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Virtual Reality: Apps, Ideas & Resources

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In this article, we have collected 20+ great mobile app ideas for you, and they will become more prominent in 2020 and in the nearest future. Our selection will inspire you to launch new breakthrough startups that will be of great use for your users. Virtual Interior Design.

  1. By Shane Haumpton. Virtual reality (VR) has so much potential as a tool that can take learning beyond the conventional classroom. With touted benefits such as enhanced engagement, improved retention, and the ability to block out common classroom distractions, this simulation-based technology is being predicted as one of the top emerging learning trends in 2017.
  2. 10 of the best virtual reality apps for your smartphone. Get started with VR on your iPhone or Android phone with these 100 apps, spanning films, games, news and 360-degree photo-sharing.

Educationis the base for a thriving society, and the transfer of knowledge has been atop priority for civilizations since the very beginning. People are constantlylooking for ways to make knowledge transfer more easily, more quickly, and moreeffectively.

Inthe era of digital devices, we have an opportunity to enable better learningwith technology. Virtual Reality (VR) seems to be the natural next step for theevolution of education.

Inthis article, I'll show how virtual reality can transform the way educationalcontent is delivered.

How we learn today

Before diving into the details of how VR in education will help improve the learning process, it's important to understand why we need to improve the quality of education in the first place. Historically, most technologies designed to aid learning have been aimed at enabling access to information — facts and observations about the world. Before computers, we had a powerful tool that helped us retain facts: books.

In the era of digital technologies, books are being turned into eBooks. Modern search engines make fact-finding really easy — with just a few clicks you can discover answers to many questions.

Whileknowledge has become more easily available for more people, the currentapproach to education has two significant problems:

  • It's based on the sameold format — fact retention. Teaching methods are focused on providingfacts; however, having access to and consuming a lot of information isn'tlearning. Being informed isn't the same as being educated.
  • Alot of people have difficulties comprehending information. Toomuch information received in a short period of time can easily overwhelmstudents. As a result, they become bored, disengaged, and usually not sure whythey are learning about a topic in the first place.

What makes VR in education beneficial?

Virtual Reality: Apps Ideas & Resources Videos

Virtualreality can be used to enhance student learning and engagement. VR educationcan transform the way educational content is delivered; it works on the premiseof creating a virtual world — real or imagined — andallows users not only see it but also interact with it. Being immersedin what you're learning motivates you to fully understand it. It'll requireless cognitive load to process the information.

Hereare just a few properties that makes virtual reality in education so powerful.

Better sense of place

Whenstudents read about something, they often want to experience it. With VR, theyaren't limited to word descriptions or book illustrations; they can explore thetopic and see how things are put together.

Reality:

Thanksto the feeling of presence VR provides, students can learn about a subject byliving it. It's easy to forget that VR experiences aren't real — a bodyactually believes it's in a new place. This feeling engages the mind in a waythat is remarkable.

Scale learning experiences

Technologies such as science labs are amazing — they allow students to understand how things work based on practical experience.

A relatively small VR device can even act as a whole science lab.

But such technologies are expensive and almost impossible to scale. They are also limited in the number of things they can do.

Learn by doing

It'sa well-known fact that people learn best by doing; however, if you inspectmodern education, you'll see how little learning actually happens by doing.Students are focused on reading instructions rather than using them inpractice.

VRin education provides an experience anchor to the instruction. With VReducation, learners are inspired to discover for themselves. Students have anopportunity to learn by doing rather than passively reading.

Emotional reaction

Visceralreactions to what we are experiencing are fundamental to forming memories. VRin education makes it easy to engage students the whole time, makingexperiences memorable.

Develop creativity

Havingvirtual reality in education is useful not only for content consumption, butit's also great for content creation. By giving students powerful tools such asTilt Brush, you help them boost their creativity.

Visual learning

A lot of people are visual learners — VR is really helpful for this group of learners. Instead of reading about things, students actually see the things they're learning about. Being able to visualize complex functions or mechanisms makes them easier to comprehend.

Users are ready to embrace new technology

Thefirst idea that pops into anyone's mind when they think about VR technology isan entertainment experience. Many designers see VR as an extension of thegaming industry. It's true that VR has historically been dedicated to gaming,but things are changing. According to a recent survey conducted by GreenlightVR, desire for education outweighs desire for gaming content — 63.9 percent vs.61 percent.

