Virtual Reality
Virtual reality uses a computer to form a simulated environment with the help of hardware and software. You can experience virtual reality through two senses which are sight and sound. In simple words, we may say that term ‘virtual reality’ basically means ‘near-reality.
If a person is watching a video by using VR devices, he will feel like he is present in that environment, and all the activities and actions are happening around him.
How can VR be helpful for educational institutes?
If we look a few years back, virtual reality was like a sci-fi concept for most of the people. But now virtual reality is playing a vital role in many sectors. It seems like virtual reality is the future of education; in future students will get benefits from VR-enabled textbook and virtual classrooms.
Advantages of using VR in the classroom
Wearing a VR headset and watching high-quality visualizations is a very effective way to learn, the traditional teaching methods can never reach such an effective way of emphasizing things through visualizations.
Students of all ages love to watch things instead of reading. Using VR in the classroom will motivate students to learn by using this technology.
How can VR be used for business?
Same like educational purposes, VR can be helpful for business too. Here are a few business applications of VR.
Training
Using VR for Training purpose is the most useful feature of VR. If you use VR for training purpose, it will keep your employees engaged. VR technology allows companies to perform test runs of new initiatives to see how employees respond.
Real estate
People can explore homes without physically visiting it through VR. Many real estate companies have scanned homes using scanning software and now any client who is looking for a new home, he can visit it at any time of the day or night.
Marketing
Using VR for marketing purpose can boost sales of a company as if a customer is watching ad of a company through VR headset, he will have very close interaction with the product, means if we compare it with TV or YouTube ad, customer can watch those ads. Still, those ads will have no long term effects. When that customer watches the same ad through VR, he will have close interaction, same like physical, and he can explore that product in a closer way.
What is Gamification?
In simple words, we can define gamification that this is a process of adding game-like elements to something (such as a task) to encourage participation or we may say that set of activities and processes to solve problems by using or applying the characteristics of game elements. Gamification was started in late 2010.
Using gamification in the classroom
Gamification can help to create educational content in an entertaining way. Students will feel excited while learning if gamification setup is done the right way. Generally, math is considered a dry subject and students face difficulties while understanding math problems. But by using gamification math can be an exciting subject, and students will learn it, a research conducted by Deakin University shows that students show a positive attitude towards mathematics by learning it through gamification.
Using gamification for business
If you implement gamification in your business, you are going to many benefits and advantages.
Using gamification for the training of employees leads to improved productivity as gamification is designed for achieving goals and rewards which motivates employees to perform in a better way this better performance leads to improved productivity.
Gamifying training programs will be helpful to make employees improve those essential aspects to progress in several areas: leadership, stress management, communication skills, negotiation skills, etc.
With gaming dynamics, communication is easier, and it is also simpler to transmit and explain the characteristics of the economic sector; our organization belongs to, its difficulties and its potential as a company.
Augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is a form of interactive, reality-based display environment that takes the capabilities of computer-generated display, sound, text and effects to enhance the person’s real-world experience.
Augmented reality combines both digital and real scenes and gives users an enhanced view of the world. Augmented reality has many applications, but its main purpose is providing a rich audiovisual experience.
One of the most common examples of Augmented Reality is Pokémon go, in this game user locates Pokémon’s and try to catch them. This game is played by using a mobile camera and physical locations.
Another example of AR is Google translator; Google translator can translate 100 foreign languages. You can instantly check the words.
Use of Augmented Reality technology in education
Augmented reality animated content can get the attraction of students and teachers can use AR for teaching difficult subjects. AR technology can convert to render objects that are hard to imagine and turn them into 3D models that make it easy to understand difficult content.
AR impart students with opportunities to deepen their knowledge within several areas, including:
- Reading
- Working with numbers
- Spatial concepts
- Playing
- Content creation
- Real-life environments & scenarios
By using AR technology, educational institutes can develop three types of apps one for specialized students, one for kids and one for self-study.
Augmented reality uses in Business
Now a day customer uses their Smartphone’s to check feature and characteristics of products before buying it. Most companies are using AR apps by using these apps customers can view products and can customize them using the app to see which colors and features they might like.
Another use of AR is for repairing and maintenance of complex equipment like motor cars, MRI machines. AR headsets pints out problems in the machinery and suggests potential fixes.
In the medical field, AR apps can show an impact of, for instance, cataract on the human eye and thus help a patient understand the symptoms. Or being useful to nurses in finding veins easier, to finally assisting surgeons during procedures
AR is also being used for tourism; some museums allow more in-depth information, visitor can get information by overlaying phone over the skeleton, it also helps to navigate street signs, road maps that help navigate and explore cities, hotel room tours.