Immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality, 3D games have globally received much attention during the last ten years in education. They have come a long way in transforming the students’ learning experience in K-12 classrooms (Pellas, Mystakidis, & Kazanidis, 2021). Educators have used technology tools to accommodate diverse learning needs and promote a sense of curiosity and wonder. The use of mobile devices as a part of students’ learning tools has evolved over the past decade. For example, the mobile phone was once a nice to have technology device to something we need, and as Hern (2021) states, we are “human snails carrying our homes in our pockets. However, the focus of our discussion is to explore how education uses mobile devices to promote immersive learning for K-12. To do this, we need to look at how mobile devices are used in immersive learning by reviewing the past, present, and future development as these technology tools continue to develop over time as the world becomes increasingly digital, visual, and interconnected.
The Past
If we reflect on education and its learning opportunities and learning tools were very limiting; for example, in the middle ages, books referred to as manuscripts were rare, and only the elite had access to these resources (Ross, 2015).
An illuminated manuscript from the Badische Landesbibliothek, Germany
Furthermore, nearly all manuscripts contained words and images that provided spaces for the reader to record their reactions to the image and text (Ross, 2015). These books are highly interactive, but we need to ask some questions about the text. For example, who decided how they were written down? Alternatively, what sections were important enough to be written in an age where paper and ink were expensive and writing skills were not expected. A thousand years later, let us consider how text is now being communicated to remain highly interactive and accessible, and this is through mobile devices. They were once luxurious, large and bulky items and have become compact devices that we cannot live without. As a result, mobile devices have changed how and why we use them in education. In saying this, there continues to be a push to introduce technology into K-12 classrooms since the 1980s (Grant, Tamim, Brown, Sweeney, Ferguson, & Jones, 2015, p. 32).
The history and evolution of mobile devices in education are essential to understand to help us visualize where they started from and where we are going. So, how did the young acquire knowledge in formal education when there were constraints and filters on information? Well, it was outside the school walls that societal transformation occurred. Through innovation and technology, it overcame restrictions and limitations on the information. It also allows for continued societal change, which led the path towards immersive learning; for example, in 1985, Michael McGreevy, a NASA scientist, decided to place an LCD-based television on helmets—combining these two forms of technology allowed for virtual reality (VR) training. So, how are mobile devices currently being used to create an immersive learning experience for K-12 students?
The Present
As mobile technology continues to be integrated into today′s instruction from K-12 to higher education to continuing education, eventually, institutions may be able to provide unique learning paths, matching instructional activities to a student’s learning needs, make learning more effective and efficient (Campbell and Oblinger, 2007, p.56). A variety of immersive learning experiences are on the rise such as VR and AR to supplement the teaching and learning process.
New immersive technology can transform the instructor’s role in the classroom with the use of learning analytics. Analytic tools are available to transform algorithms into actionable insights that enable the instructor to identify learners who are considered at risk and how changes can be made to instructions. One of the key components of immersive learning is that it allows the instructor to act as a facilitator. Click here for an illustration of a dynamic immersive learning environment where the teacher facilitates students’ science learning with VR technology.
Let us look at Universal Design for learning; for example, if you are working with a group of students on Math, the Ink Math Assistant is one of OneNote’s best features. This provides differentiated instructions for students! Similar features are also available in other areas of literacy, for example, access to immersive reading for comprehension. If you need to know their reading level, students can read passages to the computer in Microsoft Teams and AI will assess them according to the level the teacher decides (Bench Mark, Founts Pinnel (F&P), etc). This will help the teacher to provide differentiated instructions for students and also track their progress. This also serves as universal support for all students of all abilities to read and comprehend a story or a document for school. Having access to so many features provides additional support, and the teacher can engage more students with these assistive tools for learning.
What is the learners’ role when it comes to using immersive technology? Immersive technology has the possibility to enhance learners’ experiences, with more teachers engaging in Universal Design for Learning principles, preparing or using accessible material, and students being allowed to experience multiple means of expression, immersive technologies have helped transform the traditional classroom. Students who were once excluded or outcasts now have the ability to access the curriculum. The days of the students who cannot read from the textbook being left out are (mostly) gone. Immersive readers allow students to search and read the information that they previously could not. Naturally, when a student is able to access the course work and participate, they are going to feel like ‘one of the gang’ and be motivated to learn. As a benefit to all of the learners in the classroom, there are fewer students exhibiting undesirable behaviours that previously existed due to frustration and inability to participate. All of this falls under the assumption that the educator is operating an effective classroom with good classroom management strategies and having the students use the assistive technologies as a tool that they understand, rather than a distraction.
What are some implications that should be considered when it comes to using immersive learning technology? How to appropriately and adequately assess learning through games in educational contexts can be challenging and has also been the subject of much debate. Some of the implications that one should consider are the learning environment and acquisition of skills.
It can be challenging to create immersive environments in a school setting because usually the learning situations are constructed using a variety of software tools, game-based, simulation-based learning and virtual 3D worlds that are not readily available in schools due to costs.
