This whole pandemic has been a massive shock to the educational system across the world. Disruptions, lack of experience, connection issues and imbalance in resources mean that the level of educational has been incredibly varied, depending on how lucky you are.
Yet this crazy and unpredictable period has also led to a massive rise in the technology, applications and resources available to curious and hard-working teachers. Businesses like Kahoot, Google’s education platform, Duolingo, Coursera, VIPKID and countless online platforms have all hugely increased their budgets, teams and efforts! Read on to find out more about what might be coming to your classroom soon!
At RKA Valencia, our focus is on making sure that the quality of English teaching never drops, regardless of whether classes are online, in-person or a mix of both. Though it hasn’t always been easy (especially at the beginning), we’ve loved the chance to really listen to our students and what they need, and to adapt our methods quickly. Find out more about our classes here, or get in touch for more information about our journey here.
Virtual classes from anywhere in the world
Much of the progress made in educational technology (ed-tech) has been taken from other much more remote and digital industries. The world of online gaming and community development has massively influenced ed-tech, and will continue to do so.
One key development in this sector is coming soon, and it’s coming right into your home, allowing you to ‘be’ anywhere in the world, from the comfort of your sofa. Virtual worlds are being created every day, and although VR (Virtual Reality) is not yet commonplace (even among gamers), it’s certainly a growing part of the entertainment sector.
The VR market was worth around $15 billion in 2020, but is expected to be worth more than $70 billion by 2028. If you’ve ever seen or played with an HTC or Oculus headset, you’ll know just how immersive and realistic some VR experiences can be.
Online classes have managed to replicate the communication element of classes, but not fully replaced the environment, social interaction and fun sharing of English classes. VR glasses combined with the clever use of specific teaching methods could fully bring a remote student into your physical classroom.
Imagine being able to sit on your sofa, move you head to the right and left, and see your field of view move right and left in the virtual classroom. You could look at specific students, move your viewpoint in the classroom, and interact with your fellow students in a much more natural way.
If you want to see how immersive VR can really be, check out this terrified grandma refusing to walk the plank!
Augmented Reality and physical interaction
If Virtual Reality sounds like something you'd like, then the next ed-tech innovation coming soon will excite you too. Augmented Reality (AR) is similar to VR, but instead of just taking you to a place in the digital world, AR also allows you to interact with objects and present, create and change information and visual elements in this virtual/physical world.
AR projects often use a combination of VR glasses and physical objects and places, allowing people to see, touch and move things that do not physically exist. This is certainly not as developed and well-known as the VR world, but there's more and more money being invested in AR technology in education too.
One day, education will mix the real, the digital, the virtual and the augmented world, and open up education to everyone and anyone with the right headset. We hope we can stay in the classroom with our students, but we're also incredibly excited to see where ed-tech can take us too!
Get in touch with us at info@rkavalencia.com for more details of classes, Cambridge exam courses and much more.
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