The University of Sydney
CRLI's Emerging Ideas is a community driven space in which to showcase ideas and innovations that are yet to be fully operationalised as research. This is a space in which the centre will foster open discussion in ways that might guide future projects to more concretely explore and test the implications of these ideas.
We encourage contributions from researchers, community members and industry partners.
Technology is ubiquitous in our society and is playing an increasingly large role in how we learn. We've discussed a number of topics on this theme, including: learning analytics/big-data, use of devices in classrooms, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.
We surveyed people on their opinions about how virtual reality (VR) technologies can be used in education, as part of our Emerging Ideas discussion series on this topic. Here is what people thought from our initial sample of 25 responders:
Virtual reality (VR) is being heralded as a game-changing technology in many industries, with an estimated market impact of ~20billion USD by 2020. But how might it impact education?
We asked people from a range of backgrounds, including students, teachers, and technologists in industry about their thoughts and experiences on working with tablet devices the classroom.
Opinions were diverse. While some believe that mobile devices should be left out of the classroom as they are distracting for students, others believe that teachers require a more open mind when it comes to technology in the classroom.
Technology in the classroom is a contentious subject. Talk to some teachers and they will point you to evidence suggesting there is no learning that can come from technology. Others live and breathe technology and cannot live without it. As far as the hardware goes, there are 1:1 programs, BYOD device programs and a host of alternative ways of delivering curriculum through Technology.
When deciding to implement a learning analytics (LA) tool, institutions often seek out evidence that it will result in measurable benefits. As most LA interventions are likely to produce a positive effect, institutions look for tools that demonstrate the largest, most meaningful effects.