The Future of Immersive Education – 10 years down the road
I envision that Virtual Reality (VR) technology will be platform independent and web-based. Applications such as SecondLife will no longer use a “fat” client in order for users to experience VR, but will be more in line with Project Wonderland, which is a web-based VR application. Projects such as the Cobalt Platform open up a new world for learning.
SecondLife
Project Wonderland
Cobalt Project
As 3-D graphics are crucial for VR, the sophistication and speed of which improvements are made will be important. Looking at 3-D graphics from the mid-1990's to just 10 years later, we can see that this technology will continue to grow and expand to meet the needs and demands for future applications.
Web-based VR applications will become more sophisticated and the 3-D graphics and tools used will be more in line with the quality that SecondLife produces, as well as being faster and much easier to “build” within VR.
1990's early 3-D
Doom circa 1994
Doom-3, circa 2004
VR will be instrumental in global education. Populations where schools and universities are limited or too expensive to build, such as third-world countries or rural areas, can now participate within a classroom environment, just by using their computer. Global initiatives to provide a common area, such as a library or some common gathering place, with computers and fiber optic networks will allow all pockets of the world to connect with one another.
VR will enable people of all ages to learn at their own pace and speed. It will also expand our knowledge of places around the world, as SecondLife has demonstrated with its SURLs of London, New York City,
The Forbidden City, China
People can recreate ancient civilizations and how people interacted and lived to teach us history and culture. Future theories about life on our planet and beyond can be created and how to expand our technology to met those goals.
Searching the galaxy
Science can also be used in VR. What we learn about the human body, physics, chemistry and our environment can be updated faster as theories, concepts and facts are discovered. Simulations will be a key tool in learning about cause and effect.
How this will effect the traditional model of education? I don't believe it will change that much as far as having actual institutions and classrooms. It will be an addition to the current model of teaching. Even today, educational facilities use eLearning tools, such as Blackboard and WebCT, to manage their courses and teach both "live" and online. Virtual Reality will just enhance that learning experience and enable students and faculty to reach out to other students and faculty that are across the globe in a fast and simple manner.
Learning
These applications also allow the ordinary user to experience places and events that they most likely would never experience in real-life, due to various reasons - you cannot transport yourself back to an ancient civilization nor travel to the future (not yet, at least!) Most people will never perform open heart surgery or work with subatomic particles. However, with VR, the sky is the limit. I do not believe this will take the place of traveling and working in other countries or even stop space exploration; however, it gives the ordinary people the ability to learn and immerse themselves in that world, and perhaps experience a bit of whimsy as well.
Traveling in style
Finals Index
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