A REAL SIMULATION: VIRTUAL REALITY

Virtual reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment which can be interacted with a person. It can be used for education, also it can provide complete learning process because it is the simulation of a real environment.  As we all know, while learning something, it is so important to interact with the real environment because people can learn better while doing. Virtual reality motivates students easily because it is so attractive for them. The reason is that they are digital natives and this kind of things make them motivated and successful in their educational life.

After I experienced virtual reality, I thought that we can use VR in education to make our students more active and successful.  We can use VR to teach a subject like body parts, they can learn by seeing and experiencing the subject or information. I think the most important thing is that they have a chance to learn a language by experiencing the language which leads to meaningful and complete learning for the students. As a future English teacher, I realized that we can make a lot of things by using VR. We can teach a subject effectively or create new activities to catch their attention.  We have a chance to be exposed our student into the language. For example, if I teach a subject by using VR in the classroom, it makes the learning process more attractive and exciting; therefore, it can be said that VR increases their excitements which helps them to remember more detail after the lesson. In other words, if we make the learning process more exciting for them, they will not forget the information that they get in the lesson.  The second point is that it increases their creativity because VR allows students to interact with their own imagination which afterward enhances their creativity skill and critical thinking part. For instance, teachers can want them to create the material by using VR and it will be a new technology for them and it catches their attention which increases creativity compared to past ones. The third point is that we can make a lot of group activities for better results. We can arrange competitions, games, and a lot of new activities for our students to enhance their motivation and learning process. For example, teachers can create games like catching, drawing, and matching a word to its real simulation. Students who wear a VR glass will have a chance to catch, draw, or match its simulation. This new style of activities make students more active and they will want to participate more and that’s why they will learn more. In this process, they will learn with fun and easy way which increases their motivation.

VR will be the future technology or tool for education, so every teacher should be aware of its importance. They should create activities, new techniques or styles to meet their students’ need. If they do not realize its importance, they will vanish from the future.