VR technology and Education

Most VR technology in use is being geared towards simulation of "worst case scenario planning" for professions to put them in real-life scenarios. Think of a pilot and a scenario of an emergency landing, or a person in the military who is in combat or a situation that is uncommon.

I see a lot more uses of VR to help with other areas such as physicians and also putting students into real life scenarios such as touring a college campus virtually or being able to attend classes for those that may be unable to attend in person.

VR/AR have lots of options for learning. Everything from virtual scenarios (picture a firefighter being able to experience different situations that are cost prohibitive otherwise) to having remote experts see the same experience. In IT, we often have shadows, that is someone comes and watches an expert work. VR could be used for the shadows where the expert could help multiple people a day, instead of being tied to only helping those who can get to them in person.

VR can give a more immersive experience for the learner. For example, say you want to practice to become a DJ, this typically requires mixers, turntable, and so on. With VR, you can virtualize the equipment and give the learner a simulated DJ environment to practice (see https://www.tribexr.com/). We can apply this example to a variety of class environments such as virtual chemistry experiments, exploring coral reefs, or studying history. Lots of advances in VR and AR (vr.google.com, Facebook 360 | Oculus, and Microsoft HoloLens 2). All of this will give us more perspectives and create new possibilities.