They’ll be able to swim with the sharks, go camping on Mount Everest, and travel into outer space. It is apparent that the use of VR has truly raised the standards of education. Now, let’s take a look at the benefits that virtual reality can bring to the field of education:

1. Improved learning in children

Today, you have many VR education apps that can identify the specific learning needs of children. They’re also designed to simplify the learning process for kids. When these children encounter difficult or confusing concepts, such apps can provide explanations that they can understand easily. This can greatly enhance the engagement of students during the learning sessions.

2. Help for children with special needs

There are certain VR apps that can be used to assist children with special needs. For instance, there are VR apps that help students with vision problems. They control text sizes, contrasts, and have audio commentary. Some apps allow communication in sign language for students with difficulties in hearing. These apps use a VR environment to make the learning experience easy and fun for such kids.

3. Assistance in vocational education and training

Some VR applications can be highly effective in providing specialized technical training. Vocational education and training for different professions can be made easier with the use of these applications. They provide interactive learning experiences for students by taking objects out of the screen. Students can then handle these objects as if they were real. This would help them make the most of their classroom learning.

4. Enhanced medical education

Medical students can benefit immensely from the use of VR in their learning process. They’ll be able to enter the human body and gain new perspectives. With the VR apps used for medical education, they can explore a variety of anatomical structures. Some of these apps are designed to guide medical students through the human physiology and anatomy in a 3D environment.

5. Art education

Art students can use VR content creation tools to paint in a 3D environment. They can also share their creations in animated GIFs. These VR tools help art students in learning from various perspectives. Through virtual reality, art students can visit the greatest museums of art. They’ll be able to familiarize themselves with the famous artworks and their history through such virtual environments.

6. Distance learning

A combination of online learning and virtual reality helps distance education to a great extent. By using such environments, students can easily attend lectures and all the interesting events from any place on the planet. They’ll be able to meet foreign students, join groups, share knowledge, and learn some practical skills.

7. Attending virtual college tours

Students can get acquainted with their future college or institution with the help of virtual college tours. Some of the institutions that offer such tours include the University of Michigan and Columbia University. Such tours are beneficial especially for students who are aiming to play football professionally. With these tours, they can experience what being on the pitch in a stadium feels like.

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They can move their heads and experience these artificial worlds as if they were real. Here are a few virtual reality facts that you’ll find truly surprising:

1. Some of the best VR applications are not in gaming

For many individuals, virtual reality means gaming. Whenever someone mentions this term, all that most people can think about is computer games. If you’re one of them, it’s time you knew certain facts about VR. Some of the best VR applications have nothing to do with gaming. They’re mainly in use for creating virtual travel experiences, VR documentaries, and education.

2. Google Cardboard was a low-cost VR platform

The creation of Google Cardboard was the result of the efforts by the French Google engineers Damien Henry and David Coz. This VR platform was introduced at the Google I/O developers conference in 2014. The system got its name from the foldout cardboard viewer, which could accommodate a smartphone.

Intended as a low-cost system, it saw a big success upon its launch. More than 160 million downloads of Cardboard-enabled apps were made. Over 15 million units of the system were shipped by November, 2019. However, the Google Store stopped selling Cardboard viewers due to declining interest.

3. There’s no single person behind the invention of VR

You must be dying to know more about that one person who invented this technology. Well, you’re in for a disappointment here, as no single person can be credited for virtual reality. It appeared first as a concept in science fiction literature. Among the best examples would be the writings of Morton Heilig on the ‘Experience Theatre’.

4. The U.S. Government has been using VR in recent times

NASA uses virtual reality to try to connect their engineers with the devices that they send into space. They have made a good use of Oculus and equipment from the Xbox One gaming console with motion sensing capabilities. The NASA engineers are using these technologies to develop ways to control a robotic arm.

It is controlled with gestures made by the operator on Earth. The U.S. military is now using VR for recruitment and training of soldiers. They create realistic environments using VR to train soldiers to work together in teams during actual combat.

5. Virtual reality can generate ROI for businesses

Most businesses shy away from applying virtual reality, questioning its benefits in the real world. While it’s true that VR is a relatively new technology, it can bring several benefits to businesses. One of these benefits is an increase in ROI. Let’s take the example of Thomas Cook, which is one of the globally-renowned travel companies.

It reported a 190 percent increase in tour bookings to New York City after incorporating VR. They had offered a virtual reality experience of New York City in their stores, which led to an increase in bookings.

6. All VR products and services are not expensive

While VR can be expensive, the manufacturers can make it cost-effective as well. The common belief that virtual reality is expensive stems from the big businesses that create products around it. The price of a product or service based on VR depends mostly on its scope. Some companies come up with VR offerings that cost thousands of dollars. A few others offer VR experiences at lower costs.

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The downsides of VR are mostly associated with the excessive use of computer-generated 3D environments. The psychological effects of this important innovation would make for an excellent topic for study.

Time-compression

When researchers first began studying the impact of virtual reality, the focus was mainly on its negative effects. They made an observation that VR produced some negative physical responses, such as nausea and dizziness. Although the physical side-effects of virtual reality can disappear quickly, the psychological impact can last long.

In one study, a group of researchers asked a few individuals to play a low-stress game in different scenarios. Some of them played this game on a computer screen and the researchers analyzed the responses of their brain. Others completed their game in a VR environment and their brain responses were also recorded.

Lower levels of absorption were reported in those who completed their game in a VR environment. They had a negative emotional response to the situation, even though the intention was to produce a low negative emotional energy.

In another study, researchers asked a few individuals to play a simple maze puzzle game. They were to stop when they believed that five minutes have gone by. The ones who played this game in VR waited 72 seconds longer to say that five minutes had passed. The researchers call it the time-compression effect.

Clinical use of VR

Virtual reality has some excellent applications in the field of mental health for treatments. For instance, it helps some doctors in providing cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT. This is because VR produces an illusion of reality, which can be beneficial in such therapies. This is helpful to a great extent in treating schizophrenia, substance abuse, anxiety, eating disorders, and phobias.

The negative side of VR

This, however, is not exclusive to therapy alone, as normal individuals can also have the illusion of reality with VR. Today, this technology has advanced significantly. Even though people know that VR is unreal, it can trick their brains into believing that it is real.

Many who make a recreational use of virtual reality may experience its harmful effects. The interactive aspects of video games are such that their users keep playing them longer. In fact, VR games can be quite addicting just like any of the video games.

The addictive nature of such games can lead to violent thoughts and aggression in some players. Although many believe that VR can generate such responses, not much data is available to support these claims.

The positive aspects of VR

On the positive side, VR-based stress management programs have produced some interesting results. Individuals who were a part of these programs had drop in their stress levels and depression. VR has also been useful in treating tobacco addiction.

What people need to understand is that virtual reality is a platform and not a clinical tool. It can’t entirely substitute a therapy or treatment, but can certainly be used for assisting it. This can be understood in several cases where VR has been quite helpful for patients.

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