Augmented Reality technology in education
Educational institutions that use the latest technology in the classroom as well as in field trips are going to create a completely different learning experience opportunity for the Alpha children. And with it, they are going to contribute to a better preparation for the leaders of the future.
Schools, educators, and educational institutions are going to find it challenging to cope with the demands of Generation Alpha children if they neglect to update themselves, their methodology, and curricula in order to adopt a new approach to education.
Alpha children are accustomed to acquiring knowledge by doing, screen-touching, and experiencing. Schools need to provide an adequate environment that enhances this type of learning.
This type of environment requires changes and a new approach to education at all levels. Schools and colleges should get ready by creating programs of study that require deep learning.
Schools need to start preparing programs that are flexible enough to be adapted and modified quickly according to the young Alphas' inquisitive mind.
According to Jenny Coetzee, career educator and founding member of the ADvTECH Group's prestigious Crawford School La Lucia, "these children are the most connected, educated, and sophisticated generation ever, so when educating, a school should provide an environment that enhances learning for these digital integrators."
The right way to teach the young Alphas, thus, is by developing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It is going to be important for Generation Alpha children to be able to see problems from different perspectives in order to make the best possible decisions. This is going to constitute one of the pillars in their future shared with AI robots and Quantum computers.
Teamwork will let them analyze possible alternative solutions according to different viewpoints, and then make decisions based on their own personal and individual critical thinking.
Providing an engaging learning experience is paramount for the success of any educational institution, and in particular, the success of the educator.
Thanks to emerging technologies such as Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality (AR/VR/MR) the classroom today can incorporate AR and VR content that can make learning more efficient, faster, and much more fun. From mathematics to chemistry to biology with some creativity AR can be incorporated to practically any subject.
Some companies such as Indestry, an award-winning Augmented Reality experiences for entertainment, marketing, and education company, can certainly bring the dinosaur experience to the classroom in the same way it did for Jurassic Park at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
In other words, this is one of the best ways an educator can use to engage and motivate students. By using tools and applications especially designed to create AR and VR content and activities even with little or no programming skills, creating an exciting world within the classroom becomes a piece of cake.
Augmented Reality technology expands the physical world; it adds layers of digital information onto what we can see with the naked eye. It augments our surrounding by adding sound, video, and graphics.
On the other hand, Virtual Reality creates a completely different environment, an artificial world that replaces the real one and in which we can immerse ourselves like characters do as their avatars in Steven Spielberg's movie Ready Player One.
Learning benefits of Augmented Reality in education
Augmented Reality applications in education provide new ways of teaching and learning, bridging the gap between the virtual and real world. The benefits of AR in education are increasingly being recognized by researchers on the topic.
Researchers have reported on the positive impact that Augmented Reality experiences have on learners as compared to non-AR ones:
Increased content understanding
Learning spatial structure and function
Learning language associations
Long-term memory retention
Improved physical task performance
Improved collaboration
Increased student motivation
The researchers also reported just a few learning detriments from Augmented Reality, all of which can successfully be avoided:
Attention tunneling
Usability difficulties
Ineffective classroom integration
Learner differences
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