Categories of VR educational experiences

Where can we apply virtual reality in education? The answer is almost everywhere. VR creates an infinite set of possibilities that people can experience. Here are few types of experiences you can create with VR.

Virtual fields trips

Virtual Reality: Apps, Ideas & Resources

Virtual Reality: Apps Ideas & Resources -

VR technology can be used to engage students in topics related to geography, history, or literature by offering a deeply immersive senses of place and time. Simply imagine geography lessons where you can visit any place on the globe — this type of experience is much more enriching than just reading about it.

With VR, they aren't limited to word descriptions or book illustrations; they can explore the topic and see how things are put together.

Google Expeditions is one good example of an app designed to provide such an experience. Expedition is a library of field trips available for regular smartphone users. Each trip is comprised of VR panoramas, and trips vary from the Great Wall of China to Mars. People all over the world can visit places that are virtually impossible to visit in person.

Googlepiloted this app in hundreds of schools all over the world. The project wasextremely successful, with Google taking more than 1 million students in 11countries on expeditions.

Ofcourse, virtual reality will never replace real field trips and travels, norshould it. But, VR enables experiences to happen that would be otherwiseimpossible.

High tech training

VRis a good solution for highly technical training fields like the military orthe medical industry. For example, the most significant challenge for medicalstudents learning anatomy is understanding the body in three dimensions and howdifferent systems fit together. VR education can help overcome this problem.

Onegood example is the VR system used by Mendel Grammar School in Opava City,Czech Republic, which helps students in biology classes learn about the anatomyof the eye. The team working on this project employed a Leap Motion controllerand specially-­adapted Oculus Rift headsets to provide an innovative way oflearning anatomy.

Virtual Reality: Apps Ideas & Resources List

Internships

Gettingexposure to different careers is an essential part of the learning process.From early childhood, we dream about what we want to be when we grow up, andthose dreams are usually inspired by the professionals in our lives. Often, weget this understanding through internships.

Virtual reality: apps ideas & resources list

I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

Albert Einstein

Anotherbenefit of having virtual reality in education is its ability to help broadenstudents' exposure to careers. It improves people's ability to imaginethemselves in others' shoes. Career expeditions show what it's like to work ina field — students can explore a day in someone's career, see what person isstudying, and understand what a person likes — or doesn't like — about theirjob. As a result, the experience becomes familiar to students.

Group learning

Someof the most important knowledge we gain doesn't come from what we hear fromlecturers, but rather from collegiality and debate. VR education gives theopportunity to make learning experiences social by allowing students tocommunicate with each other. Using avatars and mapped facial expressions,people can come together to discuss, synthesize, and learn from one another.

Virtual Reality: Apps Ideas & Resources Free

Distance learning

Angry birdspotato games. VRallows us to bridge the gap between educators and learners. With VR, distancelearning tools can put educators and students together in the same room withdigital representations of themselves — teachers can teleport into the VR worldand guide students through their experiences.

Design challenges for VR education experiences

Clearly, the future of virtual reality in education is very exciting and full of potential. We are just at the dawn of this powerful technology and designing for VR is full of challenges that we should be ready to overcome.

5 key properties of good VR learning experiences

VR edu apps should have the following properties:

Virtual Reality: Apps, Ideas & Resources
  1. Immersive. Designers should strive to create the feeling that users are in an experience. For example, if you develop a history app, make history come alive for students.
  2. Easy to use. Eliminate the need to have special skills to interact with a VR app.
  3. Meaningful. Meaning is really important for students. You can't create a good VR learning experience without a good story. That's why it so important to advance the art of storytelling. Stories quite simply provide the best vehicle for delivering messages that are not only heard and understood, but that also inspire and elicit action.
  4. Adaptable. As Albert Einstein once said, 'I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.' VR experiences should allow students to explore at their own pace. The app should provide complete control over the level of difficulty. Designers should establish how students learn and then use this knowledge to design VR products that allow effective learning.
  5. Measurable. Each educational tool should provide measured impact. Teachers should be able to track the metrics of education so they can measure the resulting knowledge of a subject. When designing experiences for VR education, it's essential to choose appropriate metrics and make it clear what criterium will be used to measure success and failure.

Creating a new role for teachers with VR education

Thetransition from analog teaching practices to digital ones is going to changewhat teaching looks like. The role of a teacher will change from contentdelivery to content facilitation. Teachers will be focused on creatingconditions for exploring, rather than providing ready-made knowledge.

