With fast paced innovations in education, it is often difficult to keep up. Gone are the days of white chalk and a blackboard today actually means a digital educational platform. We have also moved on from interactive smartboards. Where does this leave teachers and how can they keep up with current trends? How important is it to use current technology for its own sake? These are important questions facing educationists today.
One important reason to keep pace with new, inevitably technologically driven trends is because the nature of learners has itself gone through a major change. Today, students have grown up with multiple devices and platforms, and their comfort with such technology is absolute. To them, there is no other way of learning. They are, after all, digital natives.
How could such a generation be expected to go back to pen and paper ways of learning? Rather than lament this change, it is important to embrace it to some extent, not for its own sake but to make learning more effective.
According to American University, “AR is used on a smart device to project a layer of educational text and lesson-appropriate content on top of a user’s actual surroundings, providing students with interactive and meaningful learning experiences”. It is different from VR (Virtual Reality) which immerses students into a 360-degree digital experience.
The equipment for AR is not as advanced as VR as it is basically what is already available with teachers – a tablet, computer or smartphone. Relevant applications can be used to create real time experiences as students feel that they are simulating a situation.
For young learners, AR is mostly what is already being used – pop up information about places, plants, animals or flags. Students can learn about continents, space or the depths of the ocean by exploring them on selected applications. As Edutopia, a renowned education platform says, “Some students may not have many opportunities to visit historical landmarks, but they can do so virtually. AR also allows students to view models of things we can’t see without a microscope and creates opportunities to see and interact with plants and animals, and sea creatures that live on the ocean floor”.
More senior students can understand theory, science and mathematics through AR. Learning a new language, engaging with historical characters and even going into the future are all possible, making learning more memorable, with an understanding of practical applications.
The most important feature of AR is that it shifts learning from the teacher to the student. As is commonly known, the best learning is by doing, so getting students to explain concepts to others using shareable applications is a formidable way of retaining information.
Digital technology is no longer a form that can be ignored as a passing fad. It is here to stay and teachers can only learn to implement certain forms of AR in classrooms to create opportunities for lifelong learning.
Sandhya Rao Mehta is Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, Sultan Qaboos University.
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