4 minute read
IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION
RESEARCHER IN FOCUS
Both teachers and principals are open to digital media in education. But they need support in the form of better equipment, advice on strategic and operational decisions, intensive training, and additional support from IT experts. That is the conclusion of a survey of 324 teachers from twenty-four countries in Europe. Professor Ignace Martens, coordinator of the Lean Learning Academy at KU LeuvenGhent summarises the results.
To situate. Two years ago, as part of an Erasmus project, research was started into the impact of the lockdown and other COVID 19 restrictions on digital teaching. It also surveyed teachers’ attitudes towards the use of XR technology in education and learning. XR technology is the umbrella term of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR), as well as the future realisations that immersive technologies can create.
Promising
The prospects for XR in education and learning seem promising. Enthusiastic experts predict that XR technology will be widespread in education and training by 2025, profoundly changing the way we learn and work.
“However, the survey of teachers shows that there is still a long way to go,” Ignace Martens warns. “53% of teachers have never come into contact with immersive technologies, another 25% at most 3 times. Knowledge and skills in dealing with XR technology are only marginally developed. 91% indicate having no experience at all in using it in the classroom.”
Access to XR technology also appears to be anything but evident. “42% of teachers say they have no access at all. In the end, about 20% turn out to have access through the school or the educational institution. But even those who do have access, therefore, do not yet start using it. The difficulties encountered by respondents have to do with lack of knowledge, lack of time to upskill, high costs in procurement and too little support from IT specialists. Classroom design also often hinders the use of immersive working methods,” says Ignace Martens.
Investment
“In themselves, most of the obstacles are not really insurmountable,” Ignace Martens believes. “They will cost a lot of money to get rid of, that’s for sure. But there is not much choice. At all costs, we must prevent Europe from missing the connection with the digital age. Currently, most investments are made by leading companies in this sector located in the US and in China, but also in Japan, South Korea, Canada, and Australia. Europe already has a backlog to catch up.”
In all this, according to Ignace Martens, we should also not forget that digitisation includes only methods and tools that are as good or as bad as the way they are used. “Like any method and tool, digitised tools are not universally applicable. It takes interdisciplinary groups of experts consisting of education experts, psychologists, IT specialists, sociologists, … to determine exactly in which areas digitisation should be promoted in the first place.”
Motivation
It is clear that the lockdowns and restrictions due to the C-19 pandemic have caused a breakthrough in the digitisation of education. The survey also shows that despite the obstacles, teachers’ motivation to take digital education further is higher than expected. “The ball is now in the policymakers’ camp,” says Ignace Martens; “ Now it is a matter of updating teachers quickly and efficiently. This should not be at the expense of traditional teaching and working methods, but rather enrich them. The essence is not the question of which methods one personally likes or dislikes, but rather which methods best prepare pupils for the challenges of today and tomorrow.”
Yves Persoons
The Green Paper with the research findings is consultable at www.xr4ped.eu