Our changing understanding of immersive experiences

It's clear we're in the early stages of VR — and it's going to keep changing. However, technology will continue to push boundaries of how immersive VR can become. We're even going to see advancements in eye tracking and body tracking in coming years. What we consider an immersive experience today will be considered table stakes in the not-too-distant future.

Making VR accessible

VRhas a high price point that is a significant barrier for many users. If weanalyze the success of Google Expeditions, it's clear that Google was able toreach this many students because the hardware was really accessible. To make VReducation accessible to a majority of users, it's important to focus oncreating VR experiences for devices users already have and repurpose them intopowerful tools for education. A phone we have in our pockets and $20-100headset devices — such as Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR — should beenough to give students good VR experiences.

Open New Horizons with VR Education

Virtualreality in education is on the horizon, and without a doubt, it'll change theworld as we know it. Twenty-first century classrooms will be technologically advanced placesof learning, with VR technology significantly increasing students' engagementand learning. VR experiences will inspire awhole new generation of young and bright students, ready to innovate and changethe world.

At the same time, the next big thing in education no longer relies on technology, but rather on a teacher's decision to push forward and adopt these technologies inside the classroom. The global goal should be to make knowledge available, accessible, and affordable for everyone on the planet. Learn more about the design of other Emerging Technologies here.

Related Content

How Nina Oria-Loureiro Designed an Accessible Login Experience with Voice

Virtual Reality: Apps, Ideas & Resources

Thanksto the feeling of presence VR provides, students can learn about a subject byliving it. It's easy to forget that VR experiences aren't real — a bodyactually believes it's in a new place. This feeling engages the mind in a waythat is remarkable.

Scale learning experiences

Technologies such as science labs are amazing — they allow students to understand how things work based on practical experience.

A relatively small VR device can even act as a whole science lab.

But such technologies are expensive and almost impossible to scale. They are also limited in the number of things they can do.

Learn by doing

It'sa well-known fact that people learn best by doing; however, if you inspectmodern education, you'll see how little learning actually happens by doing.Students are focused on reading instructions rather than using them inpractice.

VRin education provides an experience anchor to the instruction. With VReducation, learners are inspired to discover for themselves. Students have anopportunity to learn by doing rather than passively reading.

Emotional reaction

Visceralreactions to what we are experiencing are fundamental to forming memories. VRin education makes it easy to engage students the whole time, makingexperiences memorable.

Develop creativity

Havingvirtual reality in education is useful not only for content consumption, butit's also great for content creation. By giving students powerful tools such asTilt Brush, you help them boost their creativity.

Visual learning

A lot of people are visual learners — VR is really helpful for this group of learners. Instead of reading about things, students actually see the things they're learning about. Being able to visualize complex functions or mechanisms makes them easier to comprehend.

Users are ready to embrace new technology

Thefirst idea that pops into anyone's mind when they think about VR technology isan entertainment experience. Many designers see VR as an extension of thegaming industry. It's true that VR has historically been dedicated to gaming,but things are changing. According to a recent survey conducted by GreenlightVR, desire for education outweighs desire for gaming content — 63.9 percent vs.61 percent.

Categories of VR educational experiences

Where can we apply virtual reality in education? The answer is almost everywhere. VR creates an infinite set of possibilities that people can experience. Here are few types of experiences you can create with VR.

Virtual fields trips

Virtual Reality: Apps Ideas & Resources -

VR technology can be used to engage students in topics related to geography, history, or literature by offering a deeply immersive senses of place and time. Simply imagine geography lessons where you can visit any place on the globe — this type of experience is much more enriching than just reading about it.

With VR, they aren't limited to word descriptions or book illustrations; they can explore the topic and see how things are put together.

Google Expeditions is one good example of an app designed to provide such an experience. Expedition is a library of field trips available for regular smartphone users. Each trip is comprised of VR panoramas, and trips vary from the Great Wall of China to Mars. People all over the world can visit places that are virtually impossible to visit in person.

Googlepiloted this app in hundreds of schools all over the world. The project wasextremely successful, with Google taking more than 1 million students in 11countries on expeditions.

Ofcourse, virtual reality will never replace real field trips and travels, norshould it. But, VR enables experiences to happen that would be otherwiseimpossible.

