39 The Future of E-Ducation: the Impact of Technology and Analytics on the Education Industry
3-D Learning Tools Engaging with a virtual world via mobile, multi-faceted technology can still be regarded as a passive activity, but 3-D learning tools promise to change this. Education is increasingly focused on integrating soft skills, such as creativity, into students’ repertoires and 3-D learning tools are becoming a popular solution. Exploring the progress from designing 3-D images to producing 3-D objects has and will continue to open up new learning possibilities. Interactive demonstrations and increased participation 3-D learning tools emphasise active, are encouraged generally by mobile, multi-faceted formal and informal learning in an technology, but are a focus of 3-D learning tools. 3-D unparalleled manner for all levels of learning tools emphasise active, formal and informal learning in an unparalleled manner for all levels of education. education. Advanced 3-D technology has existed since the 1990s, however, in the past 12 months, 3-D learning tools have taken off. 3-D learning is unique in that it reflects how humans view the world, with children finding it especially difficult to understand what is not visible (Bamford, 2013). Visual, tactile learning improves students’ understanding, as they are are able to comprehend how the parts make the whole of something. This more physical type of learning makes complex concepts more easily understood. This physical, visual type of learning is provided by 3-D technology. In the K-12 learning environment, 3-D learning tools are being used in a variety of ways. In science and history classes, students with access to 3-D printing can make and interact with replicas of fossils and artefacts that they would otherwise only see behind glass in museums (New Media Consortium, 2013). Often, by creating these objects themselves, and then being able to interact with them, the students are much more eager to participate in a lesson that would otherwise be regarded as dull. For example, at Concordia International School in Shanghai, students were given the opportunity to explore miniature models of asteroid Vesta from the Dawn mission, from a 3-D scanned image which NASA made publically available. Similarly,