We’ve all seen them in comic books and in our favorite spy shows: a watch in which the hero can vocalize a command or check the status of his mission.
According to Emory Craig, the worth of the wearables industry will explode by 2020, weighing in at a predicted $150 billion.
Plus, he and Maya Georgieva are seeing wearables gaining momentum in the higher education space.
“Eighty percent of people are watching these developments,” says Georgieva, Associate Director, Center for Innovation at New York University. “Fifteen to 19 percent are trying in small ways to adopt wearables, either by innovation or spaces.”
“It’s a dream we’ve had for some time,” says Craig, Director of eLearning & Instructional Technology at College of New Rochelle.
Even though fitness trackers like FitBit are increasing in popularity among college students, Georgieva and Craig predict wearables and immersive and virtual reality spaces will become must-haves on college campuses.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for teaching and learning,” Craig says. “[It provides] headgear for the eyes, virtual and augmented reality, and wearables for the brain.”
Georgieva says that as technologies like wearables evolve, students’ learning styles and visual literacy shift.
Students are more immersed in a visual culture and rely on pictures to communicate, analyze and learn.
Georgieva also says students are most engaged with pictures when they are able to interact with them, whether students snap their own pictures or manipulate them in a virtual reality.
As students continue to depend on the visual culture to learn, colleges need to critically think about how to present information and data to them.
“The brain is the best classroom,” Georgieva says. “It’s the best interface. We have input from our senses and body, and output in terms of speaking, writing, running, singing, etc. Brain technology is evolving and can map what’s happening in our brains. What stimulates me as a student? We learn when we’re active, inquisitive, discovering, not through passive listening…It’s a powerful concept in play as we go to immersive learning and virtual reality.”
Virtual reality spaces are becoming a living example of the “do, not listen” learning style, and are key to serving students’ technology expectations on campus.
“In virtual reality, people are acting how they would in the real world; they have a sense of presence, they’re now part of the story,” Georgieva says. “It’s no longer a box on the wall. You’re able to walk within the space. The more synchronized motion and sound get, the more higher-end technology becomes, and the more immersed they [students] become.”
From the benefits of the wow-factor to a more interactive learning style, wearable and immersive solutions are giving students the number one thing they crave most in a physical college space.
“Ultimately, it’s about experience,” Georgieva says. “It’ driven by devices.”
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