Tech Tutor

Exponential technologies are changing how and where we learn

- GOUTAM DAS

The Virtual Reality (VR) module nudges you to use a controller and point towards the image of a brain, suspended in the air. The brain, seen through a VR headset such as Google Cardboard, can be rotated to get a 360-degree view. Dramatically, it splits into separate lobes. Click on the lobes and you will be told what each one does. The Occipital lobe, for instance, is associated with visual processing. The split-brain can then be rejoined; you win points for putting the right lobes in the right places. The simulated experience is far more absorbing than reading from a textbook. Veative Labs, the creator of the module, says such simulations close the gap between knowledge and understanding, converting passive learners into active ones. The company’s science and mathematics modules are being used to teach complex concepts in classrooms across 25 countries. “It is easy to see that we augment the learner’s ability to learn. What is less obvious and just as true is that we augment the teacher’s ability to instruct by expanding their repertoire and resources,” the company states on its website.

Mostly used by elite private schools so far, the adoption of VR and augmented reality (VR) for better learning outcomes has now entered conversations around the proposed new education policy. India’s Draft National Education Policy 2019 states that “technology use and integration will be pursued as an important strategy for improving the overall quality of education”. A variety of educational software would be developed and made available for students and teachers at all levels. Among them would be “serious games, simulations and applications using AR and VR”.