Top 3 Ways Technology Can be Utilized by Educational Spaces
Education has generally been slow the the technology uptake for good reason, but is now the perfect time to adapt to circumstance and learn how to use advanced tech like AR to its advantage?
It is of course widely understood that technology has had a large impact on the way we experience our day to day lives. There are few areas in our world that are untouched by technological advancements (and the Amish is the largest one). Education specifically has always argued with the use of technology and whether it hinders or helps children. No matter what, teaching is still teaching and technology should simply be a tool in the way teachers teach. With that in mind, here are three ways technology can be utilized effectively by education spaces, without completely replacing those spaces.
Use Augmented Reality to Create a More Interactive Learning Experience
From elementary school to college, augmented reality has the ability to turn a learning moment into a learning experience. The unexpected turbulence that came with COVID-19 can be transformed into a way to evolve the digital education landscape as we know it. It’s been proven time and time again that lectures, by themselves, can be both boring and wholly ineffective. The reasoning for this is that lectures simply are not interactive enough. Once you bring the student “into” the experience, they’ll most likely gain much more from it.
Augmented reality gives teachers and professors the chance to do just that, especially while at home studying after being lectured to behind a mask for however many hours. AR allows students to bring the subject material home with a digital device. From solar systems to human anatomy, AR can help students physically interact as much as they’d like to with these topics to a point of understanding. AR also can be worked into homework assignments with statements such as “zoom into the AR human body’s mid area — what organs do you see? Click on them to reveal their purpose.” Assignments such as these are sure to make up for some of the unwanted consequences of both lecturing and the ineffectiveness of forced homeschooling. Augmented Reality can make homeschooling fun for even kids who may be currently dreading another day at school from the couch or kitchen table.
Personalize Learning at Home with Online Data Gathered through Educational Games and Sites
Learning at home is difficult for many children. One of the larger reasons for this is being distracted by the lives of their family members around them. No matter who you are ,you can’t simply ignore everyone in your house while doing any kind of work if those people are very close and speaking — especially if they’re speaking to you. This issue is multiplied for children because they already generally have a lower attention span than adults. Technology has been something that children have always been able to concentrate on. This isn’t to say you should just plop your child down in front of a television screen, but an immersive educational experience can both keep their attention off of the possible chaos of home life while benefiting their brains.
Technology gives kids a chance to express themselves. Gamification is a great way to access the brains of children while teaching them something new. Think back to some of the most popular games for kids like Minecraft and Animal Crossing. One of the most common features about these games is the personalization aspect. By integrating this into a mobile app with augmented reality features or a desktop software, one can essentially get kids “hooked on learning”. These experiences can be further enhanced by the data one gets while children use these programs — nothing crazy like personal information, but information on their grades, what they gravitate to in the app, and what they seem to be most interested in through the software.
Educational games allow for useful and meaningful tracking possibilities that accompany an already immersive and interesting learning experience.
This can give hints into what “kind” of learner a child is, whether it’s verbally or kinesthetically. With technology we can make note of these changes. That’s why VR training platforms are so effective — it allows for useful and meaningful tracking with an immersive and interesting learning experience.
Digitizing Supplements Unnecessary Physical Contact — Create Experiences that Can be Had Anywhere: From the Desk to the Kitchen Table
With coronavirus looming over everyone’s heads, one of the larger issues of putting kids back into school is the physical aspect. Children love being physical, whether pinching each other, playing tag, or sharing their foods at lunch time. They’re also physical in the actual classroom, whether walking up to the classroom’s smartboard to write an answer, or sharing a physical assignment with a classmate. Socially distancing is an even harder feat in the classroom for that reason. By digitizing some aspects of the classroom, there is less risk of a child getting an illness and passing it to their family. This is a real concern, especially for children being raised or taken care of by older parents or grandparents. Implementing existing apps, or creating apps specific to classroom needs, with enough creativity, can both save headaches and lives.
These digital experiences can also be easily transferred to home. Instead of a sometimes large amount of worksheets and physical material being sent home with a child, it can simply be something that they already had at the beginning of their day — their mobile devices. With downloadable content, they may not even need wifi to access the educational materials. It is one of the better solutions to the growing issue of educational accessibility.
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ARSOME Technology is an Augmented & Virtual Reality company based in Manchester, Connecticut. ARSOME Technology is a highly established and driven company that works for and with companies interested in bringing an AR, VR, or Mixed Reality experience to their businesses, from education and training to AR guided tours.