High tech training

VRis a good solution for highly technical training fields like the military orthe medical industry. For example, the most significant challenge for medicalstudents learning anatomy is understanding the body in three dimensions and howdifferent systems fit together. VR education can help overcome this problem.

Onegood example is the VR system used by Mendel Grammar School in Opava City,Czech Republic, which helps students in biology classes learn about the anatomyof the eye. The team working on this project employed a Leap Motion controllerand specially-­adapted Oculus Rift headsets to provide an innovative way oflearning anatomy.

Virtual Reality: Apps Ideas & Resources List

Internships

Gettingexposure to different careers is an essential part of the learning process.From early childhood, we dream about what we want to be when we grow up, andthose dreams are usually inspired by the professionals in our lives. Often, weget this understanding through internships.

I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

Albert Einstein

Anotherbenefit of having virtual reality in education is its ability to help broadenstudents' exposure to careers. It improves people's ability to imaginethemselves in others' shoes. Career expeditions show what it's like to work ina field — students can explore a day in someone's career, see what person isstudying, and understand what a person likes — or doesn't like — about theirjob. As a result, the experience becomes familiar to students.

Group learning

Someof the most important knowledge we gain doesn't come from what we hear fromlecturers, but rather from collegiality and debate. VR education gives theopportunity to make learning experiences social by allowing students tocommunicate with each other. Using avatars and mapped facial expressions,people can come together to discuss, synthesize, and learn from one another.

Virtual Reality: Apps Ideas & Resources Free

Distance learning

Angry birdspotato games. VRallows us to bridge the gap between educators and learners. With VR, distancelearning tools can put educators and students together in the same room withdigital representations of themselves — teachers can teleport into the VR worldand guide students through their experiences.

Design challenges for VR education experiences

Clearly, the future of virtual reality in education is very exciting and full of potential. We are just at the dawn of this powerful technology and designing for VR is full of challenges that we should be ready to overcome.

5 key properties of good VR learning experiences

VR edu apps should have the following properties:

  1. Immersive. Designers should strive to create the feeling that users are in an experience. For example, if you develop a history app, make history come alive for students.
  2. Easy to use. Eliminate the need to have special skills to interact with a VR app.
  3. Meaningful. Meaning is really important for students. You can't create a good VR learning experience without a good story. That's why it so important to advance the art of storytelling. Stories quite simply provide the best vehicle for delivering messages that are not only heard and understood, but that also inspire and elicit action.
  4. Adaptable. As Albert Einstein once said, 'I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.' VR experiences should allow students to explore at their own pace. The app should provide complete control over the level of difficulty. Designers should establish how students learn and then use this knowledge to design VR products that allow effective learning.
  5. Measurable. Each educational tool should provide measured impact. Teachers should be able to track the metrics of education so they can measure the resulting knowledge of a subject. When designing experiences for VR education, it's essential to choose appropriate metrics and make it clear what criterium will be used to measure success and failure.

Creating a new role for teachers with VR education

Thetransition from analog teaching practices to digital ones is going to changewhat teaching looks like. The role of a teacher will change from contentdelivery to content facilitation. Teachers will be focused on creatingconditions for exploring, rather than providing ready-made knowledge.

Our changing understanding of immersive experiences

It's clear we're in the early stages of VR — and it's going to keep changing. However, technology will continue to push boundaries of how immersive VR can become. We're even going to see advancements in eye tracking and body tracking in coming years. What we consider an immersive experience today will be considered table stakes in the not-too-distant future.

Making VR accessible

VRhas a high price point that is a significant barrier for many users. If weanalyze the success of Google Expeditions, it's clear that Google was able toreach this many students because the hardware was really accessible. To make VReducation accessible to a majority of users, it's important to focus oncreating VR experiences for devices users already have and repurpose them intopowerful tools for education. A phone we have in our pockets and $20-100headset devices — such as Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR — should beenough to give students good VR experiences.

Open New Horizons with VR Education

Virtualreality in education is on the horizon, and without a doubt, it'll change theworld as we know it. Twenty-first century classrooms will be technologically advanced placesof learning, with VR technology significantly increasing students' engagementand learning. VR experiences will inspire awhole new generation of young and bright students, ready to innovate and changethe world.

At the same time, the next big thing in education no longer relies on technology, but rather on a teacher's decision to push forward and adopt these technologies inside the classroom. The global goal should be to make knowledge available, accessible, and affordable for everyone on the planet. Learn more about the design of other Emerging Technologies here.

Related Content

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