MNG81001 Management Communication: Virtual Reality and Education

Answer:

Title: Virtual Technology and its implications for education

The innovation of virtual technology had emerged as one of the most important ones of the recent times and provides a wide array of benefits to the various individuals (Freina and Ott 2015). The landscape of technology is a constantly changing one and every year new improvements of the already existing technologies surface in the international arena (Lee 2012). Furthermore, the extensive use of these technologies provides various kinds of benefits to the concerned individuals and it is a commonly held opinion that they have greatly simplified as well as enhanced the lives of the human beings (Merchant et al. 2014). Therefore, the use of this particular innovation for the process of education is likely to help the students in a significant manner.

The first benefit that the effective use of the virtual reality innovation is likely to render to the education industry is the fact that it would make the process of education much more interesting for the students (Bower et al. 2014). It is significant to note that many times it is seen that the manner in which the syllabus are taught and completed in the educational institutions makes the entire process of education a very monotonous as well as tedious one (Bower et al. 2014). Furthermore, many times it is seen that the students find themselves getting bored because of the age old theories as models that are being taught to the students in the age old manner (Lee 2012). Thus, the use of the virtual reality is likely to help the monotony of the process of the present educational system and the incorporation of this particular technology within the framework of the educational institutions to provide quality education to the students is likely to not only offer something new to the students but at the same time is likely to help them in a significant manner (Lee 2012).

Researches have shown that the attention span of the students is very short and thus it is often seen that the students often end up losing their interests in the things that are being taught to them in the classrooms after a few minutes and during the rest of the class they just while away their time in the classroom (Wu et al. 2013). However, the use of the technology under discussion here is likely to help the educational institutions to overcome this particular problem (Häfner, Häfner and Ovtcharova 2013). Furthermore, researches have shown that if in the classroom the images and other forms of technology are being used in a quick fluctuating manner then it is likely to hold the attention of the students since it has been scientifically proven that the human brain is more receptive to color and especially the changing ones rather than sound (Häfner, Häfner and Ovtcharova 2013). Therefore, it would be apt to say that the use of this particular technology for the process of imparting education to the students is likely to help the students to learn new things in a much manner and at the same time would improve the quality of the education that is being imparted to them in a significant manner.

There are many people who are of the viewpoint that the use of thing particular technology is not likely to improve the education that is being imparted to them in any manner (Blum et al. 2012). These individuals are of the opinion that the use of this particular technology within the framework of the modern education is likely to remove the focus of not only the educational institutions but at the same time the students as well from the things that are being taught to them to the mere use of this technology and this would hamper the process of education in a significant manner (Blum et al. 2012). Furthermore, it is also seen that many of the educational institutions of the present times do not have the required infrastructural standards that are needed for the integration of this particular technology within their framework for imparting education (Freina and Ott 2015).

To conclude, virtual reality is one of the most important innovations of the present generation and the effective use of it can provide various benefits to the individuals. The use of this particular technology for the process of imparting education to the students is likely to provide numerous benefits not only to the educational institutions but at the same time to the students as well. It will not only help in capturing the attention of the students but at the same time it will help the educational institutions to attract and retain the attention of the students and thereby improve the quality of education  provided to them.

References

Blum, T., Kleeberger, V., Bichlmeier, C. and Navab, N., 2012, March. mirracle: An augmented reality magic mirror system for anatomy education. In Virtual Reality Short Papers and Posters (VRW), 2012 IEEE (pp. 115-116). IEEE.

Bower, M., Howe, C., McCredie, N., Robinson, A. and Grover, D., 2014. Augmented Reality in education–cases, places and potentials. Educational Media International, 51(1), pp.1-15.

Freina, L. and Ott, M., 2015. A Literature Review on Immersive Virtual Reality in Education: State Of The Art and Perspectives. eLearning & Software for Education, (1).

Häfner, P., Häfner, V. and Ovtcharova, J., 2013. Teaching methodology for virtual reality practical course in engineering education. Procedia Computer Science, 25, pp.251-260.

Lee, K., 2012. Augmented reality in education and training. TechTrends, 56(2), pp.13-21.

Merchant, Z., Goetz, E.T., Cifuentes, L., Keeney-Kennicutt, W. and Davis, T.J., 2014. Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students' learning outcomes in K-12 and higher education: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 70, pp.29-40.

Wu, H.K., Lee, S.W.Y., Chang, H.Y. and Liang, J.C., 2013. Current status, opportunities and challenges of augmented reality in education. Computers & education, 62, pp.41-49.