Mr. Yuvraj Krishan Sharma spearheads Kompanions as a Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer (CPO). He is a spirited and creative person at heart fuelled with a flair for innovation and technology, who continuously excited about the creation of ‘NEW Technologies’. As an entrepreneur, he firmly believes that given today’s volatile status-quo and rapidly changing scenario, students need an advanced technological skill-set to sustain growth to meet the demands of the knowledge-based economy, concepts and businesses.
Over the past five years, immersive learning technologies and tools like AR, VR and MR have created a considerable shift in the methodologies used in the education sector. As a result, India’s Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market was valued at $1.83 billion in FY2020 and is predicted to rise at a CAGR of 38.29 per cent through FY2027, owing to India’s rapid growth in digital transformation in the Ed-tech sector.
These new-age ed-tech tools have caused a storm of activity in the Ed-Tech industry since VR and AR have become appealing to learners due to their interactivity and detailed visualization. This shift in the education sector is due to the myriad qualities of the immersive experiences of learners that mirror the actual world with remarkable steadfastness offered by these new-age technologies to help replace or extend our perspective of reality. In addition, the use of AR and VR in Education allows students to get close and personal with the objects, subjects and locations.
AR/VR Education promotes self-learning and provides secure places for students to discover new skills and apply them without risk to themselves or others. As a result, it gives students an immersive experience making it far more exciting, successful in imparting knowledge and increases the retention quotient, unlike a traditional classroom setup.
E-learning tools and platforms have been catering to diverse audiences, including students, working professionals, and others. As a result, there has been a growth in the demand for AR/VR and 3D e-learning platforms and study modules that provide an interactive learning experience for students to engage better and become self-learners. In addition, a rising number of STEM academic instructors and educational technology professionals are experimenting with AR/VR tools to teach complicated and often abstract ideas.
AR/ VR and Mixed Reality integration into e-learning platforms do not necessitate a significant investment or expensive equipment. Instead, students and working professionals only need a functional mobile device to access learning resources anywhere. Therefore, in a realistic approach, it is not difficult to claim that AR is less expensive and has a better position in the education sector right now. In contrast, VR, which is more immersive in learning, will be difficult to deploy soon.
Virtual Reality (VR) has immense potential to improve Education by giving students memorable and engaging experiences that would not be possible otherwise. Furthermore, it can all take place within the confines of the classroom, making it accessible and can be readily monitored by teachers. The use of virtual reality acts as an intermediary between instructors and students. For example, distance learning tools that use VR can place instructors and students in the same room with digital representations of themselves – teachers can teleport into the VR reality and help students through their experiences. The human memory is complex and does not easily forget visuals. Students can understand and memorise information more quickly due to this.
Augmented Reality (VR) enables teachers to present virtual illustrations of topics and incorporate game features to provide textbook material assistance, making classroom teaching more spectacular and interactive. In addition, students can explore the location where they are learning in virtual three dimensions using Virtual Reality (VR). This new-age e-learning tool offers students an advantage as it makes learning more exciting and engaging by using 3D modelling of historical monuments, scientific instruments, and other complex concepts.
Learning through AR and VR has immense potential in the future. This interactive e-learning will help students push their boundaries to comprehend complex subjects and concepts. Perhaps it will also make them fearless. By incorporating an interactive audio-visual component, augmented and virtual reality ed-tech platforms can make explaining complex topics less difficult.
In India, selective academic institutions have even introduced dedicated labs in schools and colleges that allow students and academic instructors to access AR/VR devices to develop their study modules and content. These dedicated labs create further opportunities for students and educators to experiment with immersive learning. As a result, AR/VR has shown an improvement in learning in youngsters since they may experience a new method to learn. A lot of what students learn today is through the human senses. So, while learners and teachers experience something, and more human senses get used, the stronger the chances of the learning to stay preserved in their memory and makes it easy to recall.
One of the essential stages in a child’s life is cognitive development. However, traditional classrooms focused on ideas, augmented reality, and virtual reality shifts the focus to learning via visualization rather than theory. This shift in the Indian and global education ecosystems with AR, VR and 3D learning has proven to boost students’ attention more than ever before.
The future of e-learning looks promising when we view it with the current use of AR, VR and MR study modules. These technological e-learning tools will keep students exhilarated and engaged, making them more curious about learning to respond to and comprehend complex situations and subjects.