EDTC 601 – Week 5 -Activity 5: Discussion - Virtual Reality Blog Post

Do virtual worlds give students a better learning experience
than real world experiences?

 Having spent this time researching Virtual Reality I have decided that there needs to be a proper mix between using VR in the classroom and using traditional instruction.  I do not think students can learn everything they need to learn from VR, but I think it is a great learning tool.  If a teacher can find good VR content for their classroom, then the teacher should plan to use this material when appropriate and when the content will best engage the students.  I know having to do these assignments has changed my thought process when considering what to include in my content.  I know I can tell kids all day that they need to live a healthier life style, but I need to find a way to get kids to ‘live it’ and not just say it.  These activities that I have written about will lead me to experimenting so much more with this concept of ‘how’ to get the kids to focus on their physical choices, so much more than anything I have done before.  I know the process of how to turn these ideas into action is not an easy process.  But if I make a concerted effort to follow through with these ideas by contacting the librarian and scheduling time into my curriculum, then I feel the students will have a better learning experience than if I just continue to do the curriculum as it is written now. 

  Virtual worlds have the benefit of engaging students in, what feels like, a real world experience.  So the student can see for
themselves how this experience will really impact them.  This is very different than trying to guess about how it will impact you.  But there is not enough curriculum available right now that I know of, to just strictly teach everything this way.  It will take some more research on my part to continue to find available material to use, but some things I teach need to be actually practiced by the student themselves, in real life, not virtually.  Student’s heart rates need to be raised for real, not virtually.   This type of learning is a nice change and fun for the kids to see things from a different perspective, but my main goal is for them to learn how to live a healthier lifestyle.  I guess I should say, not just learn how to live healthier, but actually live healthier…………….in real life.