The COVID-19 epidemic has dramatically boosted technology adoption. Almost every aspect of business and life is now linked to their target audience or consumers via the internet. Education is also a thriving industry, with an increasing number of students studying online and institutions experimenting with novel teaching methods in hybrid classrooms as reported by Gadgets 360.
Virtual reality
The adoption of technology has now become an unavoidable reality. Stanford University has taken a step in this direction by launching a class that will be conducted entirely in virtual reality (VR). It is the university’s first virtual reality class.
When it came to the format of the lecture, communication professor Jeremy Bailenson took a chance. He wasn’t sure if the necessary software and technology would be available in time for him to teach it as a summer course. Bailenson, who has been teaching the topic for 20 years, was fortunate. In late May, the software he finally chose to teach his class was ready just in time. Students and teachers can interact in virtual settings using the Engage software.
Teaching assistant
Virtual reality, according to Cyan DeVeaux, a teaching assistant for the class, allows people to conceive the unthinkable. The scene-building assignment’s only constraint, according to the teaching assistant, is a student’s imagination.
To avoid simulator sickness, the class was constructed so that each session was only 30 minutes long. Another issue was privacy. Bailenson requested that Facebook enable students to create phoney profiles in order to safeguard their privacy, and in exchange, he offered to utilise the Oculus Rift device, which is owned by Facebook parent firm Meta.
So far, Bailenson and DeVeaux have conducted two seminars and gathered over 3,000 hours of data. They now anticipate that the information gathered during the course will lead to new insights on behavioural adaptation to VR and its educational use.
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Source: Gadgets 360
