Learning by experiencing in the virtually real world (Live Mint)

Mains Paper 4 : Science and Tech
Prelims level : VR
Mains level : AI and related matters

Introduction

• The campus life in universities was a thing. Students would go to university for a number of years, living and learning in a confined community designed to facilitate the pursuit of knowledge. And then one day, they would graduate and face the real world.
• This model of a confined campus community serves little purpose today. The world is changing so rapidly that a student entering university today would struggle to make sense of the world they would enter upon graduation.
• Unless the campus community is specifically designed to have a porous boundary and be tightly interwoven with the real world.
• This has become a compelling imperative for universities today.

Evolving the VR technologies

• Engaging with the real world through porous boundaries can and must take many forms. Research collaborations and consultations with industry could help maintain the balance between pure and applied research.
• The faculty could be expanded to include practitioners such as authors, statisticians, business leaders, conservationists and policy-makers. Students could be encouraged to learn experientially, by attempting to identify and solve real-life problems in the world around them.
• While the range of real-life problem solving is somewhat limited by the practical constraints of time, geography and cost, the portal of virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) opens a nearly infinite vista of immersive learning opportunities.

Background

• In recent years, VR/AR has emerged as an effective enabler of experiential learning.
• The efficacy of VR/AR tools for learning has been scientifically established for more than a decade now.
• However, most prior research has taken place in experimental conditions and controlled lab settings that involve expensive VR/AR equipment and room facilities.
• Today, costs associated with VR/AR have dropped substantially you could buy a cardboard VR viewer for under ₹500, and view VR/AR content for free using your smartphone.
• Universities looking to build a porous boundary with the real world would do well to take a close look at the potential of VR/AR.

Way forward

• The possibilities are endless and exciting, spanning a gamut of disciplines and learner types.
• In biology, for example, the rote memorisation of the names and characteristics of species and genera continues to intimidate the brightest of students.
• Or perhaps you’re a math student trying to break away from Euclidean planes. But hyperbolic planes are hard to comprehend.
• How could it be that you take four left turns but not end up at the same spot where you started?
• If you tried this with a VR headset that puts you inside a hyperbolic space, you would actually take a walk around and see that you end up in the same spot only after taking six left turns.
• Consider a truly inter-disciplinary problem such as climate change and carbon emissions. Plunge into an infinity pool at a resort in the Maldives, and fast forward 100 years into the future.
• Watch how the island gets submerged and when, based on current CO2 emission trends.
• Choose an alternate level of emissions and re-play. Learn how the actions we take today would result in the outcomes we would face in the future.
• The Media Lab at Krea University has been conceived with the hypothesis that VR/AR’s affordances as a storytelling tool can spark deep contextual inquiry-driven learning, foster attentional engagement, develop students’ critical thinking/problem-solving skills, and nurture a broader appropriation of academic concepts, skills, dispositions and attitudes. The journey has begun.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Consider the following statements between India’s Connectivity Projects through Myanmar:

A. Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project is a project that will connect the eastern Indian seaport of Odisha with Sittwe seaport in Rakhine State, Myanmar by sea.
B. IMT Trilateral Highway is a regional highway being constructed under India’s Act East policy. It will connect Moreh in India with Mae Sot, Thailand via Myanmar.

Choose the correct option:
A. A only
B. B only
C. Both A and B
D. Neither A nor B

Answer: B

Mains Questions:
Q.1)Use of virtual reality can greatly enhance learning through the use of experiential techniques. Explain.