How worried should we be that VR will replace us, the teachers in the classroom? Although Virtual Reality has the potential to change education, my opinion is that it’s unlikely to replace us and here’s why.
Teachers offer more than just knowledge about a subject. They guide students’ social and emotional development and can create a sense of community or teamwork in a class. Where VR can be a tool, it’s up to us to develop skills such as creativity and critical thinking and adapt lessons to our students’ individual learning needs. We have one over VR by acting as mentors, motivating students and understanding each individual. After all, classrooms are places where students develop interpersonal skills, learn to collaborate, build relationships and resolve conflicts. All human competencies that VR is unable to handle on its own.
As mentioned, VR is a tool that can certainly make learning more engaging and interactive by exploring historical or cultural sites, conducting virtual science experiments (such as VR4LL 2.0’s VLE) and simulating real-world problem-solving. Nevertheless, it works better when combined with a teacher when they help students understand what they’ve learnt and relate those VR lessons to broader concepts.
Some other tech considerations that work against VR replacing teachers would be the cost of implementing a VR classroom with headsets ranging between 300 and 600 Euros as well as the significant infrastructure, maintenance and training involved. Furthermore, extended learning sessions may lead to eye strain and motion sickness in some students.
So yes, VR is an exciting and incredibly useful tool but as teachers, we can keep breathing. Wouldn’t you agree, HAL?