“You want to work with environments that have innovative colors, like red,” Finkelstein says. “You don’t want colors that make you relax, like cream or blue…[Plus,] podiums shouldn’t interfere with sightlines, and should be mobile. Faculty should be able to move around…These are things you have to think about when considering a [new] design.”
Active Learning in Virtual Reality
Even though some colleges have already invested in virtual reality solutions, Emory Craig says augmented reality technology will make a big bang in the near future.
“There is a wealth of devices coming out on market next year,” says Craig, Director of eLearning and Instructional Technology at New York University. “It will be an exploding market at $150 billion by 2020, and it continues to increase. Augmented reality will be a major part of the market down the road.”
One of the reasons why virtual reality solutions are a big player in active learning is due to students’ and instructors’ developing visual literacy.
Maya Georgieva, Associate Director for the Center for Innovation at New York University, says virtual reality spaces enhance visual literacy, and make the teaching and learning experience more interactive.
“We’re completely immersed in a visual culture,” Georgieva says. “Our data is presented to us in visuals.” You have to think “how are students going to operate and navigate that visual culture? You’re not just being mindful of this – it’s about being able to critically think about this.”
Georgieva also says virtual reality solutions are reshaping the way instructors and students convey information and tell stories in the classroom.
The solutions give instructors and students a full-body experience, and change the way they absorb and interact with data.
“Storytelling is the oldest form of how knowledge is being passed,” Georgieva says. “It’s an interesting format because it’s studied a lot in various contexts today. Stories have a very clear formula: a beginning, middle and end, having to overcome a challenge, rooting for the protagonist, etc. It’s a powerful concept in play as we go to immersive learning and virtual reality…The idea that storytelling is changing, people want to give opportunities that enable a more visceral experience.”
Active Learning via Telepresence Solutions
With nontraditional and distance learning students making more appearances in the college setting, technologies and teaching strategies are adapting to meet their needs.
One way colleges are doing this is by investing in telepresence solutions, such as robotics.
For instance, Florida International University (FIU) utilizes one of Double Robotics‘ telepresence robotics solutions to teach classes at its home base in Miami and in China simultaneously.
One of Double Robotics’
telepresence robotics solutions.
Dale Gomez, IT Director at the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at FIU, says these telepresence solutions enable colleges to bring more students “into” the classroom without sacrificing any physical space.
“I think the issue we’re having right now is education is exploding,” Gomez says. “Getting many students onto campus is going to be an issue because we just don’t have the physical footprint to facilitate that. By using these devices, we can bring students in from anywhere in the world in terms of their physical footprint. They’re not taking up a lot of room.”
Plus, telepresence solutions break down physical international barriers – students can use these solutions to “sit” with the rest of their peers in a class across the world, and distance instructors can use them to “stand” in front of class without leaving their home from across the country.
“I’m kind of flipping it by saying we’re having students come in via these telepresence robots,” Gomez says. “The opposite would be, we could have faculty from all over the world, now teaching students using these devices.” Plus, we can have “guest speakers coming in from anywhere in the world.”
Elaine Shuck, Director of Education for Polycom, says the most important benefit telepresence solutions offers is increased interactivity and active learning.
“It makes it personal,” she says. “To me, it’s about anytime, anywhere, any device, learning. It just gives you the flexibility and confidence to continue your education because you have the technology that will help you do that.”
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