Blogs

Augmented and virtual reality

Augmented reality is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory.

Augmented reality is used to enhance natural environments or situations and offer perceptually enriched experiences.

Why use augmented reality in education:

AR creates opportunities for teachers to help students grasp abstract concepts. By using the interaction and experimentation that AR technologies offer, teachers can enhance classroom experiences, teach new skills, inspire student minds, and get students excited about exploring new academic interests.

How can augmented reality be used in the education industry:

In higher education, augmented reality is used for a wide range of applications. Faculty use AR platforms to incorporate gamification into curricula and create educational material. Through AR technology, teachers can materialize abstract concepts to help students visualize and understand challenging subjects. Consider these examples of how universities use augmented reality in higher education.

Augmented reality in education can serve some purposes. It helps the students easily acquire, process, and remember the information. Additionally, AR makes learning itself more engaging and fun. It is also not limited to a single age group or level of education and can be used equally well in all levels of schooling; from pre-school education up to college, or even at work.

How does AR work:

AR is part of a larger Extended Reality (XR) concept, which also includes VR and MR technologies. Augmented reality enhances the real-world environment with text, sound effects, graphics, and multimedia. In other words, AR brings us an enriched version of our immediate surroundings by layering digital content on top of the graphic representation of the real world.

The hardware for AR learning may be pretty basic, such as smartphone cameras for playing a popular PokemonGo game. Yet, the hardware in AR glasses like Google Glass, Dream Glass, and Vizux Blade is arguably more convenient for delivering AR to consumers.

However, the AR content is generated with AR software, which is still mostly developed for a specific AR-hardware vendor and often sold with an AR hardware kit. Augmented reality in education and training has a wide array of uses and enables its adopters to learn-on-the go using real-time instructions.

How Can Augmented Reality Transform The Learning Experience?

As I referred to earlier, AR has its magic. It can change the way we interact with mobile apps and other visual graphic experiences. Augmented Reality is capable of augmenting computer-generated graphics into the real environment on screen. It means if you move your mobile camera to space, AR enables you to see a computer-generated object on your screen. Altogether, it happens in real-time while you view it from your camera. This technique can enable students to learn in a more interactive environment.

Another aspect of the AR experience is that it includes 25% digital reality and 75% existing reality. It means it doesn't replace the complete environment with the virtual; rather, it integrates virtual objects into the real world. Now you may be wondering how this can help in eLearning. Well, here are some pointers that explain how AR can transform the learning experience. Moreover, if you want to develop an AR education application, you can seek eLearning software development from expert developers.

Augmented Reality In Education

With AR, classroom education can be extraordinary and more interactive, as AR can enable teachers to show virtual examples of concepts and add gaming elements to provide textbook material support. This will enable students to learn faster and memorize information.

Human memory doesn't forget visuals easily. Here are some examples of Augmented Reality in education:

• An AR app, called "Dinosaur 4D+," with a set of flashcards enables users to view 3D dinosaurs, scanning through the card. With this, students can see the actions of dinosaurs and use app features to rotate, zoom, and more. Besides, the application also provides some information about each dinosaur.
• The "Element 4D" AR app is another promising example of Augmented Reality in education, which makes learning chemistry fun. The application enables users to find the atomic weight, chemical elements, the reaction between two chemicals, and their names by simply putting two paper cubes for a special element block. Isn't it amazing?
• Another admired example of AR/VR in education is Google Expeditions, which enables users to see 3D objects in the classroom, such as volcanoes, storms, and even DNA. This application provides more than 100 AR expeditions that include the history of technology, the moon landing, and more.

From the above examples, it is clear that AR in education can turn out to be a very exciting and useful intervention that will change the education system for at least the upcoming 100 years. And, this isn't just about elementary education, rather it will also transform higher education and training systems. 

Different aspects where AR can be used:

AR In Professional Training

Industries like aerospace, aviation, hospitality, military, and others have to invest a huge amount of money and equipment in military training. With AR, the expenses can be reduced and can make training interactive.

Here are the ways we can achieve this:

The concept of MR (virtual + existing reality) led by AR can enable astronauts to get real-life training and do tasks, like maintaining a space station. Sidekick is a NASA project that is testing HoloLens to provide virtual illustrations and instructions to use in crew training. Altogether, its usage in military training is the main attraction, as it can help train soldiers to use equipment in a virtual environment. This is to refrain soldiers from putting themselves in danger and get trained with ease.

By now you should have understood how effective and prominent AR usage in education can be. Rather, I would say it will be a game-changing technology. Do not believe me? Let's see how its adoption is picking up the pace in eLearning applications in 2020-21.

AR In eLearning Applications

Now that students are having to learn from home, keeping students engaged in lectures has become very difficult. Thus, eLearning app owners are enthusiastically adopting AR technology. Altogether, Augmented Reality development is also boosting its prominence in the market.

AR-enabled eLearning applications render the augmented object on the screen and play 3D examples of concepts that allow students to learn and engage. Altogether, computer graphics are also being used extensively, which enable an object to be captured and show up in the augmented environment and render searches about the object. It means the application can capture the image of objects from the real environment and provide a detailed description of the object. You can also create your eLearning application enabled with AR with a unique concept.

Leaving everything aside, AR applications in education enable a wide range of benefits. Here are some advantages of using AR in education:

Benefits Of AR Technology In Education

Augmented Reality in the education sector renders several sought-after perks including:

A Swift And Effective Learning System

AR in education allows students to gain knowledge through rich visuals and immersion into the subject matter. Moreover, speech technology also engages students by providing comprehensive details about the topic in a voice format. In short, the concept of eLearning with AR targets a major information-gathering sense in humans.

Easy Access To Learning Materials Anytime, Anywhere

Augmented Reality can replace textbooks, physical forms, posters, and printed brochures. This mode of mobile learning also reduces the cost of learning materials and makes it easy for everyone to access.

Immersive Practical Learning

It can also help in professional training. Imagine being able to cook food or operate a space shuttle without putting others in danger or spending millions of dollars.

Engage Students And Spruce Up Their Interest

The gamification of AR and the education system can make students' attitudes more positive. It makes learning interesting, fun, and effortless and improves collaboration and capabilities. Moreover, it provides vast opportunities to make classes less tiring by infusing unmatched interactivity through a computer-generated environment. eLearning involves students in an enhanced environment where they can see how concepts happen. For creating such applications, companies hire developers deft in AR development.

As we can see, augmented reality in education has enormous potential, which is still to be uncovered. With the current adoption of mobile technologies and the recent advances in hardware, AR is becoming more accessible and broadly used. Therefore, right now might be a good time to make the first steps in this direction. Augmented Reality can bring a breakthrough to the traditional education system by transforming the complete learning experience. Altogether, it will also impact the interest of students and make them efficient. Also, this will help students in comprehending concepts in an immersive environment, which will simplify concepts and make learning easy. Moreover, education institutions will also gain colossal attention by offering an excellent learning experience through technology.