The skillset that comes with learning new technologies includes problem-solving, creative thinking, reasoning, and critical thinking. Sometimes it can be challenging for students to grasp basic concepts because of a learning disability or lack of teaching aids. Therefore, identifying different learning characteristics will help educators to provide a modified or adaptive program that aligns with the core competencies of the learner. Despite all these implications mentioned one cannot forget the overlap between persuasion and technology (Dunne & Raby, 2013). As the software design “can modify our behaviour in a slightly underhanded way that moves beyond individuals interactions with technology to the social or mass scale (Dunne & Raby, 2013, p. 160).
Future
The advent and adoption of mobile devices as the new learning tool used for immersive learning in our world reaffirm that they “are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in society, particularly with the current generation of students” (Grant et al., 2015, p. 32). As mobile devices technology continues to develop in design, efficiency and use, we will see drastic changes; however, the use of immersive learning will change the world of education. According to Dunne and Raby (2013), “design can modify our behavior by nudging us to make choices that someone, usually a client organization, would like us to make” (Dunne & Raby, 2013, p. 160). An example is, technology can be used to encourage schoolchildren to eat more healthily by changing its location on the shelf where healthy choices are laced at eye level (Dunne & Raby, 2013, p. 160). Now, let us stay on this same frame of thought think about how will immersive learning use mobile devices in the next 10, 20, or 50 years and how it will utilize artificial or simulated environments, the learners can become completely immersed in the learning process. How could immersive learning tackle complex tasks of eradicating distractions and killing monotony in the process of Learning and Development? There are also vast amounts of empirical data that indicate students have difficulty learning complex topics such as science, technology and math (Azevedo & Gašević, 2019). According to Harari (2017), “Computer scientists are developing artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that can learn, analyze massive amounts of data and recognize patterns with superhuman efficiency” (p. 324). In the future, AI, with the assistance of mobile devices, tracks students learning patterns as they engage in online learning activities. In this way, AI can gather information through “log-files, eye tracking, thinking aloud, discourse analysis, physiological sensors, facial expressions of emotions pupil reading algorithms” (Azevedo & Gašević, 2019, p. 208). The futuristic AI can then assist students if they have difficulty understanding learning exercises or activities and provide them with videos or podcasts, whatever the best learning tool that would assist the student in accomplishing the task. Immersive learning can develop self-regulating behaviours; however, the futuristic AI can also notify the teacher if students are feeling severe emotional stress so that the teacher acts as a facilitator and implements the necessary interventions (Zheng, 2018). This futurist AI for immersive learning and self-regulation is possible because, according to Harari (2017), observes that “biologists and social scientists are deciphering human emotions, desires and intuitions (p. 324-324).
| “Whereas it is accepted that the present is caused by the past it is also possible to think of it being shaped by the future, by our hopes and dreams for tomorrow” (Dunne & Raby, 2013). |
Immersive learning is a dynamic strategy that can enhance eLearning and revolutionize the world of education. Immersive learning has the technique to utilize mobile devices and AI to lead the future of learning and help bridge learning gaps and assist in meeting student learning goals. Immersive learning has the potential in keeping students focused with the assistance of AI. Not only would immersive provide a great experience for students in their learning it can transform the world of instructional teaching. Hence, schools must prefer learning management software that supports immersive learning. As educational learning experiences redefine in this digital era, an immersive approach to curriculum design a restructuring of how communication literacies with 21st-century literacies and competencies (Henriksen, 2016). Therefore, in immersive learning creativity and technology can be seen as they are reciprocal elements and this connection must be emphasized in instructional practices, assessment, and student learning (Henriksen, 2016).
References
Azevedo, R., & Gašević, D. (2019). Analyzing multimodal multichannel data about self-regulated learning with advanced learning technologies: Issues and challenges. Computers in Human Behavior, 96, 207-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.03.025
Dunne, A., Raby, F. (2013). Speculative everything: Design, fiction, and social dreaming. The MIT Press.
Grant, M. M., Tamim, S., Brown, D. B., Sweeney, J. P., Ferguson, F. K., & Jones, L. B. (2015). Teaching and learning with mobile computing devices: Case study in K-12 classrooms. Techtrends, 59(4), 32-45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-015-0869-3
Harari, Y. N. (2017). Reboot for the AI revolution. Nature (London), 550(7676), 324-327. https://doi.org/10.1038/550324a
Henriksen, D., Mishra, P., & Fisser, P. (2016). Infusing creativity and technology in 21st century education: A systemic view for change. Educational Technology & Society, 19(3), 27-37.
Pellas, N., Mystakidis, S., & Kazanidis, I. (2021). Immersive virtual reality in K-12 and higher education: A systematic review of the last decade scientific literature. Virtual Reality: The Journal of the Virtual Reality Society, 25(3), 835-861. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-020-00489-9
Ross, D. N. (2015, August 8). Medieval manuscripts, an introduction. Smarthistory. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://smarthistory.org/medieval-manuscripts/.
Zheng, R. (2018). How immersive virtual environments foster self-regulated learning. (pp. 28-54). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-3940-7.ch002