Why the future of education is going to be reshaped by VR Experiential learning

Education is the foundation of a strong economy. It increases human capital, drives productivity and boosts economic output. For individuals, education paves the way to acquire new skills, develop critical thinking and analytical know-how, contribute to economic welfare, develop a sense of purpose and shape one's career. Therefore, its impact on individuals, societies, governments and the world is undeniable. Yet, methods to educate people have not always kept pace with technological developments.

Methods of education have not kept pace with advances in technology, the imperative of change is becoming more apparent.
Virtual reality (VR) is being adopted more readily as the gains of experiential learning is being realised.
VR is making education less conventional and advancing K-12, higher education and vocational training.

Disruption and innovation

The disruption we are seeing in today's digitalizing world is helping increase accessibility, enhance quality and improve the affordability of education globally. Arguably these interventions are enough to drive transformative change.

We need to adapt to an evolving landscape and nurture our younger generations to help outmatch our success. While schools and universities have been increasingly focused on personal development, some technologies can expedite the process. VR is a leading example and arguably a game-changer for the next generation of students, graduates and vocational learners and enables experiential learning.

It allows students to immerse themselves in an interactive experience where they can visualize their actions' outcomes first-hand. Coupled with the metaverse, students and teachers can communicate and share while immersed, overcoming space and time limitations. Finally, they can consolidate previously acquired knowledge and apply skills acquired through conventional e-learning.While research has shown that VR positively influences students' learning outcomes, it can also improve student-teacher interactions through practical hybrid implementation, whether in or out of the classroom. With VR as a classroom tool, teachers can motivate students and create a more collaborative and interactive studying environment. VR can be integrated into traditional teaching to create a unique experience adapted to each student's ability, style, pace and drive to learn, ensuring their readiness to advance through robust assessment.

Advantages of VR

It helps to connect people overall world
It gives effective communication

Disadvantages of VR

People may addict to the virtual world

The potential of VR technology to afford a holistic experiential learning cycle. We approached this goal from a user-centered perspective. Based on a qualitative analysis, we created a systematic mapping of VR design elements and experiential learning affordances. Thereby, we contribute a deeper understanding of how educational VR applications could be designed to afford each experiential learning mode: 1. concrete experience, 2. reflective observation, 3. abstract conceptualization, and 4. active experimentation. Usually, experiential learning activities in higher education include real-world experiences such as field trips. Internet-based VR applications enable the transfer of such experiences into online courses. The Internet is of particular importance when collaborative activities are a fundamental part of the experience - as exemplified by the “VR Emergency Response Team” prototype. Furthermore, the Internet is relevant for the realistic implementation of intelligent agents as part of VR-based experiential learning applications. However, we think that a lack of technological feasibility at the present time should not restrict our thinking about innovations in higher education but rather reveals new fields for future research. Nevertheless, future research could integrate technology experts in user-centered design processes as they might have further ideas on how to exploit the unique possibilities of VR for experiential learning. Furthermore, the development of flipped classroom concepts that integrate VR experiences at meaningful times in the curriculum could provide an added value.