english

Professor Godoy

English 101

15 March 2019

Current Event #1

Virtual Reality & The Future of Learning

Virtual Reality has often been labeled as the technology of the future. It is thought to be a form of technology created with the intent to provide future generations with a variety of opportunities that could be accessed within the comforts of their very own home. For example, its services could give someone the chance to travel around and see the world, attend appointments with doctors or therapists, or even ease the troubled mind of an insomniac at night by taking them on a ride through space. The ideas are endless and done without ever leaving your room, however, my personal interests have always leaned toward its possible uses in the academic field. According to the article, “Virtual Reality: THE Learning Aid of the 21st Century” written by Sol Rogers, we come to understand the impact Virtual Reality has had on us today and how it might affect our future tomorrow.

It is no secret that The Human Race is an intelligent species, capable of surviving and adapting to the harshest and cruelest conditions. We always manage to pull through due to our intellectual and imaginative minds that have brought us to current times—a world made up of tall buildings, televised news, battery operated vehicles, worldwide communication and access to an endless amount of knowledge with the simple click of a button. But now, the future is taking a giant step forward and gearing toward the ideas/concepts of environmental computerized simulations. This is the start of Virtual Reality jumping out of films and novels and even comic books with the intent to change our world today.

The idea of ‘VR Headsets’ has existed for many years and has since expanded and evolved over the course of a decade. That is why it is clear to most of us that the use of Virtual Reality, will—at some point—greatly impact our daily lives in the future, especially in terms of academics and on how we view the learning community today. In short, based on his article, Roger goes over a few ways a student might use a VR headset to better expand and advance their learning abilities and skills. He also explains how this might be achieved with the method of virtual hands-on training and visual learning. This includes concepts like Math Shooting games, Virtual Explorations of the Earth, Virtual hands-on Anatomy studies for those in the medical field, Deep sea-diving for those studying Marine Biology and even Virtual Museum Exhibitions for those eager to study history without the expense of travel.

As someone like me, who has always struggled in school, I consider the concept of visual learning to be the most beneficial to a student. I say this because, as a visual learner, I need to see what the instructure is talking about in order for me to fully understand them. That’s just how my brain works. That’s how a lot of our brains work. That is why, I feel that the invention of Virtual Reality Headsets could be very beneficial to students who do better with a visual learning mindset and might even eliminate their struggles in the process.

However, I cannot deny that—even though the sound of this futuristic device can benefit most of us—it may come with a few unfortunate setbacks. One major concern for me is not knowing if the excessive use of VR Headsets could result in the damage of our vision in the future, especially for those born with poor eyesight. I also fear that this kind of technology could somehow give kids too much access to the world as well—but, even knowing all of that, there is nothing any of us can really do to stop it. The world is not perfect and it will always exist with a few unappealing sides to it. So, as difficult as it is to accept, we must learn to live with whatever comes next. We cannot stop the future or the pros and cons that come with it. That is why—despite my own personal concerns—I feel that Virtual Reality will accomplish so much good that it will most likely rule out all of the cons that come with it... maybe.

Works Cited