Emerging Technologies
I am not too familiar with virtual reality but have used the cardboard goggles that give a sense of a virtual reality experience at a workshop once. I like the idea of giving students the opportunity to virtually be placed into a setting or situation that can give them greater context to their learning. Virtual reality can provide many applications and extensions to the learning and is something that students would be very engaged in. Kluge and Riley (2008) suggest “educators need to move to a more pluralistic and entrepreneurial approach to learning, where students take a much more active and independent role” (p.127). I think of how dull a unit of government and policy can be but if you were able to add a virtual reality option to the learning students would have a purpose to learn the content and possibly be exposed to the realities that they are learning in textbooks, articles or magazines.
There are two major challenges that I face daily as an educator with implementing technology. First is the accessibility. Technology is expensive and acquiring enough technology for students is a challenge in the public school system due to lack of funds. So acquiring tech in the first place is difficult but so is maintaining the tech. Secondly, to operate any technology requires bandwidth, wifi or other software, hardware or infrastructure. This means that more money would need to be provided to make sure that students can efficiently use the technology.
Riley, S. K. L., & Stacy, K. (2008). Teaching in virtual worlds: Opportunities and challenges. Setting Knowledge Free: The Journal of Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, 5(5), 127-135.
Hi R:
Thank you for your post. I agree with you about the challenges we encountering as educator. I agree that technology is expensive. I understand that there are many related educational technologies that are booming, but how to apply these technologies to teaching；and make the technologies affordable and benefit all students is a long-term process.
Hi，R. Styles，
Thanks for sharing, I particularly agree with what you mentioned:
I like the idea of giving students the opportunity to virtually be placed into a setting or situation that can give them greater context to their learning.
The current spread of COVID-19 at 19 points makes us have to consider many alternative methods, so the application of technology in education may be a trend.
Best,
Bubble