As the global pandemic continues, education is the one sector that is suffering the most. With schools either closed or virtual, learning has changed. Virtual learning is a good substitute for some classes and is good on a temporary base for others. But classes that require labs, hands on experience, these are the classes that suffer.
This generation of students have never experienced life without computers or some smart devices at their beckoning. They have not experienced life without google or YouTube. The evolution of technology has influenced this generation’s perspective on life. Compared to the pedagogy in education, the evolution of technology far surpasses the traditional pedagogy in education. Teachers that use technological pedagogy are the ones that have evolved differently to fully engage today's generation. As gaming is the outlet that students engage in for entertainment, now education is the second focus for the VR industry. (Gossett, 2020)
Why gaming?
“Gameful learning” (Educare, 2014) is a pedagogy that not only motivates students and increase their engagement, but can help to develop problem solving skills, hands on skills and social skills, as their knowledge base is broadened. As students are challenged to keep attempting the game until a goal is reached, where in a traditional setting, if a student does not succeed the tendency is to quit. Gaming allows students to demonstrate competency in a familiar way rather than traditional grading systems.
Why VR?
Virtual Reality immerses students into a visual alternate reality of what a teacher is teaching. VR gives teachers and students a more engaging learning environment that the traditional desk in classrooms. It has been proven that VR, when used in education, can improve learning retention by 60% verses a traditional classroom environment (Circuitstream, 2020). When engagement is improved, students not only retain the information, but the retention is for a longer time also. With social virtual reality software, students can be in a virtual classroom and collaborate as if they were in a physical classroom (Gossett, S., 2020). For example, the company Doghead has partnered with Full Sail the software rumii, which is an online course work for Full Sail’s game studies program. Depending on the discipline, and what the target learning goal is, software is available for many different learning environments for students to experience.
VR in Visual Art
With a plethora of topics that are offered, all teachers can find programs for their class. As for my focus, I want to look at visual art classed. With a focus on the evolution from a paintbrush and canvas to digital 3d art. Being able to walk through your painting, brings a painting to life, adds a depth to a student’s creativity. Understanding layering of textures and how that can create depth, enables students to achieve a deeper level of learning. As there are several tools on the market, the Tilt brush is one that was the first to introduce this idea. With new updates, there are brushes that have animation, not to be confused with animation software, but more of creating a living painting.
Student motivation
As art students tap into previous skills, deeper learning is being achieved as they are literally walking through their painting. By being immersed in their artwork, students have a higher level of satisfaction in reaching their goal than in a tradition setting. VR allows students on different learning levels to achieve the same emotional response to the lesson than in a tradition setting (LARMAND, A., 2020), in a world that literally is their own.
Reiser Robert A.. Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (2-downloads) (What's New in Ed Psych / Tests & Measurements) (p. 81). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition.
Gossett, S. (2020, April 15). VIRTUAL REALITY IN EDUCATION: AN OVERVIEW. Built In. https://builtin.com/edtech/virtual-reality-in-education
7 Things You Should Know About Games and Learning. (2014, March 11). Educause. https://library.educause.edu/resources/2014/3/7-things-you-should-know-about-games-and-learning
Vr and AR in Education: The future of online learning. (2020, March 30). CircuitStream. https://circuitstream.com/blog/vr-in-education/
LARMAND, A. (2020, February 20). Using Virtual Reality in Education. Eduporium. https://www.eduporium.com/store/blog/eduporium-weekly-ar-and-vr-in-education/
Curiosity Inspires
The first thought that comes to mind when watching the first video posted by the blog author titled Experience “The Great Wave” in Virtual Reality is how incredible it must be to be inside a painting, especially a painting created by yourself. In the book Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology Dempsey & Reiser (2017) talk about understanding the dynamics of boredom. They say that boredom is not really a lack of curiosity but a lack of changing stimuli. Imagine being able to not only look at the painting The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh but also have the ability to walk inside the painting and examine every brush or have it come alive by…
Curiosity
Learning is promoted when a person’s curiosity is intrigued. History doesn’t have to be boring. By using a virtual world VR, a person can work together and recreate art pieces like in the video, Hokusai’s Great Wave. Learning is better promoted when the stimuli is intrusive such as a loud noise or change of scenery. Boredom happens when the same uniformed structure happens, unchanged stimuli and perhaps unchanged voice. Learning ends when boredom happens people tend to zone out and stop listening. According to Zuckerberg (1979) “People differ in their needs for excitement and stimulation: Those who have higher sensation seeking needs have higher levels of boredom susceptibility and will require more frequent changes of topic, instructional tactics, or…
The motivation to make a flying car.
If you are as old as I am then you have heard or thought wow where are the flying cars that the future promised? Isn’t funny how that is a joke but we do want those flying cars. We have private airplanes but no we want something as dangerous as a manned vehicle in the air where any wrong move would spell disaster. Creators fight against this urge of the imagination and try to figure out our curiosities at the same time. As an educator, we all have seen that light turn on when students make up their mind and they are drawn to try certain things out. Vr has that effect…
Outcome to a Learning Task
With the pandemic still luminated our educational community, it has been difficult for learners, especially in the higher educational system. Many learners’ subject material requires the use of labs or hands-on experience however, that is not an option at this moment of time. This is where VR and pedagogy come to play. VR and pedagogy engage learners with visual alternate reality of what instructors are teaching. Because of the power of VR, instructors have the ability to change and modify the learning models to fit their mold. VR and pedagogy allow learners to participate and learn in a safe matter. A chance for older learners to explore and use this as a hands-on experience and…
PRINCIPLES OF MOTIVATION AND VOLITATION
Bringing Art to Life - VR Tilt Brush: Future Directions in Motivational and Volitional
This art brush is a very new innovative way for learners to engage their work, literally. Keller said,” First, there continues to be growing interest and research on motivation in Web-based instruction, computer-based instruction, and distance learning (Keller, 2018). The VR Tilt Brush is exactly what he would be talking about. The technology that is given to us will in turn have a chance to eventually expand our creativity. These VR’s are a great way to motivate one into learning their work and learn inside their work. I think this is a great idea. It is almost game like and at…