English
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– April 25, 2019 –
Interview with Professor Dr. Romero Tori about Immersive Education. Romero Tori is CEST´s Collaborator Professor. He has also coordinated and developed several kinds of research on interactive technologies focusing among other applications in education.
What is Immersive Education?
The concept of immersion in Education is not new. One example is the immersive courses for language learning. Immersive education refers basically to putting the student directly in touch with the learning content. One thing is the student listen to and watch explanations on a particular subject. Another thing is the student to experience it. It is known as “learning by doing”. We can apply immersive learning to an art course, for example, by taking students to museums around the world. Or train firefighters by putting them on real fires. But as we can see, it is not always feasible, safe or appropriate top ut the student in real immersive situations. But today there are immersive technologies, known as virtual reality and augmented reality, which make it possible to simulate immersive environments, with security, realism and low cost. Using special glasses, and eventually, interactive devices, it is possible to place the student inside environments that realistically simulate space, objects and living beings with which they interact and develop their learning. So, today, when we talk about “immersive education”, in general, we consider that the learning activities involve the use of immersive technologies.
What are the benefits of Immersive Education?
Learning is most effective and efficient when the student interacts directly with the content to be learned. Some of these contents, such as sensory-motor skills training, are naturally more suitable for immersive training because such skills involve manipulating instruments and interacting with objects or living beings. As such activities can involve high risks and costs, the use of virtual or augmented reality simulators is an excellent alternative for providing realism, at low cost and without risks.
Are educators in higher education aware of this type of teaching? If not, how can they adapt this teaching to their practice?
As in the case of other media and technologies, such as videos, internet, mobile devices or games, there is a certain delay, and sometimes resistance, in the adoption by teachers. In addition to the lack of knowledge, there are prejudices, often reinforced by the misuse that some make of technology. Immersive technologies are not the solution for everything. There are situations in which they are very suitable and others in which they are not. Bad examples end up serving as an excuse for the rejection of new technologies. To improve this it is necessary to put teachers in contact with immersive environments already validated by colleges of the same field of knowledge, so the teachers feel the differences caused in the students´ learning process. According to my experience when the immersive system has quality, makes sense and meets a pedagogical need, the teacher notices this right away.
Where and how has immersive education been worked or dealt with in Brazil?
For the time being, it has been explored in research laboratories, such as the Interlab (Laboratory of Interactive Technologies) of Poli/USP, and in some other laboratories of Poli itself, other units of USP and other institutions. Some startups are being created to develop immersive environments for education, some of them with funding from FAPESP. Some cutting-edge educational institutions already began to adopt immersive technologies as one more media at the teacher’s disposal. But both in Brazil and abroad, the widespread adoption of these technologies will also take time because there is a need for much more research and development to explore the potential of these technologies, develop and validate training environments and put them in the classroom.
What recommendations do you give to those who want to go deeper into this new teaching modality?
The first step is to have contact with immersive technology. You can even use your smartphone and adapters called cardboards. Countless free apps and games demonstrate very well the potential of virtual and augmented reality. Then look for materials and experiences related to the use of these technologies in your area of expertise as a teacher. Then, search for review articles on the state of the art, such as “use of virtual reality (or augmented reality) in the teaching of …”. These articles are good to go deeper into the subject in your area of knowledge. For those who want to know more about these technologies, I recommend the book Introduction to Virtual and Augmented Reality downloaded for free on the Interlab site (pcs.usp.br/interlab).
What are the challenges for short and medium term in Education that tries to integrate virtual and face-to-face environments?
The challenges are similar to the adoption of any new media: research, develop and validate new tools; purge solutions based on fads and focused on technology instead of pedagogical methodology; train teachers; overcome resistance; get resources to acquire specialized equipment.
Could gamification be an example of Immersive Education?
Not necessarily. We can have immersive and non-immersive games, just as we can have immersive gambling education or not. But it is undeniable the strength of the combination of these two technologies. It is enough to see that the most successful games are practically immersive (even without using virtual reality equipment), given the realism and the use of environments and three-dimensional characters.
What recommendations would you give to teachers who wish to use new teaching proposals that go beyond the boundaries of the traditional classroom?
Don’t let yourself be carried away by fads or prejudices. Be open to learn and explore new technologies, to know their strengths and weaknesses. Be inspired by success stories. Finally, I recommend you involve your students. They are the ones most interested, the ones with skills to learn how to use new technologies and get engaged easily when participating in the choices and decisions.