Virtual Reality in Education

After researching various types of virtual reality, I do not think that virtual worlds give students a better learning experience than real world experiences. Originally, I believed that virtual reality worlds offered unique experiences for students to experience things they would not otherwise have access to.  Pictures of students taking a virtual tour through the Louvre, participating in historic events, and visiting fictional cities were floating around in my head as I thought of the educational benefits of virtual reality. After researching available programs on the web, I found that all of the programs I came across failed to live up to my imagination. Many of the programs I found were fake worlds designed for people to create the life they always dreamed of. The educational aspects seemed to be something of an after thought. The skills students learned and practiced were happy accidents when living in the virtual world. There may be other, more sophisticated, educational virtual reality programs, but they are not readily available on the World Wide Web.

I envisioned students exploring the town of Maycomb, Alabama while reading To Kill a Mockingbird.  How great would it be if students could become a member of the Maycomb community and live in the world of Jem and Scout? They could see the novel come to life and live during the time of segregation. They could attend protests of the Jim Crow laws and be present at the trial of Tom Robinson. If virtual realities such as these existed, then I think they could be great additions to school curriculum. Without these clear ties to the educational standards, it seems like a stretch when trying to incorporate the use of virtual reality into the educational setting.

The prospect of students being able to dive into culture and travel the world from their computers was also initially enticing. Students would be able to walk through the front door of the Louvre, even if they couldn’t personally visit the museum. The students could learn about the various paintings and artist they were viewing by the click of a button. Far more information would be available in the virtual world than would be if they were actually in the museum. The virtual world could fill in the missing background knowledge, but experience of actually seeing the painting in person is lost. In a virtual world you could not see the brush strokes, and would not experience the feeling you get from living experiences. Virtual realities can teach skills and information, but they can’t teach you the subtle lessons you learn while immersed in a culture.