Using Augmented Reality in Education and Training: The Opportunities and Challenges
Traditional methods of schooling are becoming a thing of the past as we know them. They are being rapidly transcribed and advances in technology are pushing them. In fact, by 2027, the education technology industry is expected to hit $680.1 billion, rising at a 17.9 percent annual pace.
Also, the COVID – 19 outbreak has arisen the potential for the market with a growing number of states and countries closing educational institutions. For example, as stated by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Science, and Cultural Organization), over 90.0 percent of students in the world do not attend their schools because of this pandemic. So, the best way to educate students is to create comprehensive distance education solutions for quality e-learning methods.
To fulfill the traditional technology and natural environment the most significant trends in EdTech – Augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality— a combination of AR/VR — have been playing a key role in driving learning and edtech engagement.
Using Augmented Reality in Education: The Opportunities and Challenges
Via Augmented Reality (AR), it is easier to educate students so that educators can maximize learning outcomes by increasing interaction and interactivity. In education, Augmented Reality (AR) features elements that strengthen the learning of skills such as problem-solving, and teamwork and prepare students for the future.
Benefits of Augmented Reality in Education:
Despite the listed advantages, when developing Education technology solutions with augmented reality, there are certain drawbacks you should consider:
- Accessible learning materials –
Augmented reality has the power to substitute textbooks, physical models, charts, and written guides for paper. It provides learning materials that are compact and less costly. Like, mobile is the best way to use augmented reality anywhere, anytime.
- No special equipment is required –
Augmented reality doesn’t need any expensive equipment as more than 70% of teens have a smartphone so AR Technology is easily available for the students.
- Higher student engagement and interest –
Interactive, gamified AR learning will still make the students excited to learn. You can quickly introduce a curiosity element to the subjects to be taught with the use of Augmented Reality in classroom education and Augmented Reality technology enables students to take a closer look at difficult concepts.
- Improved collaboration capabilities –
Augmented reality applications provide enormous resources that help develop teamwork skills as all students are participating in the learning process at the same time.
- A faster and more effective learning process –
Using Augmented Reality in the classroom enables students not only to read rather visualize things in real-time. So, students achieve better results through visualization and full immersion in the subject matter.
- Universally applicable from education to training –
Augmented reality is not limited to a particular age group or educational level and can be used equally well at all levels of education, from pre-school to college and even at the workplace.
AR techniques give so much more than any online education course on the internet, despite a common misunderstanding.
- A lack of necessary training –
Augmented Reality is new technology so Some teachers might struggle to put these new technologies into practice only some teachers can easily be ready to apply Augmented reality apps in education.
- Hardware Dependency –
Using augmented reality in the classroom requires hardware. For example, not all students have smartphones capable of supporting AR applications.
- Content portability issues –
The AR app you build needs to work equally well on all platforms and devices. However, it is practically impossible to provide the same quality of AR content on any device.
Here I want to explain one of the excellent examples of Augmented Reality in Edtech Games is ANIMAL COLORING KINGDOM AR.
This application provides the fun of instant coloring on a 3D model of the animal as it is being physically colored on the ‘Animal Kingdom Drawing Book’. Just track animals from ‘Animal Kingdom Drawing Book’, start coloring animals on the physical book and the application will translate that information to a color 3D model of that animal.
That’s not all, 3D animals love to interact and do various stuff when the user interacts with them by touching them on-screen.
Features We Integrated Into ANIMAL COLORING KINGDOM AR
– Once the animation starts, you can move the camera around to view the animation from any angle
– Most characters can be moved around the room by touching the phone/tablet screen
– Restart the animation by pressing the restart icon
– Change the language using the language icon
– Story told in English, Spanish, French, Hebrew
– Record a movie using the record icon and share it with your friends
Conclusion:
As we can see, there is an immense opportunity for virtual reality in education, which is yet to be discovered. Augmented Reality is becoming more available and broadly used with the current adoption of mobile devices and the recent developments in hardware. Thus, it might be a good idea to take the first move in this direction right now. Otherwise, you risk losing the opportunity to earn your share of the market.
