Short description

Educational programs offered today in Slovenia, mainly educational organizations and other training providers are not yet designed to enable learners to acquire capabilities, which are necessary in an open, rapidly changing, and digitized society. Education is still predominantly directed by the educational paradigm, which is in the centre education places a teacher who transfers “his” knowledge to “his students” or ‘listeners’.

The most extensive part of the monograph, i.e., the sixth part, is devoted to the description of the characteristics and the possibilities of learning approaches and methods based on the technologies typical for the digital society. From a wide range of possible approaches and techniques for learning and teaching in the digital society, they have presented in more detail those who benefit the most attention in the professional literature and are already gaining ground in the practice of modern of education. These are open education with open educational resources (OER) and MOOCs, artificial intelligence, learning analytics, intelligent tutoring systems, mobile learning, microlearning, gamification, simulations, virtual and augmented reality, and digital storytelling.

Use of virtual and augmented reality in e-learning VR and AR are used in different fields and for different purposes, in degree in architecture, sports, medicine, art, military, media, rehabilitation and the entertainment industry. The use of both technological approaches is increasingly common also in education, in very different fields and in different ways of education, as part of formal education, for shorter trainings in companies or in e-education. It limits the use of VR and AR in e-learning above all, the fact that little additional hardware is available, or she is dear.

The spread of VR and AR equipment among individuals is still modest for now. Boland (2017) reports that the prevalence of VR equipment in US households was only 17% in 2017, with a forecast of 30% in 2020.

Even in e-education, just like in traditional education, we can take advantage of the advantages provided by AR and VR for a more authentic and active learning. AR and VR enable certain types of functionalities that are important especially for e-learning. Laura Lynch (2018) lists three examples, in which VR can be particularly effectively used in e-learning: virtual classrooms, virtual field trips and hands-on learning opportunities.

Virtual classrooms

This may be the most obvious use, but it does have its benefits. On-a visual classroom can further alleviate the problem of the absence of direct communication live cations between the teacher and participants in e-learning as they allow web 2.0 tools.

Virtual excursions

Virtual tours make it possible to visit locations that are not accessible due to geographical or time distance. Google “Arts & Culture” is an online platform, which enables three-dimensional exploration of the physical world, such as visiting locations, museums, or galleries (https://artsandculture.google.com/).

The participant does not need special equipment to use the application, so it is easy to use even in “classic” LMS. The added value of these virtual environments are additional descriptions of individual objects that the participant observes. Similar types of functionalities are provided by the SphereShare platform (https://sphereshare.en.uptodown.com/android).

Possibilities of practical education

The greatest benefit of virtual environment immersion is the accurate simulations of real situations. Related use of VR can be useful in public training performances, training of doctors, etc.

The use of VR or AR technology is most common in combined forms of education, in which educational technology is combined with classical approaches teaching. For example, it is very common in teaching chemistry, biology, physics, or languages.

Tools for creating virtual and upgraded reality

On the Internet and in professional literature, we can find many examples of tools with which we can use virtual or augmented reality ourselves. These tools is increasing every year and the user experience is always better. This is of course a good thing news, as it means that teachers themselves will be able to use these tools in their preparation e-learning materials. It is also welcome that with the development of technology, the hardware for VR or AR is also becoming more and more affordable. To that also warn Brown and Green (2016), who believe that the low price of technology for VR opens up many possibilities for using VR in teaching and media production. Brown and Green (2016) among the most affordable VR tools or technologies include:

1. The Google Street View application (https://www.google.com/streetview/) enables to create photospheres and view other people’s photospheres. They are photospheres panoramic images that can be captured on some Android devices.

This feature is built into the camera and enables 360-degree photography the world around you. Very simply, the photosphere can be prepared for use with a Google Cardboard device.

2. Discovery VR (https://shortyawards.com/8th/discovery-vr) is a product of the Discovery Channel television network and includes many free 360-degree videos from their popular television shows. Videos can be viewed in web browser, by Google Cardboard, Gear VR, OculusRift and other tools. The average video length is 3 minutes.

3. Immersive VR Education (http://immersivevreducation.com) develops the Engage VR platform based on the Unity environment (an author’s tool for creating 3D video games and other interactive content). Use of special applications enables the creation of realistic environments depicting historical events, various virtual environments or visualizing scientific concepts that is difficult to display with ordinary media.

Target groups

• educators and others interested in e-education

They also hope that “E-education for a digital society” will deepened the professional discussion about e-education in Slovenia, increased interest in this form of education and contributed to a greater number of high-quality e-education programs.

Additional references

• Using Virtual Reality in Education:

https://elearningindustry.com/using-virtual-reality-in-education

• Virtual Reality Society:

https://www.vrs.org.uk/

• The Multiple Uses of Augmented Reality in Education:

https://www.audio.ro/stiatica/utilizarile-multiple-ale-realitatii-augmentate-in-educatie/?lang=en