies are any kind of technologies that extends reality or creates new realities. It enables users to look anywhere and see and experience content and a new reality. 

Immersive technologies are highly interactive, visual and engaging technologies that connect the real world with a digital one – or creates an entirely new one. There are a wide variety of VR applications that can help educators create a whole new world to interact with for students. 

Art projects, data visualization, science projects – even ‘traveling’ – can happen with immersive technologies. It gives students the opportunity to experience places and explore ideas they would otherwise never be able to reach. 

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Gamification feeds into the brain’s reward system

Gamification is game-design applied to a learning situation. It’s easy to understand for most students, as they have generally all tried some digital game or another. One very well-known gamification application is DuoLingo, the language learning platform that teaches people, not just students, new languages by making it into a quest with rewards where you can compete with other learners. 

So because students are already familiar with a gaming world that includes rewards and challenges that gradually become bigger and harder, it’s the perfect pairing for a learning environment. 

There’s also the added effect of dopamine being released in the brain with every reward, the chemical that triggers pleasure, motivation, and positive reinforcement. This makes the learning experience positive and ensures that students want to keep going. 

Virtual reality takes you places you couldn’t otherwise go

Virtual and augmented reality applications offer students the opportunity to step into new places, situations, and roles that are otherwise impossible to access. 

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Besides the fun aspect of doing something ‘outside’ the classroom, virtual reality can be used to design experimental learning, training for a specific situation or even empathy learning. 

Students get to travel to scenarios in the past, discover career paths, different ways of living or environmental issues. All of it without leaving the classroom. It’s exceptionally popular with students studying medicine because it allows them to explore anatomical functions or even situations where they have to handle emotional distress – without having to actually harm anyone. 

Too much factual information can have the opposite effect than intended and make students disengaged and tired of trying to understand. Virtual reality is the perfect tool to make learning fun and easy to comprehend. 

Learning by doing in, for example, a lab situation also becomes easier as failure doesn’t result in an abrupt stop. Rather, students can start over immediately and try again. 

Why you should open up for immersive technologies in education

Immersive technologies are truly changing the way we experience the world and for educators, that’s a fantastic evolution in learning they can use to enhance their teachings. Of course, they don’t work without a dedicated setup and educator to back up the format. Instead, they should complement conventional teaching in making abstract and theoretically heavy subjects easier to comprehend. 

We know that people, especially kids, learn better by doing than by watching, which makes immersive technologies a powerful teaching tool. Not only do they create empathy by putting the student in other people’s shoes, it also makes complex scenarios tangible and easy to comprehend. 

Training skills, sharing knowledge … Almost any type of learning can be taught or improved with simulations through virtual and augmented reality and gamification. What are you waiting for?

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What is the flipped classroom?

Flipped learning or flipped classroom refers to a teaching form that flips the traditional teaching structure. 

How, though? Traditional teaching usually requires students to listen and stay passive in class as the teacher presents their material, and afterwards, the students do their homework actively at home. In a flipped classroom, students watch teacher-produced material at home where they can pause, skip or go back in the material any time they please, and then work on collaborative assignments in class.

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More control

In a flipped classroom, students have more control over their own learning. They are given the freedom to study at their own pace at home and take the time they need to understand difficult topics before asking questions in class. 

Student-centered

The whole point to a flipped classroom is going from a top-down teacher-centric approach to a pedagogical shift that puts students in center. By allowing students to collaborate and participate in their own learning, students can feel encouraged about their own education and at best help them stay devoted. 

Online access

Because classes and tutorials are online, there are no excuses to stay up to date with the most recent class material and homework. It means students can catch up easily and it gives them a lot of flexibility. It could also eliminate the need for many heavy paper-based books. Online access gives parents a better insight into what lectures their children are watching or have missed.

What’s in it for students

What it means for students is that they can get all the help they need when they’re doing their ‘homework’, because it’s happening when they’re in school. They can ask their classmates for help, and they won’t get left behind.

The best part is that all students don’t have to follow the same goal. It fosters personalized learning and a less stressful environment.

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What’s in it for teachers

For teachers, it results in much more freedom because they’re no longer in the center. They don’t have to concentrate on delivering all the answers and information on the spot but can help students search for them. It’s also easier to set up goals and success criteria as teachers can monitor students’ progress in class rather than trying to assess it from the traditional form of homework.

Downsides to flipped learning

Done properly, the flipped classroom can provide a strengthened learning environment where teachers can focus on the individual and students get more free time and flexibility. There are some cons to the process, however. 

First of all, teachers have to trust that students prepare and study at home. Without a dedicated preparation, teachers can’t go over the same material as the class can’t follow the lecture. 

Moreover, the flipped classroom relies on some sort of tech inclusivity. Meaning that students who aren’t necessarily as tech-savvy as their peers or don’t own the same equipment in a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) environment might get left behind. It’s important to think about what technological implementation everyone, no matter their background, will be able to use and understand. 

Airtame is a BYOD inclusive, wireless screen sharing tool. We cater to K12, higher education, and universities alike. 

Another significant downside is the amount of screen time students will be forced to endure. Screen time isn’t inherently bad but can be problematic if it’s consistent throughout the day as the only educational tool. 

Conclusion

The flipped classroom can be an effective way of engaging students and aiding them in being a part of their own education. Done right, it’s a flexible solution that suits both students and teachers. 

Interested in how wireless screen sharing can help create a better learning environment? Book a personal Airtame demo right now.

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