Authors: Payton Jones
Mentors: Jamie Spinney
Insitution: Southern Utah University
Virtual Reality: The Next Step in Technology-Based Education
Virtual Reality (VR) technology offers numerous educational opportunities that can enhance high school curriculum. The use of technology in the classroom has been rapidly evolving since the development of the accessible internet. Laptops, tablets, online learning platforms, and interactive projections are several of the technological developments, and now VR appears to be one of the next steps in that evolution. As VR continues to become more affordable and more advanced, there is a commensurate increase in opportunities to enhance curriculum, instructional techniques, and student engagement. For example, VR enables students and teachers to go on virtual field trips to places that are relevant to class material without the challenges and costs of leaving the classroom. The purpose of this study was twofold; (a) to investigate the different applications of VR technology that can be used to enhance high school social science curriculum, and (b) to summarize some of the main benefits and challenges associated with implementing VR in the classroom. The results of this study indicate that VR technology has considerable potential to enhance both the learning experience and student engagement by providing immersive learning opportunities, but these opportunities are unlikely to be widely utilized in the near future.